Understanding Color Through Design by Angela Sung

This isn’t another color wheel lecture. Angela Sung shows you how to use color relativity, shape blocking, and composition to make environments that actually read and tell a story.

🎯 What you’ll learn

• Re-evaluate core color theory for production painting
• Read and control light properties like temperature, value, and saturation
• Break down complex environments into simple, readable shapes
• Use intentional color blocking to guide the eye
• Build composition that supports visual storytelling

✅ Requirements

• Skills: Basic familiarity with digital or traditional painting, comfortable with layers and brushes
• Tools: Photoshop or any painting app, drawing tablet for digital workflow

📝 Description

Forget picking pretty colors and hoping it works. This class is about why colors shift depending on what sits next to them, and how to use that on purpose. Angela walks through color relativity, light temperature, and how small tweaks in saturation can fix a flat painting fast.

You will also spend a lot of time on structure. Instead of rendering details too early, you learn to block big shape design first, then assign color with intent. It is a practical way to keep complex environments readable, whether you paint stylized worlds or more grounded concepts.

The whole approach is geared toward visual development work. Every demo ties back to clarity: where do you want the viewer to look, what mood do you need, and what can you simplify or push to sell the story? Short on theory fluff, heavy on decisions you can reuse in your next piece.

🧑‍🎓 Who this course is for

• Concept artists and illustrators who feel their colors look muddy or random
• Visual development artists who want tighter composition and clearer storytelling

🧑‍🏫 About the Author

Angela Sung is a visual development artist and art director working in animation and games. She is known for her strong color scripts and environment design, and for breaking down tricky color ideas into clear, usable steps. She also teaches Color Dynamics through Warrior Art Camp and has lectured for IAMAG Master Classes.

🏁 Final Result

• A set of color studies and blocked environment designs showing controlled light, intentional palette shifts, and story-focused composition for your portfolio.