Does it has to be??????

[Rondo]

i look at a lot of videos about painting to get some idea's and the sort.And sometimes these people start to talk about colors and values and it sounds to me that people has to be a kind of Master in color before you can start painting;( . Does it really has to be so complicated?

[axeslayer]

If it looks right , it is right .

[Pavig Lok]

Starting to paint is easy, but we all get to a point when we can start to see the faults in our paintings but don't know the solutions. Color and value theory, perspective, etc then become useful. Part of what theory provides is techniques for improving our art, and some helps give the critical skills to see what is and is not working how we wish.

People have different learning styles, so theory may be useful for some people before they begin, or for others once they have developed some skill. The nice thing is the more art you do, the better your skill and critical eye will be, and the more sense that art theory will make.

[nekomata]

if you are getting confused with getting your colours right and feel like your knowledge of colour theory is lacking, I strongly recommend purchasing some student-grade gouache or acrylics, and making a few pieces traditionally,
either referencing youtube how-to-paint videos, or a book on traditional painting, if you still feel uncomfortable with the new medium.

a lot of stuff will start making sense once you push yourself to finish artwork with real paint, and you will have a better appreciation of digital tools at the end as well (no hard need to pre-mix colours, no clutter and paint spills, etc etc etc.)

hope this helps!

[D Akey]

Use reference as a palette. Find pics from the vast cavalcade of images on the internet that you like the color in and import one into AR and use your color picker. They're essentially your palettes.

Caveat: it's deceptive when you look at an image because if it was a painting the paint has been blended about and many of the really interesting colors are the side effects of the main colors. And you don't want to try doing a paint by numbers job where you put color number 4 in a specific outlined shape next to a number 16 outlined shape. That will make your painting look like needlepoint or something.

Advice is look at the source pic and pull out some colors and then do what they were doing. So some careful looking is part of it. They're taking into consideration lighting and composition and so forth. But start playing and see what you can get to have happen. The palette will be a good springboard.

Theory is always good to learn. Why not? It's not necessary. But it does reduce the 1,746,894,321+ questions about what to do down to maybe 1437 per stroke (give or take a gazillion).

And all the above suggestions and comments are very valid.

[Stephen Lo Piano]

i look at a lot of videos about painting to get some idea's and the sort.And sometimes these people start to talk about colors and values and it sounds to me that people has to be a kind of Master in color before you can start painting;( . Does it really has to be so complicated?

Funny thing you should mention mastering color. I saw this TV show where some lady that is an artist explained how her goal with painting and art was to find a new color. I would imagine every color in the color wheel has already been found and how she intends to conquer this objective is far beyond anything I can comprehend in reality. You'll be fine, no need to get bogged down in complications, and try not to find and discover any new colors because that objective could lead you down into a bottomless pit.

My suggestion is to closely look around you in reality and pay close attention to how light reflects and absorbs the surface of objects, notice how light effects color surface. Try a few still life paintings using something you can visible see with your eyes and use this as your composition on canvas whether natural media or digital art tools are used.