I checked out Eusong Lee’s work on a recommendation from Alexia Tryfon down at CTN. I expressed in a previous feature my love of Alexia’s color work so I don’t take recommendations from her very lightly. After “ooing” and “awing” at her work she urged me to go check out Eusong’s work as well. “He’s a big inspiration for me right now. But he takes a lot more risks with color than I do!” After moseying over and ogling his work I must say, those were risks well taken.
Eusong Lee creates dynamic and cinematic compositions that in themselves are incredibly well designed, but his color takes things to a whole other level. I can definitely see why some would hesitate using the bold colors that Eusong uses on a regular basis. They’re bright, loud and at first glance seem to contradict the rest of the pallete. But its working. As a color theorist myself I can tell you how complicated Eusong’s pallet really is and how masterfully he manages it. One principle I see repeated in his work that really pushes conventional dynamics is the concept of “Warm Light, Cool Shadow” and vice versa. You’ll notice in his pieces how he’ll shift the temperature of the shadows to be opposite of the light source. This is a realistic occurrence that our eyes pick up, but Eusong is pushing the envelope and saturating these colors up to par with the rest of his delightfully dangerous color decisions. So I urge you all, as Alexia did me, to check out Eusong Lee’s incredible work and see what makes the danger in his color choices so endearing.
Chase down the danger at one of his sites here:
Also see his award winning short, “Will.” But be warned, it’s really really good.
