Paint: Color and Texture

Video Introduction

Check out this behind the scenes video showing the scenic art process for the recent production of Beetlejuice the Musical on Broadway. The artists showcased in the video are from the Scenic Art Studios and Showmotion Inc.

Scenic Art Studios - Beetlejuice the Musical Links to an external site.

(Length 3:41) from Scenic Art Studios on Youtube.

Finalizing the visual world

Like we talked about back in Module 3, all scenery strives to create an emotional reaction in the audience member. The materials, the colors, and the textures chosen all say something about the world of the play and differentiate it from the play at the theatre down the road.

Scenic art (sometimes called the Paint Department) is what gives those flats, platforms, and drops life. They give them texture and color, dimension and emotion. Sometimes this is through real, three-dimensional texture and other times it is simply done with some paint on some canvas. The key, is to make the world of the play "real" for the audience.

The scenic artists receive renderings and detailed illustrations from the scenic designer that show their desired final look for the scenery. It is then up to the scenic artists to take those illustrations and replicate them in real life, on the real scenery.

Building Block: Color

Color is the most obvious tool in the scenic artist's toolkit. Old, weathered wood has a completely different color to it than brand new wood. Metal has a different quality than stone, which is different than brick. By altering the color or color combinations, the scenic artist can quickly transform the quality of the scenic piece.

The Color Wheel

Understanding how colors interact with each other is the key to working effectively with color. The color wheel provides a visual depiction of these interactions.

There are a few categories and terms with color that are important to note:

• Primary colors - these are the colors that can not be mixed from other colors. The primary colors for paint and other pigments are Red, Blue, and Yellow.
• Secondary colors - these come from mixing two primaries together, creating Orange, Purple, and Green.
• Tertiary colors - created by mixing a primary and a secondary, or by mixing two secondary colors.
• Complimentary colors - colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel

Colors themselves are referred to a hues (example - red, blue, green, yellow, green, etc.). You create a tint of a hue by adding white. You create a shade of a hue by adding black.

Base, Highlights, Lowlights

One of the easiest ways that a scenic artist can create contrast and visual texture is through the mixing of a base, highlight, and lowlight. These are the minimum 3 colors that you need in order to create detailed work.

The prominent color of the scenic piece would be the base color, such as red for bricks. From this base color, the artist will create a tint and a shade of it that are typically called the highlight and the lowlight colors. This slight variation in color will help create a feeling of reality to the colors being used by creating a toning effect.

Building Block: Texture

Texture can be added to paint in a bunch of different ways.

One is through layers of paint and alternating colors, brush styles, or through the use of thin glazes or coats of paint. All of these add visual variety and by applying them in a skilled way, scenic artists are able to create the illusion of texture and dimension. If you have ever seen a show with a painted backdrop, you've seen an example of this kind of texture in action.

Another way is through actually creating a faux three-dimensional texture. Many times a flat painted scenic piece is not as interesting as one with real texture as a part of it. Scenic artists typically accomplish this through paint additives or through the use of plasters, plastics, and foam that are then molded into the desired shape and texture. Three-dimensional textures can feel instantly more real than painted two-dimensional textures because of how they will interact with light and shadow onstage.