Design Basics - 7e - c 13.pdf - po ang - Januszek66

William Steig. 1957.

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CHAPTER

COLOR

INTRODUCTION

Color Theory 252

COLOR AND BALANCE

Achieving Balance within

Asymmetrical Composition 270

COLOR CHARACTERISTICS

Light and Color Perception 254

COLOR AND SPACE

Color’s Spatial Properties 272

COLOR CHARACTERISTICS

Inﬂ uence of Context 256

COLOR SCHEMES

Monochromatic/Analogous 274

PROPERTIES OF COLOR

Hue 258

COLOR SCHEMES

Complementary/Triadic 276

PROPERTIES OF COLOR

Value 260

COLOR DISCORD AND

VIBRATING COLORS

Unexpected Combinations 278

PROPERTIES OF COLOR

Intensity/Complementary Colors 262

COLOR USES

Local, Optical, Arbitrary 280

VISUAL COLOR MIXING

Techniques that Suggest Light 264

EMOTIONAL COLOR

Color Evokes a Response 282

COOL/WARM COLORS

Identifying Color with the Senses 266

COLOR SYMBOLISM

Conceptual Qualities of Color 284

COLOR AS EMPHASIS

Color Dominance 268

COLOR VERSUS VALUE

A Continuing Debate 286

251

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INTRODUCTION

COLOR THEORY

Color Mixing

But although color indeed comes from light, the guidelines of

color mixing and usage are different depending on whether

the color source is light or pigments and dyes. Rays of light

are direct light, whereas the color of paint is reﬂ ected light.

Color from light combines and forms new visual sensations

based on what is called the additive system . On the other

hand, pigments combine in the subtractive system . This

term is appropriate. Blue paint is “blue” because when light

hits its surface the pigment absorbs (or “subtracts”) all the

color components except the blue that is reﬂ ected to our

eyes. Artists should be aware of both systems. The painter,

of course, will be mainly concerned with the subtractive,

whereas the stage lighting designer, photographer, and often

the interior designer will be concerned with the additive.

Lights projected from different sources mix accord-

ing to the additive method. The diagram in B shows the

three primary colors of light—red, green, and blue—and

the colors produced where two hues overlap. The three

primaries combined will produce white light. Complemen-

tary (or opposite) hues in light (red/cyan, blue/yellow,

green/magenta) when mixed will again produce an achro-

matic (neutral) gray or white. Where light from a cyan

(blue-green) spotlight overlaps with light from a red spot-

light, the visual sensation is basically white. Combining

these two colors in paint would produce a dark neutral

“mud”—anything but white.

This latter mixture of pigments functions according to

the subtractive system. The red paint reﬂ ects little or no blue-

green, and the blue-green paint reﬂ ects little or no red. When

mixed together they act like two ﬁ lters that now combine to

reﬂ ect less light, thus approaching black (or a dark neutral)

as the result. All paint mixture is to some degree subtractive;

that is, the mixture is always weaker than at least one of the

parent colors.

Because this book is primarily for use in studio art classes,

where the usual medium is paint, the information in this

chapter refers mainly to the subtractive system of color usage.

It is not only the professional artist or designer who deals

with color. All of us make color decisions almost every

day. We constantly choose items to purchase of which the

color is a major factor. Our world today is marked by bold

uses of color in every area of ordinary living. We can make

color choices for everything from home appliances to bank

checks—it seems that most things we use have blossomed

into bright colors. Fashion design, interior design, architecture,

industrial design—all ﬁ elds in art are now increasingly

concerned with color.

Therefore, everyone can proﬁ t by knowing some basic

color principles. Unfortunately, the study of color can be

rather complex. The word color has so many aspects that it

means different things to a physicist, optician, psychiatrist,

poet, lighting engineer, and painter; and the analysis of

color becomes a multifaceted report in which many experts

competently describe their ﬁ ndings. Shelves of books in the

library on the topic attest that a comprehensive study of color

from all viewpoints is impossible in a limited space.

The Essentials

However, any study of color must start with a few important,

basic facts. The essential fact of color theory is that color

is a property of light, not an object itself. Sir Isaac Newton

illustrated this property of light in the seventeenth century

when he put white light through a prism. The prism broke

up white light into the familiar rainbow of hues (A) . Objects

have no color of their own but merely the ability to reﬂ ect

certain rays of white light, which contains all the colors. Blue

objects absorb all the rays except the blue ones, and these are

reﬂ ected to our eyes. Black objects absorb all the rays; white

objects reﬂ ect all of them. The signiﬁ cance of this fact for the

artist is that as light changes, color will change.

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CHAPTER 13 COLOR | 253

The spectrum of colors is created by passing white light

through a prism.

Colors of light mix according to the additive process.

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COLOR CHARACTERISTICS

LIGHT AND COLOR PERCEPTION

survival. Imagine the problems if we questioned the colors

of things with each new perception. Yet it is just this kind of

questioning that has led artists such as Monet to reveal the

range of color sensations around us. Monet’s two paintings

of poplars along the River Epte (A and B) are typical of this

artist’s reinvestigation of the same setting under different

circumstances. Season, time of day, and weather conditions

all contribute to different light and a difference in the color

we perceive.

In any discussion of color, it is important to acknowledge

that color is a product of light. Therefore, as light changes,

the color we observe will change. What color is grass?

Green? Grass may be almost gray at dawn, yellow-green

at noon, and blue-black at midnight. The colors of things

are constantly changing with the light. Though this is a

simple visual fact, our mind insists that the grass is green

despite the visual evidence to the contrary, a psychological

compensation called color constancy . This constancy

effect is useful from the standpoint of human adaptation and

Claude Monet. Poplars on the Epte. 1891. Oil on canvas,

92.4

73.7 cm. Tate Gallery, London, England.

Claude Monet. Poplars. 1891. Oil on canvas, 3’ 3 3 / 8 ”

2’ 1 5 / 8 ” (100

65 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art.

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