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The following tutorial will discuss the underlying concept and application of color layering in Polymer Clay. Understanding this layering technique is essential as a pre-cursor to learning the basics of 'Clay Painting'. This is not a 'project' tutorial but rather a study and comprehensive overview of the techniques involved that will enable you to go forward with your own personal projects. Understanding Color Layering: The first step in understanding color layering is learning to recognize and separate different colors and their various shades and blends. I am not talking about color theory or anything difficult. I am talking about looking at your reference photo or image and being able to distinguish the different colors, such as; light brown, dark brown, red, orange-red, yellow, black etc... Once you have learned to spot all the different colors in their subtle shades, the next step is to differentiate the 'layers' of colors. By this I mean; there are some colors that seem to lay underneath other colors, in-between and also on top of other colors. By recognizing where these colors 'lay', you will be able to choose your 'Base' color and the subsequent color layers in a step-by-step order. This is much easier than it sounds and I will explain further using example works from the Polymer Clay Gallery.   Our first design... 'Red & Black-Striped Beetle' Has only 2 colors, red and black. The 'Base' color of this beetle is red. The 'Base' color is always the most predominant 'background' color that all other colors will be 'layered' on. It is the 'bottom-layer' color.  This next design... 'Green Beetle', takes the layering concept a step further... See if you can pick out the different colors and the 'Base' color. The Base is a lime or yellow-green. Other colors in layered sequence from the base up are: Blue-green, green, light-brown, chocolate-brown, brown, powder-blue and black. Black, (except on very few occasions) will be the top-most color and the one used in many defining details.  The next example... 'Yellow-Beetle', shows where black is used as an underlay color as well as a top color. *Note the spots on the beetles back and legs where a metallic green is added over the black. Again, try to pick out the 'Base' and different colors. The 'Base' is yellow, then orange, orange-red, light-brown, brown, black, metallic green and black. I will show a few more examples of color layering and then we will discuss 'Application' of layers.  This next example shows how detail along with color layering can really bring a piece to 'Life'... I would like to mention here that all anatomical shaping takes place first and then the color layering. All fine detailing is added last. When working with animals, the eye sockets are made in the first phase, 'Anatomical Shaping'... The 'Base' color of the eye socket is always black and then the next color is shaped into a ball to fit the socket. After being gently padded into place, the subsequent following colors are layered in their proper order, always working from 'bottom' layer to 'top' layer. The tiny areas around the sides are applied with small sculpting tools. Eye: Black Base, gold, chocolate brown, yellow, white, black Body: Yellow-green Base. Red-brown, blue-green, copper, pastel-yellow, powder-blue  This next piece... 'Pink Parrot-fish', is a very good example of times when defining the 'Base' can be a little confusing. Many times with fish; the fins and/or tail will be so distinctively obvious in a separation of colors that these particular parts of the fish's anatomy will have their own distinct 'Base' colors. But in this instance with the Parrot fish, those lines are blurred, so we separate the colors and their detailing and figure out which color will best suit as the 'Base'. The pink is very intricate and also the top layer... so it can be canceled out. The green is not as pronounced as the blue and also blends into the center body; so it is an 'in-between' layer and therefore can also be canceled out. This leaves us with the blue, which when further studied, is underneath all the other colors and is therefore the obvious 'Base' or bottom color.  The 'Broom-tail Wrasse' (below), is an example of 2 'Bases' on one design. The blue tail and fins are only slightly layered onto the green 'body Base' and are instead, 'attached' as separate 'Bases' of blue clay. Page
2 : Color Layering Application |
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