Experimenting with color

Since going down the hex code rabbit hole I have become increasingly fascinated with how color works. The other day I pondered: What if I split my colors into their individual RGB components? I have been doing more drawing for the sake of drawing, which means I have plenty of pre-made pictures to color if I feel like it. 

I tried to keep the process simple as possible. Split up the colors and layer them up until it reaches its "true" color. Unfortunately this got complicated way too quickly. It is a cool trick for sure, but it seems more geared towards touchups and other small details. Next time, I will apply the colors normally and add the "color breakdown" only where it matters. 

In the above image, I sampled four colors from an artwork by Bob Peak. The colors were split using the RGB color sliders in SAI2, then layered using Lighten. It was very cool seeing the original color reproduced this way.

Next, I wanted to experiment with the opposite. I took the colors and subtracted their value from 255 and layered them using Subtract. This will be useful for traditional art.

I need more time to think about this and how I would use it. But it was promising to realize I could isolate the components of any color. Understanding why hex codes work the way they do has helped me understand color theory better. I can't wait to see where this takes me next!