Navigating Color
Space (NCS)
My Multi-Dimensional
Approach to Color
Mixing—by Robert
Gamblin
Navigating Color Space is
a DVD program I created
on color mixing. By using
3D computer animation, I
can best show painters
how to access the
universe of color, I call
Color Space. The
animated sequences
demonstrate how to define
a color by its attributes:
value, hue and intensity
(chroma). During the
program, I demonstrate a
few of the secrets of the
Old Masters so you, too,
will know how to mix
green and red into blue.
To view Navigating Color
Space, click the "play"
button on the video screen
above.
Additional information
on Navigating Color
Space:
In this section of the
Gamblin web site, I want
to discuss a few key ideas
from Navigating Color
Space. One of the most
important ideas is how to
see a 2D color wheel as a
representation of 3D Color
Space. Whether using a
3D or 2D model, each
color in Gamblin Color
Space has the attributes
of:
• Value - How light or
dark is your color?
• Hue - What is your color
family: yellow,
orange, red, violet,
blue or green?
• Intensity - How much
pure color or
chroma does your
color have?
Once you have identified
your color's HUE family,
the more intense colors
are found at the outer
edges of the Hues. As
colors move toward the
neutral core, they become
more muted. Moving up
and down through Color
Space, you change your
color's VALUE and it gets
lighter or darker. Black is
at the bottom of Color
Space. White is at the top.
Painters of the
Renaissance were masters
of value-based painting
techniques because most
of their colors lack
intensity. The first
dimension of Gamblin
Color Space can be easily
seen when you bring a
Rembrandt to mind. His
skill at controlling light
and shadow allowed him
to differentiate the image
and create dimension. To
paint in the Classical
tradition, look for colors
near the neutral core of
Color Space, including
Naples Yellow Hue or
Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna,
Venetian or Indian Red,
Terre Verte. Consider
using Flake White
Replacement instead of
lead-based whites.
To increase access to
Color Space, include
colors from the second
dimension of Color Space,
best represented by the
Impressionists The
furnaces of the Industrial
Revolution gave 19th
century painters a full
array of colors in all hue
families around the color
wheel. For the first time,
painters could paint
directly with a full spectral
palette of colors with great
opacity and high intensity.
To paint with an
Impressionist's palette,
add Cobalt and
Ultramarine Blues,
Cadmium Red (replacing
Vermillion), Cadmium
Yellows and Viridian.
Consider using Flake
White Replacement. On
the Gamblin Color Chart,
look for other colors with
high opacity.
The 20th century color
revolution gave us Phthalo
Blue and Green, the
Hansa Yellows, Napthol
and Quinacridone Reds. All
colors of very high
intensity and
transparency, the modern
colors are found on the
outside edge of color
space where they are
revolutionizing the way
artists create glaze layers.
Modern colors retain their
intensity in mass tone, tint
and transparency until
they are mixed with colors
from different hues.
To find out where your
colors are in color space,
make a 2D color wheel.
• Begin by drawing a
circle.
• Divide the circle in half
horizontally.
• Then draw a "V" shape
from the center of
the circle up to the
outside edge.
• Then draw a "V" mirror
image down to the
bottom of the circle.
• Label the Hue
families:
YELLOW
is at the top.
Moving clockwise
around the circle orange goes next.
Now here's red violet - blue green.
A spectral palette of colors
at regular steps around
the color wheel can be
made from Mineral colors
of the Impressionists or
the high key Modern
colors. Both palettes give
painters the widest access
to Gamblin Color Space.
Inside their hue families,
colors are shifted to the
warm side or the cool
side. So labeling the hue
families on the color wheel
with their temperature
bias is important.
For my own version of the
spectral palette, I use two
colors in each hue, one is
warmer—one is cooler.
The blues closest to red
are warm. The blues close
to green are cool. Coolest
Cadmium Lemon is at the
top. As yellow shifts closer
to orange, yellow gets
warmer. Warm yellow
meets cool orange. The
"temperature" is based on
a color's position inside its
hue family. The cool/warm
pattern should continue
around the color wheel,
shouldn't it? Instead the
pattern breaks between
orange and red where two
warm colors meet. This is
the only place on the color
wheel where two warm
colors meet—where
WARMest orange meets
WARM red.
Opposite is the only place
on the Color Wheel where
COOL blue meets COOL
green. When you fold the
color wheel in half, see
how the patterns of warm
and cool temperatures are
mirror images of each
other? If you always
establish the warm and
cool spots on the color
wheel, all the other colors
fall into place.
Each dimension of Color
Space makes a separate
color wheel. Remember,
earth colors are muted
yellows, oranges, and
reds, they should be
placed on the wheel close
to the neutral core. A high
chroma palette goes
around the outside edge.
To see a whole list of
Gamblin colors and their
temperature bias within
their hues go to the color
temperature list. There
you'll find a template for
laying your colors properly
on a 2-D color wheel.
How does your palette
compare to mine? Many
painters mix blue and red
together to make violet. I
use Dioxazine Purple as
my cool violet and Cobalt
Violet as my warm color. I
start color mixing with
pure hues because I
prefer colors with more
intensity. Mixed colors
belong closer to the
neutral core.
Now I'll show you how to
keep colors in the same
relationship on your
palette as they were on
the color wheel. Let's
"unzip" the color wheel
between yellow and
green.
I am laying out the colors
in exactly the same
relationships as they were
on the wheel. I always
"unzip" the color wheel
between green and yellow
because one third of all
the colors on the palette
will make yellow go green.
So I always reserve a
space on my palette to
mix clean yellows.
Remember, my goal is to
make predictable
mixtures. If I always
arrange my colors so I can
maintain their
relationships with each
other, I can find my color
again by identifying its
value, hue and intensity.