Color Theory The art and science of color interaction.

Color Theory The art and science of color interaction.

Like a physicist, artists use color wavelengths to create visual effects. Like a chemist, artists are aware of safety and permanence of dyes and pigments. Like a physiologist, artists use color to create illusion of space. Like a psychologist, artists are aware of the psychological impact of color on communication and expression

Additive Color Created using beams of light. Red, green, and blue (RGB) are primary colors in this system.

Subtractive Color Created when white light is reflected off a pigmented or dyed surface. Primary colors in this system are cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Process Colors Cyan blue, magenta red, and yellow. Black is added to enhance detail (CMYK).

Lighting designers, videographers, and web artists use additive color. Painters, printmakers, illustrators, and visual artists in general, use subtractive color.

Color Overtones A secondary hue bias in a primary color.

Color Interaction The way colors influence one another.

Simultaneous Contrast The way a color changes when paired with another color. * Light and dark contrast * Complementary reaction * Pulling undertones of color is undertone is the background color

Bezold Effect Demonstrates the profound influence of color interaction. The change in a single color can substantially alter our perception of an entire pattern.

Opponent Theory Cones in the eye can register only one color in a complementary pair at a time. Constant shifting between opposing colors creates a visual overload at the edges of the shapes, resulting in an electric glow.

Afterimage If you stare at one color for awhile then look at a white page, the cones in the eye fatigue and we see the image as the complementary color.

Hue The name of color. Hue is determined by wavelength.

Color can shift visual balance, create a focal point, influence our emotions, and expand communication.

Through color choice, we can cause various areas in a composition to expand and contrast visually.

The push and pull of color can be a major source of energy in a nonobjective composition.

Color effects visual weight and balance in a composition.

Color is often used to emphasize critical information in a composition.

Colors are never emotionally neutral.

Color Key Dominant color. Can heighten psychological, as well as compositional impact.

Colors are often assigned symbolic meaning. These meanings vary from culture to culture. For example: Blue symbolizes a baby boy in America, but means mourning in Borneo and the direction South in Tibet.

Primary Colors Red, blue, and yellow.

Secondary Colors Green, orange, and violet. Found by mixing adjacent primaries.

Tertiary Colors The mixture of a secondary color and the adjacent primary.

Temperature The heat a color generates both physically and psychologically. Warm colors advance (red, yellow, orange) Cool colors recede (blue, green, violet)

Value Relative lightness and darkness of a color. All colors initially nearly have the same value.

Tint White added to a hue. Results in a lighter hue.

Tone Addition of gray to a hue.

Shade Black is added to a hue. Results in a darker hue.

The simplest way to unify a design is to limit colors to the tints, tones, and shades of a single hue.

Intensity, saturation, and chroma refer to the purity of a color.

Primary colors are most intense because they are most pure. Intensity diminishes as colors are mixed.

Monochromatic Color Scheme Variations on a single hue. Gives a high level of unity, but could be visually boring.

Analogous Color Scheme Adjacent colors on the color wheel. Gives a high degree of unity and more variety, so it can increase interest.

Complementary Color Scheme Opposite colors on the color wheel. When complementary colors are mixed together, the intensity lowers and browns are created. When used next to each other, they increase the intensity of one another.

Split Complementary Colors Two colors on either side of one of the complements, plus the opposite complement.

Triadic Color Scheme Using color located in a triangle on the color wheel. Each color is equally spaced on the color wheel. Gives a lot of variety and creates a strong visual impact.

Chromatic Grey Made from a mixture of various hues rather than black and white mixed. Creates a more unified grey in the composition.

Earth Colors - Made from pigments found in soil. Colors such as raw and burnt sienna, raw and burnt umber, and yellow ochre are earth colors.

Color Disharmony Often used when the subject matter is disturbing or when an unusual visual approach is needed.

Color can increase the power of a given shape, shift compositional weight and create a focal point. It can enhance the illusion of space, suggest volume, and heighten emotion.