Archived Pages from 20th Century!!



Basic Color Theory --Douglas Barkey

INTRODUCTION

Color affects everyone
All of us make color decisions almost every day.
We choose items to purchase.
We make color choices for everything from bank checks to room paint.

PROPERTIES OF COLOR

Hue

Refers to the name of the color.

Color wheel

The wheel system dates back to the early eighteenth century. Many different systems were created, each with a varying set of primaries.
Since this class eventually leads to dealing with inks and color separations in graphic design, we will consider here an additive color wheel.

Value

Value is the lightness or darkness of a hue.

Primary colors

Color is a property of light, not an object in itself.
Objects have no color of their own, but merely the ability to reflect a certain section of the visible spectrum.
Objects reflect what we perceive, and absorb what we don't see

The additive and subtractive color wheels.

Additive
Rays of light are direct light, whereas the color of paint is reflected light.
Color from light combines and forms new visual sensations, this is additive color.
Lights projected from different sources mix according to the additive method.
Overlapping, thus mixing, the three primaries, red, green, and blue in this manner results in white, yellow, cyan, and magenta. Absence of light results in black.
Cyan, magenta and yellow are the photographic primary colors and are used to create separations for photographic and ink color printing.
Subtractive
Pigments combine in the subtractive system.
Blue paint is "blue" because when light hits its surface the pigment absorbs (or "subtracts") all of the color spectrum except the blue that is reflected to our eyes.
Artists that work with physical media are concerned with the subtractive method since we work primarily in pigments.
 
Digital
Depending on your software, you may mix colors on the computer using either method: subtractive or additive: RGB or CYM, however the monitors are based on the RGB method.

COLOR CHARACTERISTICS

The visual appeal of color

Color has a basic, instinctive appeal to everyone.
Some artists use color primarily as and emotional element and in an intuitive manner.
Other artists, like Josef Albers, have studied color perception extensively and published seminal books that are still widely in use.

Color is a product of light

Color references change as light changes.
There is no one consistent color for any object.
Grass may be gray at dawn, bright green at noon and nearly black at night.
Monet's work may appear at first an arbitrary use of color, but when we become aware of the time of day the painting was made, we realize that his work captures a fleeting sensation of light.

Colors are affected by their surroundings

Rarely do we see a color by itself, usually it is in conjunction with other colors.
Colors can change dramatically depending on changes in their surrounding colors.
 
Successive contrast
complementary colors appear as afterimages
human visual system is adapted to perceive temporal and spatial variations of stimuli rather than uniformed, prolonged stimuli
complement of a color appears as an after-image
after-image will blend with next color looked at.
duration of after-image depends upon intensity and time of stimulation
less important for design because our eye roves around rather than remaining in one spot
Simultaneous contrast
The complementary of a color appears in adjacent zones.
Optical effects
a light area next to a dark area will appear lighter than it is in fact, and the dark one will appear darker.
same for complimentary colors
alternating bands of color equalize
Most important factors to consider
the distance between the interacting zones of color
distance tends to equalize similar hues
the way in which colors behave when placed next to eachother depending upon luminosity, hue, or complementary
the eye superimposes on each of the colors the complementary of the other
the opposition of light and dark or cool and warm

COLOR PERCEPTION

Visual color mixing

Pigments can only be mixed together to a certain degree, because eventually they break down and become muddied.
Rather than mixing two colors on the palette, artists may place two pure colors side by side in small areas so the viewer's eye (at a certain distance) will do the mixing. In digital color, the artist selects colors from either a color wheel palette or a commercial catalog of colors, such as the Pantone color system.

MIXING METHODS

Pointillism

Was a highly systemized application of visual mixing.
small dots of various colors are juxtaposed to produce different color hues.
Photomechanical color printing
Ink printing uses the same idea by layering different quantities of cyan, yellow, magenta and black dots on paper. The dots are so tiny that we are usually totally unaware of them.

Divisionism

Like pointillism, uses fine lines rather than dots.

COLOR AND PHYSICAL SENSATION

colors are forces radiating energies that have positive and negative effects

Effects on eyes

red=greatest fatigue
blue=least fatigue

Effects on body

red=most exciting
green=most restful
blue=most cheerful
Applications to work and home
the whole body of the worker can tire due to colors
mentally ill: black, violet, and grays for violent pat
blues and greens for agitated people

Color and emotion

Color appeals to our emotions and feelings.
Color is the most effective element in arousing an emotional response in the viewer.

Atmosphere

color creates an atmosphere to which we respond before we respond to any other visual element.

Contrast

Differences between colors can cause feelings of drama or excitement.

COLOR AND BALANCE

To achieve visual balance an image must have equal weight or eye attraction-color may be used to achieve this effect.

Color and movement

Changes in color help guide the viewers eye around the image.

Distribution of visual weight

different colors and amounts of colors affect visual balance.

Color as emphasis

Making a focal point
Brighter or larger areas of colors attract attention
Juxtaposed complementaries attract attention

Creating accents

A simple change in color can provide a more subtle way of moving the eye around the image. Highlight something with a color border, color shadow or with color streaks.

Color and space

Colors recede or advance
--Results of intensity
intense hues come forward, dull hues recede
--Results of value
light values advance, dark values recede
--Results of contrast
areas of contrast between colors come forward, low contrast areas recede.

COLOR USES

Local

Identifying color of an object under ordinary daylight.
Mental identification of colors in subject matter. (Grass is green, apples are red, etc...

Optical

The visual effects of an object as it's color changes based on what kind of light it is in.

Arbitrary

Color choices are subjective.
Artist chooses colors based on design, aesthetic or emotional responses.

Symbolism

We make statements that employ the language of color to describe character traits or human behavior. "So I told her a little white lie". "red-handed"
Colors represent mental , conceptual qualities and the initial reasons for their choice are buried so deep in history that we no longer remember them. Can we explain why green means go?

Cultural references

Symbolic color varies from culture to culture.
Black in the U.S. in a funeral color, whereas white in India is the funeral color.
A bride may wear white in America, but red in China.

Time references

Color symbolizes eras of time.
Certain colors are more popular at different times.