An Eye for Color

In my post yesterday, I shared with you where I search for my stock photos and gave some tips about searching. As I mentioned in that post, today I am going to discuss what I take into consideration while searching for stock images I use in my work. By following this set of criteria, I have been able to keep my artwork at a high and respectable quality. This doesn't only make me feel better about my work, but also gives me a very professional image when it comes to promoting and selling my art.

I have created this set of criteria through past experiences I have had and examples I have seen by the other creators I follow. In my opinion, the most important of the criteria I use has to do with image size and quality. There have been dozens of moments when I am looking at artwork on Instagram or other channels where designers have used some pretty terrible stock. The biggest fault I see among these pieces of artwork is when the designer takes a small image of a model and then proceeds to blow it up to a level in which it becomes too blurry (When I say small, I mean an image around 500 x 500 pixels). By blowing up an image too much, it becomes a distraction to the rest of the piece. So when I look for stock for my artwork, the lowest size I will go for the main focus of an art piece is around 2 MP, or 1600 x 1200. I say the main focus of an art piece because supporting imagery such as plants or crystals that add small details obviously do not have to be that big. Often times they should not because with resizing images, going very big to very small and very small to very big both cause some distortion in the image you are using. The main point I am trying to push with this criteria is that you should always look for the highest quality images. It may take a bit longer to find that larger image, but it will create a better product in the long run.

Another criterion I use when searching for images, especially objects, is white/black and/or transparent backgrounds. Having either of these backgrounds on an image makes it much easier to cut out the object or model in question. By cutting out the model or object of an image, it opens up a world of possibilities in terms of layout and tone. For example, in my latest post called "Expand Your Mind", I was able to convey a very specific tone by cutting out the statue and placing him afloat in a space-like, abstract background.

A final important criterion that I always follow when searching for my stock images is what I like to call artwork dependency. What I mean by this is when I have an art piece in mind I try to figure out the tone and story I want it to have. For example, if I am trying to convey a mysterious and unknown feeling, I wouldn't go looking for bright and colorful images because that doesn't make sense. I would want darker and more neutral images. Overall, I use this criterion to make my entire piece seem cohesive which drives home tone and the story very well.

So there you have it. Those 3 big criteria I follow when creating my artwork. I hope that you guys will go on to use some of them to create amazing pieces of art!

- Jared