Mars Cornhole Board Process Part 2: Color and Tonal

After deciding on the overall layout and finishing a semi-detailed drawing of it, I painted a few color sketches, the biggest one being done directly on top of that drawing. I kind of used this as my working color guide while I painted the final version.

 I knew I wanted to try and stay within a certain color gamut (which is something I had never done before) so I didn't experiment too much with what colors I used for the whole. But I did experiment  on each individual part, like the smoke. I must have repainted it like 7 times. So this one painting (the bigger one) represents about 10 little experimental paintings. 

I also chose to paint this large to get a little more practice with oil paint. I wanted to try out a few things before going to the giant 2 by 4 ft. cornhole board. After a certain point though, I didn't bother too much with it. I got what I wanted, so there was no point in adding details or fixing small mistakes.

At the same time I was working on the color guide, I was working on the tonal guide too. I did it digitally because I knew I'd be changing it a lot.

In the end I didn't follow either one of these exactly for the finished painting. They were incredibly helpful though.