Notes on Color

Notes on Color (accumulated sources):

www.worqx.com/color/color_basics.htm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_theory , and Stewart’s “Launching the Imagination”. Includes side notes from Brad Allen.

Subtractive Color. (Surfacing) When we mix colors using paint, or through the printing process, we are using the subtractive color method. Subtractive color mixing means that one begins with white and ends with black; as one adds color, the result gets darker and tends to black. Much like painting we will be using subtractive method in finishing your sculptures. One difference here being, white canvas or paper is replaced with blonde pine, etc.

Additive Color. (Illumination)If we are working on a computer, the colors we see on the screen are created with light using the additive color method. Additive color mixing begins with black and ends with white; as more color is added, the result is lighter and tends to white.

Hue (e.g., red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple).

Lightness (light vs. dark, or white vs. black),

Chroma, intensity, saturation and luminance/value are inter-related terms and have to do with the description of a color.

Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray

Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue.(intense vs. dull)

Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black. 


Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white.

Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. One may lower the intensity by adding white or black.

Luminance / Value: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those hues with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value.

Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.

Complementary colors: We look at a color wheel to understand the relationships between colors. Analogous colors are positioned (next to one another) in such a way as to mimic the process that occurs when blending hues. The colors that are positioned opposite one another are complementary colors.

Achromatic colors: Any color that lacks strong chromatic content is said to be unsaturated, achromatic, or near neutral. Pure achromatic colors include black, white and all grays; near neutrals include browns, tans, pastels and darker colors. Near neutrals can be of any hue or lightness.

Neutrals are obtained by mixing pure colors with either white or black, or by mixing two complementary colors. In color theory, neutral colors are colors easily modified by adjacent more saturated colors and they appear to take on the hue complementary to the saturated color. Next to a bright red couch, a gray wall will appear distinctly greenish.

Warm vs. cool colors

The distinction between warm and cool colors has been important since at least the late 18th century [1] but is generally not remarked in modern color science. The contrast, as traced by etymologies in the Oxford English Dictionary, seems related to the observed contrast in landscape light, between the "warm" colors associated with daylight or sunset and the "cool" colors associated with a gray or overcast day. Warm colors are often said to be hues from red through yellow, browns and tans included; cool colors are often said to be the hues from blue green through blue violet, most grays included. Color theory has ascribed perceptual and psychological effects to this contrast. Warm colors are said to advance or appear more active in a painting, while cool colors tend to recede; used in interior design or fashion, warm colors are said to arouse or stimulate the viewer, while cool colors calm and relax.

Color harmony and color meaning (from Wiki, writer takes a scientific, less artistic, approach)

Color theory has long had the goal of predicting or specifying the color combinations that would work well together or appear harmonious. The color wheel has been adopted as a tool for defining these basic relationships. Some theorists and artists believe juxtapositions of complementary color is able to produce a strong contrast or tension, because they annihilate each other when mixed; others believe the juxtapositions of complementary colors produce harmonious color interactions. Colors next to each other on the color wheel are called analogous colors. They tend to produce a single-hued or a dominant color experience. Harmony has been sought in combinations other than these two. A split complementary color scheme employs a range of analogous hues, "split" from a basic key color, with the complementary color as contrast. A triadic color scheme adopts any three colors approximately equidistant around the hue circle. Printers or photographers sometimes employ a duotone color scheme, generated as value gradations in black and a single colored ink or color filter; painters sometimes refer to the same effect as a monochromatic color scheme.

Color in sculpture:

Thought must be given to the 3-Dimensional viewing experience. For example, using red on a limb of your sculpture that you want to visually extend forward into the viewer’s space would work great from one perceived side of the sculpture. However, on the back side of the work if that same limb is visible, it may visually extend into space as perceived from the back of your sculpture as well. Color must be designed in 3-D as well as the formal shapes within your work.

Color on material:

Most materials have an inherent color. A choice must be made between accentuating this “natural” color and concealing it. Color can be transparent, letting the natural colors come through, in our case showing grain structure. Color could also hide what the material is made of by using an opaque application of paint or laminate materials. Color can be applied to small portions of the object’s surface or all of its surface, consistency and variety are important design elements here.

Requirements:

Everyone must consider color, and use it in a way that informs your overall design. If you do not apply color to any portion of your sculpture you will loose points in the design category of your grade. Painting your entire piece is not mandatory.