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We’re wrapping up our series on black today.

We started by hunting for r are black objects. Much of what we call black isn’t actually black.

Then we talked about color palettes. Stampers like to pretend we can’t see the black outlines but the truth is that black outlines are the darkest color in your blending combo. If you’re having issues finding color palettes that pop, the problem isn’t the blend, it’s the black.

Last week, I mentioned how weird it looks when you color a black item in grayscale but then doll up the rest of the image in full color. If you’re using color, you gotta’ use it everywhere.

To finish off our study in black, let’s discuss the siren’s call…

The irresistible temptation every aspiring artist falls prey to…

Black backgrounds.

Black Velvet

Did you look closely at today’s top of the page color inspiration?

Here, let me show you again:

Did you notice my marker suggestion?

BG. Blue Green.

BG99

Huh?

Where’s the blue green in that image?

You’re trying to trick us, Amy! You’d use the BG99 to underpaint the darkest leaves.

Nope. It’s the background. The background in this photo is BG99.

No it’s not. That background is black!

Hey, remember that time I sent you on a wild goose chase, searching for something naturally black?

Remember how hard it was to find real black?

Wise men say, only fools rush in…

Now ask yourself: are you jumping to conclusions about black in the background?

What is black?

It sounds like a silly question. To be fair, I would never ask you to define red or blue.

Black is different though.

Black is not a color. Black is a condition.

Black is the absence of light.

Most people never truly experience black. There’s always a light on somewhere.

We all know what dark is…

But you don’t really know BLACK until you’re deep in a cave and all the lights go out.

That’s black.

And it’s kinda scary.

In art, we don’t say scary.

We call it drama.

Drama is why I can remember back in the late 70’s when street corners had pop-up velvet Elvis memorial galleries, selling paintings from the back of rusty Econoline vans.

Or maybe that was just Detroit?

Anyway… Black is the kind of drama no beginner artist can resist.

“Someday, I’m going to color on black!”

That’s one of your goals, right? And yet you’ve never said the same thing about coloring on red or blue, have you?

Nope. You want black drama.

So when you see a photo reference with a dark background, you automatically think:

“Holy fried banana sandwiches! Now’s my chance to make the king proud!”

So the question is, do you actually see black in the depths of this photograph or do you want to black so badly that you’ve talked yourself into it?

Desire is the likely answer because:

lazy assumptions
hunk’a hunk’a burnin’ love

Close your eyes for a moment and imagine crawling into our flowery bush. Picture getting down on your hands and knees and tunneling all the way to the back. Try not to skin your knees or meet any spiders. Are you back there?

Okay, now turn around and look out. It probably looks something like this, right?

You see the light?

You can see the leaves all around you?

You can see your hand in front of your face?

Then it ain’t black inside the bush, darlin’.

Okay, get out of the bushes.

We can see the leaves and flowers out here too, right?

So it’s daytime in the garden.

The sun is shining and all that pretty sunlight will penetrate through the petals and leaves into the bush.

Which means there’s color in there.

But what color?

Well, there’s not going to be red inside the bush unless it’s sitting alongside a barn or there’s a fire engine parked nearby. So don’t get any crazy ideas about the color.

Instead, borrow from what you see.

I know the leaves are bouncing a lot of green lightwaves around, so my first instinct is to color the depths a dark bottle green.

But I also know cool colors recede and I want to emphasize that depth. Hey, even I do drama sometimes.

With some thought, I’m leaning more towards the dark greenish blues because they read as distant.

And since Copic doesn’t make a BG dark enough, I’m probably going to layer BG99 over the top of a cool gray or maybe something like BV25 to create that sense of shade.

Look, you could color it black.

Or you can color it something artistic and mysterious with hints of verdancy and yet a calming, cool duskiness.

Which color sounds more dramatic?