There is almost nothing you can say that holds up as a generalization, because it depends on too many factors: size, modulation, the rest of the field, a certain consistency that color has with forms, and the statement you're trying to make.
gouache basic palette (paint names are for Winsor & Newton):
Lemon Yellow, Golden Yellow
Ultramarine Blue (deep), Sky Blue
Alizarin Crimson, Scarlet
Burnt Umber
Ivory Black
Permanent While (large tube)
bristol board for studies
round watercolor brush for color mixing (#4 or #6)
selection of flat and round brushes
water containers, water bottle, and paper towel
plastic cup palette
pencil, ruler, sketchbook, illustration board or other paper, masking tape
preferred medium for illustrations (unless gouache is specified)
anything else you need
read more
Albers, Josef: Interaction of Color
Finlay, Victoria: Color-A Natural History of the Palette
Holtzschue, Linda: Understanding Color - An Introduction for Designers
Hornung, David: Color – A Workshop Approach
Itten, Johannes: The Elements of Color/The Art of Color
Jennings, Simon: Artist’s Color Manual
read more
January 22
Seeing Color, Properties of Color: Hue
Exercise 1: color observation and analysis in context
Assignment 1: personal twelve - part color circle
January 29
Review assignment 1 (final)
Properties of Color: Value
Exercise 2: value grid/black vs. chromatic darks
Assignment 2: monochromatic palette: children’s book illustration
February 5
Review assignment 2(in progress)
Properties of Color: Saturation
Exercise 3: hue-saturation progression/gray vs. complementary
Assignment 3: saturation
February 12
Review assignments 2 and 3 (final)
Color Temperature, Saturation and Illusion of Depth
Exercise 4: non-pictorial illusion of depth
Assignment 4: atmospheric perspective: book cover illustration
February 19
Review assignment 4 (in progress)
Simultaneous and Complementary Contrast
Exercise 5: make one color appear like two
Assignment 5: packaging/advertising illustration
February 26
Faculty Day/No Class
March 5
Review assignment 4 (final) and 5(in progress) and work in class
March 12
Spring Break/No Class
March 19
Review assignment 5(final)
Color and Emotion
Exercise 6: color analogue studies
Assignment 6: CD insert/cover illustration
March 26
Review assignment 6(in progress)
Color Unity
Exercise 7: unifying strategies for color mixing
Assignment 7: Color Research
April 2
Review assignment 6(final), present Assignment 7
Exercise 8: color inventory
Assignment 8: surface pattern illustration
April 9
Review assignment 8(in progress)
Light and Color
Assignment 9: animation background illustration
Guest Speaker
April 16
Review assignment 8(final) and assignment 9 proposals
Exercise 9: still life from observation
April 23
Review assignment 9(in progress) and work in class
Assignment 10: color symbolism research, presentation and illustration
April 30
Review assignment 9(final)
Present assignment 10 proposals and work in class
December 11
Color symbolism presentations and review
Exercise 10: repeat color observation and analysis in context
read more
Color Symbolism Presentation and Illustration
Color: A Natural History of the Palette, by Victoria Finlay
Colors: What They Mean and How to Make Them, by Anne Varichon
Checklist
• read assigned chapter
• take notes while reading
• photocopy relevant passages or whole chapter if necessary
• organize notes for presentation on May 7
• come up with concept(s) inspired from your reading
you are free to use any medium and any form of illustration (2D, 3D, sequential, animation) for any context (children’s book, graphic novel, editorial, advertising, packaging, information/non-fiction, gallery) – it is important that you have an audience and context in mind
• present concept(s) on April 30
• refine sketch and work on color in class on April 30
• May 7: presentation and final illustration due (no extensions)
read more
Color and the Effects of Illumination: Animation Background Illustration
“Shadow is a color as light is, but less brilliant; light and shadow are only the relation of two tones.”
Color Research and Surface Pattern Illustration
“Color exists in itself, possesses its own beauty. It was Japanese prints that we bought for a few sous on the rue de Seine that revealed this to us.”
Color Research
Objective
In his book “Color: A Workshop Approach”, David Hornung writes:
Under the influence of routine, we tend to fall into certain color habits. Our choices can grow stale and predictable if they are not nourished by contact with outside sources. Artists have often looked beyond the bounds of their own work for visual stimulation. For example, Henri Matisse made a lifelong study of color in the decorative arts of Eastern cultures. Vincent van Gogh spent evenings by the fire arranging bits of colored yarn on a gray piece of cardboard. Paul Klee collected and absorbed the paintings of children.
Find an image or object that has a color palette you are drawn to, and bring it to class.
If the image/object has a clearly identifiable number of colors, make sure that the number isn’t less than 8.
read more
Color and Emotion: CD Insert Illustration
“Pure colors have in themselves, independently of the objects they serve to express, a significant action on the feelings of those who look at them.”
Color Interaction: Advertising Illustration
“Colors will appear what they are not, according to the ground that surrounds them.”
afterimage
an optical effect in which an additional color seems to appear at the edge of an observed color.
successive contrast
a visual phenomenon that creates complementary afterimages of a color after gazing at it for a brief but sustained period of time.
simultaneous contrast
the effect two neighboring colors have upon each other as their afterimages interact along a shared border
complementary contrast
when two colors with even a suggestion of complementary relationship are placed next to each other, that relationship is emphasized because of simultaneous contrast.
ground subtraction
grounds subtract their own qualities from colors that they surround.
vibration
vibration occurs when blocks of very different colors that are close or equal in values are placed next to each other. The colors appear to shimmer and lose their edges.
spreading effect
when a dark line is drawn onto an idle-value ground, the entire ground appears darker, while a light line would make the ground appear lighter. The lightness/darkness of the line seems to spread into the ground.
When forms are outlined with a dark line, they all seem darker. When a light line is used, they appear lighter.
contrast of extension
also referred to as proportion, contrast of extension refers to the relative areas of two or more colors in a composition. Designers call the color with the largest proportional area the dominant color (the ground), while smaller areas are called subdominant colors. Accent colors are those with a small relative area, but offering a contrast because of a variation in hue, value, or saturation.
Sources: Color – A Workshop Approach by David Hornung and Understanding Color by Linda Holtzschue
read more
Color Temperature, Saturation, and the Illusion of Depth
“Blue mountains are distant from us, and so cool colors seem to recede.”
Prismatic Colors, Muted Colors, and Chromatic Grays
Due: February 12
“ And how important it is to know how to mix on the palette those colors which have no name and yet are the real foundation of everything.”
achromatic grays
grays that are created by mixing black and white.
when precise amounts of 2 complementary colors are mixed, each hue cancels the other and this also results in an achromatic gray.
chromatic grays
subtle colors that result from considerably lowering the saturation level of prismatic colors. Chromatic grays weakly exhibit the distinguishing quality of the hue family to which he belong.
muted colors
rich but softened colors that reside between prismatic colors and chromatic grays.
optical mixing
this occurs when small color fragments are organized in a tight pattern, appear to fuse, and, from a distance, appear as single mixed color.
prismatic colors
pure hues that represent the colors of the spectrum at their highest saturation level.
while these are theoretically infinite in number, the color wheel distributes them evenly into twelve major hues.
saturation
sometimes also called intensity or chroma, saturation refers to the relative purity of hue present in a color.
a highly saturated color vividly shows a strong presence of hue; conversely, low saturation refers to a weak hue presence.
tone
made by mixing a color with gray or its complement.
tone can also have a more general meaning; it sometimes refers to any change in a hue, including tints and shades.
Source: Color – A Workshop Approach by David Hornung
read more
Monochromatic Illustration: Living Color
“ A light blue is like a flute, a darker blue a cello; a still darker a thunderous double bass; and the darkest blue of all – an organ.”
Red frogs, blue spiders, yellow snakes, green birds, orange fish, purple snails, pink armadillos – animals can be surprisingly colorful. Like all living things, bright or dull, these creatures try to survive in a world that can be difficult and dangerous. If an animal is very colorful, it is likely that its brilliant skin, scales, or feathers somehow help it stay alive.
Red says…
It must have been something I ate.
The scarlet ibis is a long-legged wading bird. The intense color of its feathers comes from the red shells of the shrimp, crabs, and insects it eats.
Step Carefully.
The stonefish is the most poisonous fish in the world. It lives in shallow tropical seas and looks like a lumpy rock or piece of corals as it lies quietly on the ocean floor. Along its back are thirteen sharp, venom-filled spines that protect it from predators. A careless swimmer who steps on a stonefish receives a very painful stab and can die without treatment.
Blue says…
Don’t touch!
The tiny poison dart frog eats ants, and the toxins these insects contain accumulate in the frog’s body. This gentle amphibian does not attack humans, but the skin of one frog contains enough poison to kill dozens of people. Native hunters in the jungles of South America rub the tips of their arrows and darts on the frog’s skin.
You can look right through me.
The Portuguese man-of-war appears to be a large jellyfish, but it is really a colony of thousands of smaller animals called polyps. Named after an eighteenth-century sailing ship, the man-of-war drifts on the surface of the sea, pushed along by the wind. It snares fish and other animals with long, poisonous tentacles that are hard to see in the blue water. A transparent blue body helps keep it hidden from sea turtles that find it tasty.
Yellow says…
Boo!
When the huge Madagascar moon moth opens its wings, it reveals a yellow “face” with colorful spots – called eyespots – that look like the eyes of a much larger animal. A surprised predator may think that it has attacked an owl or other dangerous creature instead of a defenseless insect.
Just ignore me.
The trumpet fish is a sneaky predator that uses trickery to catch its prey. This long, thin fish can change color to match its surroundings. Sometimes it hovers its head down in the water, imitating a coral or seaweed. Another of its tricks is to swim very near a larger, harmless fish. When it gets close enough to its victim, the trumpet fish darts forward and sucks up its prey like a vacuum cleaner.
Green says…
It’s really not my color.
The giant green anemone looks like a flower, but it’s actually a predatory animal with poisonous tentacles. It lives in shallow water and tidal pools found along rocky seacoasts. The anemone’s body is colorless and transparent. It tissues, however, are home to millions of green algae. These tiny plants help provide food and oxygen to the anemone. In return, the anemone gives the algae a place to live.
Look again…
The delicate leafy sea dragon looks almost exactly like a bit of floating seaweed. It takes a very close look to realize that this relative of the seahorse is, in fact, a fish.
Orange says…
Colorful copy.
The orange pygmy seahorse looks almost exactly like the tropical coral on which it makes its home. This little fish is not much bigger than your fingernail. When it hovers in the water it is very difficult to see.
Real men dance.
The male cock-of-the-rock is one of the most colorful of all birds. It prepares and defends a special courting ground in the forest, called a lek (leck). Here, several male birds perform an elaborate dance, all competing for the attention of a single female. She will choose the male whose dance she likes best.
Purple says…
I’m just a bunch of bubbles.
The violet raft snail blows a “raft” of sticky bubbles, using them to float along on the surface of the ocean. This snail is a predator, eating the tentacles of any jellyfish it bumps into. The bubbles and the snail’s purple color protect it by making it look like a bit of drifting sea foam.
Move toward the light…
The deep-sea dragonfish is about the length of a pencil, but the barbell growing from its chin can be as long as a full-grown man is tall. This dragonfish has a glowing purple light on the end if this whip-like filament and a row of glowing purple lights on either side of its body. In the total darkness of the deep ocean, these lights flash on and off to signal other dragonfish and attract prey.
read more
from the Art of Color by Johannes Itten
achromatic grays
grays that are created by mixing black and white.
black and white are also achromatic (without hue).
balance
the distribution of visual weight in a composition.
chiaroscuro
the use of light/dark contrast to achieve a sense of volume in two dimensional art.
chromatic darks
very dark colors that have a slightly discernible hue.
color scheme
the color combination used in a composition (monochromatic, primary, triadic, complementary, analogous, etc…).
focal area
the center of interest in a composition.
grayscale
a graduated representation of steps of achromatic grays ranging from black to white in even, progressive increments.
a simpler way to visualize the value scale is with a three-part version of the grayscale divided into dark/low, medium/middle and light/high values.
high key
an image is said to be in high key when the colors in it are predominantly light in value.
low key
an image is in low key when the colors in it are predominantly dark in value.
middle key
an image is in low key when the colors in it are predominantly medium in value.
monochromatic
a color scheme based on one hue.
range of value
overall configuration of values in a given image.
the range of value in a piece of art or design can be described as broad, medium, or narrow. for example, we say an image has a broad value range when values from all keys (high, middle and low) are represented.
shade
a hue that has been made darker.
tint
a hue that has been made lighter.
value
the relative lightness or darkness of a color.
light values are referred to as high, dark ones as low.
value contrast
the farther apart two colors are on the value scale, the higher is their value contrast.
visual path
a visual linkage created when similarly valued shapes are placed next to each other.
Sources: Color – A Workshop Approach by David Hornung and Understanding Color by Linda Holtzschue
read more
"By way of introduction to color design, let us develop the 12-hue color circle from the primaries – yellow, red, and blue. As we know, a person with normal vision can identify a red that is neither bluish nor yellowish; a yellow that is neither greenish, nor reddish; and a blue that is neither greenish, nor reddish" full textThe six co-primaries
yellow + red = orange
yellow + blue = green
red + blue = violet
yellow + orange = yellow-orange
red + orange = red-orange
red + violet = red-violet
blue + violet = blue-violet
blue + green = blue-green
yellow + green = yellow-green
achromatic
without hue
analogous hues
1. hues that lie adjacent to each other on the color wheel; contain two, but never three, primaries; and have the same hue dominant in all samples.
2. analogy exists when all elements in a color group contain a readily discernable common hue and only two primary colors are present.
complementary colors
hues that lie directly opposite each other on the color wheel.
when a pair of complementary colors is mixed, the resulting mix absorbs almost all of the light waves, thus resulting in a mixture that has no discernable hue.
co-primaries
the result of the subdivision of the primary triad into three pairs consisting of two versions of each hue.
hue
the name given to a color based on its location in the color spectrum.
monochromatic
a color scheme based on one hue.
overtone
a term used to describe the secondary hue “bias” of a primary color. For example, alizarin crimson is a red that leans toward violet, while scarlet is a red that has an orange bias.
primary triad
composed of red, yellow, and blue, which are equidistant from each other on the color wheel.
it is called primary, because, theoretically, all other colors can be mixed from it.
range of hue
overall configuration of hues in a given image.
the range of hue in a piece of art or design can be described as broad, medium, or narrow.
saturation
refers to the relative purity of hue present in a color. A highly saturated color vividly shows a strong presence of hue; conversely, low saturation refers to a weak hue presence.
secondary triad
orange, green, and violet.
they are called secondary because each can be made by combining two primaries.
split complementaries
colors that are adjacent to the complementary of a color.
subtractive color
color seen in pigment as the result of reflected/absorbed light, as opposed to additive color which is color as seen in light. Additive color primaries are red, green, and blue-violet; when they are combined, the result is white light
tertiary colors
also called intermediate colors, they result from the combination of a primary color with an adjacent secondary color.
triadic hues
color relationships based on any three equidistant hues on the color wheel.
value
the relative quality of lightness or darkness in a color.
Sources: Color – A Workshop Approach by David Hornung and Understanding Color by Linda Holtzschue
read more