COLOR THEORY
What is color theory and why is
it important?
COLOR THEORY
What is color theory and why is
it important?
Color has three aspects the artist needs to be fluent
in (especially in today’s media based culture...
Physical aspect
Psychological aspect
Chemical aspect
Color Study
Color has been the object of study by scientists
and thinkers for as long as man has been able to
“think”.
These are color diagrams purportedly created by
Pythagoras based on mathematics and astrology.
Sir Isaac Newton
Newton is considered the father of scientific study of color. In 1676 he projected a
beam of light through a prism, breaking it into a spectrum of different light
wavelengths (or colors).
It was Newton who gave the pure colors the name HUE.
Newton created this color chart (the first real “color wheel”) to
organize his color spectrum.
James Clerk Maxwell
In the 1860’s, Maxwell created the idea of the electromagnetic spectrum (energy
waves).
The “visible light spectrum” is only a small portion of this wavelength.
Other wavelengths humans can see with help are the Infrared
and Ultraviolet parts of the spectrum.
Additive Color (light)
• The Primary
Colors of light are
red, blue and
green and light is
called the Additive
System because
when all the colors
are added white is
the result.
light vs. pigment
• Since most artists find it impractical to paint
with light…
• It is important to understand the difference
between the Additive and Subtractive types
of color and how color works in relationship
to pigments.
Subtractive Color
•
•
•
Subtractive Color gets its name
from the way it interacts with light
– it absorbs (or subtracts) light and
color as you mix it.
The three primaries used in mixing
pigments are Red, Yellow and Blue.
Primaries are the basic colors from
which all others are created. If one
of the primaries are missing then
an entire range of colors cannot be
created.
Subtractive Color
•
•
•
•
Subtractive Color gets its name
from the way it interacts with light
– it absorbs (or subtracts) light and
color as you mix it.
Process, or printers colors use a
different set of primaries.
These are Cyan, Magenta and
Yellow.
When all three pigments are mixed
black is the resulting color because
it absorbs all of the spectrum.
Process colors in action…
The interaction of pigment and light
Light is both absorbed and
reflected by the surface of
objects.
When an objects absorbs light,
whatever light is reflected is
what gives that objects its
color.
FOR EXAMPLE...
An apple is red because it
absorbs all the green and blue
spectrum and reflects only the
red light waves.
How does the eye see color?
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•
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The eye sees color by the use of
Rod and Cones.
Rods see value (black and white).
Cones see color…
– There are three types of cones,
red, green and blue.
•
•
The specific wavelength of light will
stimulate a specific set of cones,
which will then stimulate the brain
and produce a “color”.
This means light affects how we see
color.
Local Color
• Local Color is the color of a
subject under normal daylight
lighting conditions.
Subjective Color
• Subjective Color is the color of
a subject under unusual
lighting conditions.
VALUE
• Value is how light or dark an object is a
color is, not its hue.
• Value can be seen in terms of black and
white.
Value in the real world…
• Settings and scenarios in the real
world have value…
• Known as high key, middle key and
low key
Find twelve black and white photographs that run the full
gamut of the value scale (high key to low key).
Create a twelve step value scale from these photographs.
Find examples of printed text that run the full gamut
of the value scale (high key to low key) when seen as a
body.
Create a twelve step value scale from these pieces of
text.
Creating depth with value
• When creating the illusion
of depth on objects within
a given space or a
landscape, objects are
darker in value as they
get further away.
• This is because of cast
shadows and reflected
light.
End lecture 1 (introduction)…
The Munsell Color Wheel
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•
The traditional color
wheel has only hue, no
neutrals.
Black, Gray and White
are called neutrals (or
hue effectors) – they are
not considered colors
themselves.
– To get the most out of
your hue – you need
both the color wheel
and value.
The Basic Munsell system is what is taught at CF (and what is
the most commonly used system).
There can be many ways to set up the colors but all are
basically the same.
Three primary colors from which all others are mixed.
They are RED, BLUE and YELLOW.
Three secondary colors, created from mixing two of
the primaries.
They are GREEN, ORANGE and PURPLE.
Six tertiary (or intermediate) colors, made form mixing
a primary and a secondary.
They are RED-Purple, BLUE- Purple, BLUE-Green, YELLOWGreen, YELLOW-Orange and RED-Orange.
How are they named?
other color wheels…
The Munsell Color Tree (or solid)
This tool breaks the colors into saturation (or chroma and value) scales.
How the Color Solid works…
• The color solid measures the
properties of HUE.
–
HUE refers to the light wavelength and color to
anything mixed from a HUE.
• Lightness refers to the value of
a color (also known as a tint or
shade of a color).
• Chroma refers to the
saturation or amount of gray in
a pure hue (also known as tone
or intensity).
How the Color Solid works…
• Notice that each value of
a hue (tint or shade) has
its own chroma (or tone)
scale.
• The further from the pure
hue the value gets, the
shorter the stretch from
pure value to tint (a hue
plus white) or shade (a
hue plus black).
• All other spectrums (that contain gray), no matter how fancy,
break down into this basic system.
By learning to manipulate all these factors, the
artist can create a great deal of mood, illusion
and atmosphere with nothing else.
This weeks challenge…
• Using your paints, create a
traditional color wheel.
• Mix your secondary colors,
then tertiary colors.
Leonardo
DaVinci was one of the first
artists…
(the first depending on what art
historian you believe)…
to make use of the idea of value to
create depth in a landscape.
Da Vinci called this “the
perspective of disappearance” (and
his explanation was complicated as
all get out).
Atmospheric Perspective
• As objects get further away, the atmosphere
between us and “them” create the illusion that
they are grayer and lighter in value than close
objects.
• The concept of “value
depth” used in a piece of
digital art…
You can also see the use of atmospheric
perspective in DaVinci’s Last Supper.
VALUE DEPTH
Lets look at the
way people read
value as depth in
the real world.
Notice that the further
away the objects, the
lighter the value and
lower the saturation.
Each color has its own
corresponding value…
Look at what happens to the lower saturations of
green when the image is changed to grey scale.
Here the lighter
colors seem to
recede…
If the values are
reversed, the image
doesn’t seem quite
right.
Here the lighter colors
are in the area that
should be closer and
the layers don’t recede
properly.
From photo’s to paintings…
Notice the illusion of fog and the value change from the sand in the air.
The same concept applied
to artwork…
The Hudson River
School of painting.
One of the most prolific and
spectacular of all American
realism movements.
Hudson River painters were masters of this illusion.
They could manipulate value, intensity and color all
at the same time.
JW Turner – one of the great American Impressionists
His work is ideal for examining the
transformation from realism...
…to abstraction.
Stylization…
Will Barnett
Wolf Kahn
Abstraction…
How abstract can you make the composition, and
create the illusion of depth and space (as well as
landscape) by using value and saturation?
Joseph Albers
Your assignment…
• Create an abstract landscape.
– Create 10 sketches each showing a varying
level of abstraction from stylized to totally
abstract.
• 5 symmetrically balanced, 5 asymmetrical
• Choose your favorite sketch and redraw
on 11X14 bristol board.
• Create the illusion of depth using variation
in color value and saturation.
Warm and Cool colors…