Tutorial 115 - Minor Key Variations (Patreon)

By now we should have developed a sense of what we mean when we talk about key as it applies to visual art.

Here are some examples that explore a few ways we can vary the minor key to make adjustments in our image using color and scale.

Note: when the minor key begins to overwhelm the major key then that color/value can no longer be called the minor key, the balance has shifted over the tipping point and that element is now the dominant majority, the major key.

Try to be aware of this and remember that the strength or presence of certain colors, shapes, values, etc, carry moods and feelings and will offer us a plethora of available contrasts to explore.

Of course, there are many more ways to balance an image than with  just color alone.

Essentially, key is a way of measuring and balancing value relationships. The major and minor key relationship is controlled with composition, value, spatial depth and all the many variables available to us as artists. 

 

Thinking about how your major and minor keys are arranged is an important planning step in your creation process and should really be explored at the sketch level unless you setup your artwork in a way to make it easy to adjust which is often possible (digitally) with adjustment layers.