Research Journal

Colours living in harmony.

Colour Schemes|Colour Palettes|Colour Harmonies

Colours can set a mood, attract attention, or make a statement. You can use color to energize, or to cool down. By selecting the right color scheme, you can create an ambiance of elegance, warmth or tranquility, or you can convey an image of playful youthfulness. Color can be your most powerful design element if you learn to use it effectively.

Colour Harmonies

Complementary Colours

Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are considered to be complementary colors (example: red and green).

The high contrast of complementary colors creates a vibrant look especially when used at full saturation. This color scheme must be managed well so it is not jarring.Complementary color schemes are tricky to use in large doses, but work well when you want something to stand out.

~~Complementary colors are really bad for text.~~

Triadic Colours

A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel. Triadic color schemes tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues. To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced – let one color dominate and use the two others for accent.

Analogous Colours

Analogous color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. They usually match well and create serene and comfortable designs. Analogous color schemes are often found in nature and are harmonious and pleasing to the eye.

Split-complementary Colours

The split-complementary color scheme is a variation of the complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement. This color scheme has the same strong visual contrast as the complementary color scheme, but has less tension.

Tetradic Colours

The rectangle or tetradic color scheme uses four colors arranged into two complementary pairs. This rich color scheme offers plenty of possibilities for variation. Tetradic color schemes works bestwhen one colour is dominant.

Square Colour Scheme

The square color scheme is similar to the rectangle, but with all four colors spaced evenly around the color circle.

Monochromatic Colours

The first way to achieve color harmony is through the use of monochromatic colors. It means that different tones, tints, shades of a single (mono) color (chromatic) are used. To achieve this, add more black, white or grey to a chosen color on the colour wheel. This creates a visually appealing image that is balanced. However, it may lack color contrast.

Visual Examples

Triadic Colours

Complementary Colours

Split Complementary Colours

Analogous Colours

Tetradic Colours

Sources:

Color Harmony: Why Hulk Wears Purple Pants

http://seeinginmacro.com/colors-in-photography-learn-how-to-achieve-color-harmony/

http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

Project 1 // a line is a dot that went for a walk.

how would you express your emotions through lines?

Project Brief:

Use the concept of lines to interpret a set of 18 different emotions, with the use of different mediums and method in creating the different emotions being anxious, embarrassed, bizarre, exhausted, fragile, systematic, lyrical, turbulent, nonsensical, psychotic, ambiguous,, spontaneous, distracted, sloven, sensual, aggressive, awkward, and indecisive.

Research & Exploration:

By looking up the definitions of all the emotions on the internet, I started the journey on creating the emotions. Having to know more of each emotions and what they really are, it gave me a better idea on how to approach this project.

Stage 1 | Ideation

With all the definitions on hand, I am able to start sketching and generating ideas on the different emotions.

Anxious: shaky, tremble, up and down

Embarrassed: shy, exposed, blushing, centre of attraction

Bizarre: weird, unusual, mysterious

Exhausted: tired, used up, empty

Fragile: delicate, brokeen, weak, brittle, shattered

Systematic: uniformed, patterned, repeated, automated

Lyrical: music, poetry peaceful

Turbulent: violent, impactful, agitation

Nonsensical: foolish, absurd, meaningless

Psychotic: crazy, mad, disturbed, insane

Ambiguous: several possibility, doubtful, unclear

Distracted: bored, lost focus, loss of attention

Sensual: fleshly, lewd, arousing

Sloven: untidy, messy, sloppy

Spontaneous: sudden, unplanned, natural reaction

Aggressive: fierce, anger, force

Awkward: inconvenient, unfamiliar, clumsy

Indecisive: unsure, uncertain

Stage 2 | Execution

Having sketched out the different ideas on the emotions, I proceeded with the execution on a smaller scale of the final product. The main mediums used were markers, fineliner pens, and pencils. I also had in mind what were the possible mediums i could use for the final product.

↑↑ possible mediums that can be used.

Finalising the artwork.

(Description in order with sequence of strips)

Exhausted: The use of thick markers and slowly dying down to finer marker lines depicts the sign of exhaustion and being worn out.

Bizarre: Using organism-like illustrations is how I think of bizarre, as microscopic cells, which we cannot see with our naked eye and it could look like anything.

Embarrassed: Having the black dots as a person, the lines around it, be it going towards or distancing away, conveys the idea of one being the centre of attention when done something wrong/ unexpected, hence feeling embarrassed.

Anxious: Thick and thin up down arrows would be how being anxious can be shown.

Fragile: The use of the cross section of a wooden chopstick with ink stamped, shows the structure, and by dapping the ‘broken pieces’ with the broken tip of the wooden chopsticks, shows the pieces broken when something has snapped/ been broken into half.

Systematic: An abstract of the DNA structure.

Lyrical: Curvy and wavy lines; as though leaves are bristling through the wind. Done with calligrahy pen.

Turbulent: Impactful and fast, with thick markers and thinner markers to portray the fast movement.

Distracted: a sudden surge in activity after a period of constant concentration. Thick and thin lines can be related to different people with different kinds of distractions.

Ambiguous: Organic shapes, and then geometric shapes. What could it be?

Psychotic: The doctor said to the mad men, ” Now, draw me proper squares, circles and triangles.”

Nonsensical: Curvy, yet with some illegitimate scribbles in it. You call that a curve? That’s nonsense.

Aggressive: Hard, sharp lines. Even tore up the paper. You,ve gotta chill man.

Spontaneous: Let the dot be a soccer ball. Imagine someone kicked it and its going everywhere out of a sudden.

Sloven: I drew it on a piece of crumpled paper. Acceptable i guess?

Sensual: Inspired from the human muscles, curvy and sleek with different tones.

Indecisive: Not sure on which medium to use. Used correction tape to make amendments over and over again.

Awkward: Let the lines be some sort of a construction. You have to get from Point A to Point B. The black tape is path you have to take, awkward.

The Next Episode

// // shakha weed everyday.