Several years ago I took a class with a portrait artist who uses the Munsell system to mix skin tones which were lovely, and accurate, but did not explain in depth how and why they worked or how he had determined his palette. Recently, I've been thinking about painting again. I watched a number of videos on Munsell and came across yours. This video is the most comprehensive and easy explanation I've seen and heard. Thank you so much. Your students are fortunate to learn with you.
Thank you again, Mr. Foxton. I bought Munsell 6th edition student book and completed the ten Munsell color chip charts. Very excited listening to your podcast tonite wherein you shared about using raw umber and ochre to create 10YR color strings. Also very excited learning about "flushing effect" addressed on pp. 52-53 in my Munsell book. You have a depth of knowledge that you willingly share with your followers. Again thank you.
The bit about masters using black and white was my mistake a few years ago too. Your Hue theory is much better for harmony in painting terms. I have understood most of what you have said and will apply it to my next work. Your chroma talk is very important as is light to dark. The penny has dropped and I thank you for this information
Thank you Paul for your invaluable lessons. They have helped me tremendously. I did the colored shape studies (about 20 or so) and this, along with Mark Carder's color checking (also on RUclips). Finally, after many years of struggling, I'm finally now at a point where my colors look natural and I could not be more thrilled! Thank you Thank you from Virginia, USA.
I am only half way through and this has given me so much understanding!!! I’ve never understood hue, chroma, value at all and I immediately was able to grasp it from his teaching method/example. I hope to be able to get this book!
OMGoodness, Paul!!! Why I never came across this video before I have no idea, but it suddenly appeared yesterday and I almost fainted!!! I just purchased the Munsell student book and guess what? I bought the 4th Edition!!! And yes, it started off badly with a lot of the chips on the VHC first page sticking together, but not too terribly. But I was pulling my hair out at one point!!! The individual hue page chips came apart quite well though, thank goodness! I am so glad to hear you say that figuring out where the chips go isn't too easy! This is my 3rd day of trying to fill these pages with chips and I am not only going cross eyed, I'm about going crazy!! I am now VERY relieved to hear you say that this is "not easy" and I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for showing us how to separate the chips into the different values and actually showing us how to do it. I didn't have a whole lot of trouble with the orange pages, but the blue pages are quite difficult! And those extra chips they included drive me even crazier!!! Apparently there is a reason for them, but why didn't they just put them in another packet and keep them separately I'll never know! Anyway, like most painters, I am more right brained than left and learn better by seeing it done than by reading how to do it, and so I really, really thank you for doing this little video!! I think you should mention this little video every time you do another video and encourage people to buy the Munsell student book. Thanks Paul and always look forward to seeing more from you on RUclips!!!!
Terrific color theory lesson! I've used the Munsell Color theory to steer my own paintings for years, and always teach it to students. Your video is a great visual presentation of a very useful and understandable system.
Paul heartiest gratitude to you for being so kind and generous to share your knowledge and experience. 🙏❤️. I want to buy Munsell book but I know the first one is very expensive. Which one would you recommend otherwise to someone who doesn’t have any Munsell.
The cheapest place to start is with a Munsell value scale - you can one for $10 on Ebay. Just using that for value studies, you can learn a huge amount. www.ebay.com/itm/223003792036?hash=item33ec0fd2a4:g:GX0AAOSw0-Ba7ISs After that, the Munsell Student Colour Set, 6th Edition. It has a lot less chips than the very expensive "big book" but I worked with it for at least two years before I got my big book and learned much about colour from it.
Paul...your videos are always enjoyable to watch and educational for us artists, so thank you very much! As for Munsell's Student Book not having a way to secure the color samples....what a joke!
Pablo, es un mundo por descubrir al que tú has llegado con trabajo y constancia además de oficio, te admiro como tratas el color, con qué precisión lo haces, te felicito y ojalá llegue algún dia a tu maestría. Un saludo desde España
I prefer the 12 hue color wheel. I noticed that Munsell did not include yellow orange & red orange, but instead calls orange, yellow red. In paint there are no pure primary pigments; they all lean towards their neighbor on the color wheel in one direction or the other. Cad. Yellow Med. leans towards orange while Ultra marine blue leans towards purple. Knowing the bias of each color takes the headache out of mixing the color you are looking for. I like that on the 12 hue color wheel the complimentary color is directly across from each other.
Amazon sellers usually have a few copies. Make sure to avoid the 4th edition, it has problems with the printing of the colour chips and they come stuck together. The 5th edition, the latest one, is usually ok but may have some stuck together chips. The 3rd edition is the best, but make sure to contact the seller and check that all the chips are present and haven't been permanently stuck into the book.
Thank you Paul I just found your channel - this is a great system. I've been studying light/color for a long time....lots of misunderstandings and inaccurate information out there to sift through, and deep shifts for the brain to comprehend - feeling like I am finally getting a grasp of it and this will help me further. Is the second student edition still the best one to get?
@@briannalamar yes you'd still stick them onto the little squares in the pages just to look after them - although I have still lost quite a few of mine :D
hi paul. thank you for sharing your skills. i am a graphic designer and studying paintings now in the pandemic. the munsell colour theory is complex but fundamental to understand the relationship between colours. i have a wall paint book with hundreds of colour chips. do you think it is possible to create a generic munsell book with them, as a colour comparison training?
It varies. Also, different hues reach their highest chroma at different values. So yellow reaches its highest chroma at quite a high value, blue much lower.
You can get it from Amazon Staci. We're up to edition 5 now, which is better than edition 4 but still may have some problems with the chips. Given the price that's really not good, but I still think it's better to have a slightly dodgy copy of the book than no copy at all!
Where did you buy the 5th edition? I went to Amazon and there were very many complaints of people receiving damaged goods. Chips were stuck together and parts were missing. Some vendors were not good at sending replacements.
@@PaulFoxtonThank you for this! Is the 7th edition better than the 6th? Can I get by with the ChromaMagic app without the book? It’s such a great app and I appreciate you suggesting it.
@@dorcaslotspeich7610 I don't think there's a lot of difference, except there's an interview with me in the 7th :D Actually I haven't looked at the chips in the 7th yet. Imo with the ChromaMagic app you don't need the book.
There is none, they're just different words for the same thing :) Basically it's just how dark or light a colour is from black at one end of the scale to white at the other. So the value of a colour is simply which part of a grey-scale it matches. Does that help?
I don't even paint but these videos are just so peaceful to watch. Hats off to Paul for giving out a masterclass for free.
Thank you!
This may have been the most informative video I've ever seen discussing value, hue, and chroma. Thank you!
Wonderful, thank you!
Several years ago I took a class with a portrait artist who uses the Munsell system to mix skin tones which were lovely, and accurate, but did not explain in depth how and why they worked or how he had determined his palette. Recently, I've been thinking about painting again. I watched a number of videos on Munsell and came across yours. This video is the most comprehensive and easy explanation I've seen and heard. Thank you so much. Your students are fortunate to learn with you.
Thank you, that's great to hear.
You are a terrific instructor, Paul. Thank you so much for your videos.
You're very welcome Laura!
Thank you again, Mr. Foxton. I bought Munsell 6th edition student book and completed the ten Munsell color chip charts. Very excited listening to your podcast tonite wherein you shared about using raw umber and ochre to create 10YR color strings. Also very excited learning about "flushing effect" addressed on pp. 52-53 in my Munsell book. You have a depth of knowledge that you willingly share with your followers. Again thank you.
You're very welcome Linda!
The bit about masters using black and white was my mistake a few years ago too. Your Hue theory is much better for harmony in painting terms. I have understood most of what you have said and will apply it to my next work. Your chroma talk is very important as is light to dark. The penny has dropped and I thank you for this information
Thank you Paul for your invaluable lessons. They have helped me tremendously. I did the colored shape studies (about 20 or so) and this, along with Mark Carder's color checking (also on RUclips). Finally, after many years of struggling, I'm finally now at a point where my colors look natural and I could not be more thrilled! Thank you Thank you from Virginia, USA.
That's so good to hear Jim, thank you!
I am only half way through and this has given me so much understanding!!! I’ve never understood hue, chroma, value at all and I immediately was able to grasp it from his teaching method/example. I hope to be able to get this book!
Just seen this video. For the FIRST time I have started to understand about value and chroma. I found it really helpful. Thank you so much!
OMGoodness, Paul!!! Why I never came across this video before I have no idea, but it suddenly appeared yesterday and I almost fainted!!! I just purchased the Munsell student book and guess what? I bought the 4th Edition!!! And yes, it started off badly with a lot of the chips on the VHC first page sticking together, but not too terribly. But I was pulling my hair out at one point!!! The individual hue page chips came apart quite well though, thank goodness! I am so glad to hear you say that figuring out where the chips go isn't too easy! This is my 3rd day of trying to fill these pages with chips and I am not only going cross eyed, I'm about going crazy!! I am now VERY relieved to hear you say that this is "not easy" and I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for showing us how to separate the chips into the different values and actually showing us how to do it. I didn't have a whole lot of trouble with the orange pages, but the blue pages are quite difficult! And those extra chips they included drive me even crazier!!! Apparently there is a reason for them, but why didn't they just put them in another packet and keep them separately I'll never know! Anyway, like most painters, I am more right brained than left and learn better by seeing it done than by reading how to do it, and so I really, really thank you for doing this little video!! I think you should mention this little video every time you do another video and encourage people to buy the Munsell student book. Thanks Paul and always look forward to seeing more from you on RUclips!!!!
This was so helpful, I keep coming back to back to this video. Thank you
You're very welcome!
Wonderful, helpful video. I'm just learning about Munsell and wonder how much a color's opacity/transparency figures in here...
Terrific color theory lesson! I've used the Munsell Color theory to steer my own paintings for years, and always teach it to students. Your video is a great visual presentation of a very useful and understandable system.
Fantastic, thank you!
That was so very enlightening, thank you Paul. And I agree with another comment, you are looking great.
Thanks Romy! (and apologies for the very late reply)
Paul heartiest gratitude to you for being so kind and generous to share your knowledge and experience. 🙏❤️. I want to buy Munsell book but I know the first one is very expensive. Which one would you recommend otherwise to someone who doesn’t have any Munsell.
The cheapest place to start is with a Munsell value scale - you can one for $10 on Ebay. Just using that for value studies, you can learn a huge amount. www.ebay.com/itm/223003792036?hash=item33ec0fd2a4:g:GX0AAOSw0-Ba7ISs
After that, the Munsell Student Colour Set, 6th Edition. It has a lot less chips than the very expensive "big book" but I worked with it for at least two years before I got my big book and learned much about colour from it.
That was very informative. Thank you. I only came across value a few days ago, so it's going to help my colour mixing enormously!
What an amazing class on hue, value and chroma. Now I get it. Thank you!
Great to hear Luis! Thanks for letting me know.
This was really helpful, Paul. Thank you so much!
Paul...your videos are always enjoyable to watch and educational for us artists, so thank you very much! As for Munsell's Student Book not having a way to secure the color samples....what a joke!
Happy to see you looking so well Paul 👍 always enjoy your video's 😊
Thanks April :)
thanks for your online tutorials. finding my way into structured knowledge of colour, after many years in wilderness.
That's realyl great to hear Ayan!
Super helpful tutorial. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge and wisdom. Very much appreciated.
Pablo, es un mundo por descubrir al que tú has llegado con trabajo y constancia además de oficio, te admiro como tratas el color, con qué precisión lo haces, te felicito y ojalá llegue algún dia a tu maestría. Un saludo desde España
Thank u very much, very useful, the way you explain is very easy to understand…greetings from Honduras
I prefer the 12 hue color wheel. I noticed that Munsell did not include yellow orange & red orange, but instead calls orange, yellow red. In paint there are no pure primary pigments; they all lean towards their neighbor on the color wheel in one direction or the other. Cad. Yellow Med. leans towards orange while Ultra marine blue leans towards purple. Knowing the bias of each color takes the headache out of mixing the color you are looking for. I like that on the 12 hue color wheel the complimentary color is directly across from each other.
Amazingly explained, depth of his explanation 😮❤
Hi Paul, where can we purchase the student book?
Amazon sellers usually have a few copies. Make sure to avoid the 4th edition, it has problems with the printing of the colour chips and they come stuck together. The 5th edition, the latest one, is usually ok but may have some stuck together chips. The 3rd edition is the best, but make sure to contact the seller and check that all the chips are present and haven't been permanently stuck into the book.
Thank you Paul I just found your channel - this is a great system. I've been studying light/color for a long time....lots of misunderstandings and inaccurate information out there to sift through, and deep shifts for the brain to comprehend - feeling like I am finally getting a grasp of it and this will help me further. Is the second student edition still the best one to get?
Thank you! The 6th edition is the best one to get now. The chips come on pages and are perforated so you can pop them out.
@@PaulFoxton Thanks! Does that mean you no longer stick them onto the squares?
@@briannalamar yes you'd still stick them onto the little squares in the pages just to look after them - although I have still lost quite a few of mine :D
hi paul. thank you for sharing your skills. i am a graphic designer and studying paintings now in the pandemic. the munsell colour theory is complex but fundamental to understand the relationship between colours. i have a wall paint book with hundreds of colour chips. do you think it is possible to create a generic munsell book with them, as a colour comparison training?
Since the colours are greenish you could look at them thru a piece of green cellophane to check the values easier.
Excellent! I will use in my class!
Just ordered my copy of the third edition!! Can’t wait 😑
Hi Paul , where did you get your mixing palette?
I got it from prolificpainter.com. It's part of a set up for plein air painting, but I like it so much I use it as my main studio palette too :)
hi, I live in Australia but i would love to purchase this book. i can't seem to find it anywhere, does anyone know where I can purchase it?
What’s up with the number 5 before the color?
Hi thanks for dis video ,pls wat do pple mean when they say MIDTONES? how do we pick d midtone of any colour?
Thank you so much for the informative video! It helped a lot!
Thanks for sharing this. 🖌️🎨😲💯
You're very welcome :)
Thanks for sharing that .
Please start uploading again
great vid.. thanks so much.
Thank you! You helped a lot!
Very helpful. Thank you.
So is chroma and Saturation the same?
There's a minor technical difference but yes, generally very similar concepts.
@@PaulFoxton Thanks!
Thanks you so much you make it easy to understand this is so helpful I love it.
Which is the highest chroma on each sheet?
It varies. Also, different hues reach their highest chroma at different values. So yellow reaches its highest chroma at quite a high value, blue much lower.
Paul, I still don't understand what the 5, 7.5 and 10 mean.
How do I buy one of these?
You can get it from Amazon Staci. We're up to edition 5 now, which is better than edition 4 but still may have some problems with the chips. Given the price that's really not good, but I still think it's better to have a slightly dodgy copy of the book than no copy at all!
I got the 5 th edition and I was missing chips Instead of just sending chips. They sent the whole kit and caboodle again
Where did you buy the 5th edition? I went to Amazon and there were very many complaints of people receiving damaged goods. Chips were stuck together and parts were missing. Some vendors were not good at sending replacements.
Wandering Wade Bloomsbury
@@sharonbignell6113 Thanks!
Wandering Wade I hope we can benefit from this
Now I'm demotivated. Will I ever be able to note the difference ??!!
Your videos are always helpful.
Thank you ! +1 subscriber !
Crap. I just bought the 6th edition. I hope they've fixed these issues.
Yes the 6th is fine. The chips are on perforated pages.
@@PaulFoxtonThank you for this! Is the 7th edition better than the 6th? Can I get by with the ChromaMagic app without the book? It’s such a great app and I appreciate you suggesting it.
@@dorcaslotspeich7610 I don't think there's a lot of difference, except there's an interview with me in the 7th :D
Actually I haven't looked at the chips in the 7th yet.
Imo with the ChromaMagic app you don't need the book.
Nice voice
Thank you :)
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏…..
I love Hue Too
And I still can't convince my little sister that red blue and yellow are not primary colors.
I still don't get the difference between value and tone.....
There is none, they're just different words for the same thing :) Basically it's just how dark or light a colour is from black at one end of the scale to white at the other. So the value of a colour is simply which part of a grey-scale it matches. Does that help?
@@PaulFoxton Yes, thanks it does. :-)
Where can I get a mussels student book.
Great video. Thanks.
Where can I get a color value chip book.