COLOR Schemes

[Types of Color Schemes]

Monochromatic colors

Monochromatic refers to the use and variance to one hue within the color circle. Different harmonies are created by altering and combining different values and intensities of the same hue within a single composition. There are many monochromatic harmonies because of the subtle and closely related value possible within one hue scheme.

e.g. Monochromatic painting

Complementary colors

Complementary hues are located directly opposite each other on the color circle. When these pigments are mixed together in equal amounts, the result is a gray or achromatic color because the pigments absorb the primary light rays. If complementary hues are mixed in unequal proportions, they lessen the tone and intensity of the principal hue. Complementary hues are so named because when they are placed next to each other, they appear brighter, or of greater intensity, than when viewed alone or with an analogous hue.

e.g. Complementary color painting

Split-Complements:

The split-complementary (also called Compound Harmony) color scheme is a variation of the complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two “Analogous” colors adjacent to its complement. Split-complementary color scheme has the same strong visual contrast as the complementary color scheme, but has less pressure.

e.g. Split-complimentary colored painting

Achromatic colors

Achromatic means without hue or colorless. White, gray and black are achromatic or neutral because they lack color quality or hue. Black is absent of any color, therefore, it cannot reflect light. In additive mixing theory, white is thought of as the total accumulation of all color in the spectrum, thus light is the source of color.

The mixing of black and white pigments creates numerous tonal contrasts or gray values. This range of grays is important because it can indicate depth and relative distance within the visual field.

e.g. Achromatic coloured painting

Analogous colors

Analogous color scheme are based on the combination of several hues located adjacent to each other on the color circle. Analogous color harmonies can be extended in both value and brightness to create a wide variety of interesting compositions.

There are many ways analogous color schemes are diagrammed. The color circle can be divided according to the warm and cool hues. Generally speaking, warm hues refer to red, yellow and orange. Cool hues refer to green, blue and violet. Warm or cool distinctions may be within a specific hue as well as the distinction between specific hues. For example, a “warm red” may be slightly yellow or orange, while a “cool red” maybe slightly violet or purple in appearance. The perception of warm and cool hues is relative.

Analogous color schemes do not have to be selected according to the warm and cool hues, they can also be diagrammed by selecting one principal hue for a composition. This doesn’t necessarily need to be a primary or secondary hue, but rather the hue that will dominate the final composition. In addition, one or more hues on each side of the principal hue will give an analogous scheme.

e.g. Analogous coloured painting

Triad colors

Three hues spaced equidistantly around the color circle are called triads. By rotating an equilateral triangle in the center of the color circle, the hues of triad harmony can be determined. Since the primary and secondary pigments are equidistant from each other on the color circle, they combine to create color harmonies.

e.g. Triad Coloured painting

Tetrad colors

Tetrad colors are composed of four hues that are two sets of complements. A tetrad can be diagrammed as a square or as a rectangle in side the color circle.

Rectangle:

The rectangle color scheme uses four colors arranged into two complementary pairs and offers plenty of possibilities for variation. Rectangle color schemes work best when one color is dominant.

Square:

The square color scheme is similar to the rectangle, but with all four colors spaced evenly around the color circle. Square color schemes work best when all colors are evenly balanced.

e.g. Tetrad Coloured painting

COLORS & Its Meaning

Color is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, blue, yellow, etc. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light power versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects or materials based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra. By defining a color space colors can be identified numerically by their coordinates.

Because perception of color stems from the varying spectral sensitivity of different types of cone cells in the retina to different parts of the spectrum, colors may be defined and quantified by the degree to which they stimulate these cells. These physical or physiological quantifications of color, however, do not fully explain the psychophysical perception of color appearance.

The science of color is sometimes called chromatics, colorimetry, or simply color science. It includes the perception of color by the human eye and brain, the origin of color in materials, color theory in art, and the physics of electromagnetic radiation in the visible range (that is, what we commonly refer to simply as light).

Here is a table of colors and many of the meanings they tend to evoke, particularly in Western cultures. Notice how colors can mean very different things – it is not that the colors themselves have meaning, it is that we have culturally assigned meanings to them. For example, red means warmth because of the color of fire. Likewise, it means anger because of the increased redness of the face when it flushes with blood. Purple symbolizes royalty only because the only purple dye that was available for many centuries was very expensive.

Red: warmth, love, anger, danger, boldness, excitement, speed, strength, energy, determination, desire, passion, courage, socialism

PINK: feminine, love, caring, nurture

ORANGE: cheerfulness, low cost, affordability, enthusiasm, stimulation, creativity, aggression, food, halloween

YELLOW: attention-grabbing, comfort, liveliness, cowardice, hunger, optimism, overwhelm, Summer, comfort, liveliness, intellect, happiness, energy, conflict

GREEN: durability, reliability, environmental, luxurious, optimism, well-being, nature, calm, relaxation, Spring, safety, honesty, optimism, harmony, freshness

BLUE: peace, professionalism, loyalty, reliability, honor, trust, melancholia, boredom, coldness, Winter, depth, stability, professionalism, conservatism

PURPLE: power, royalty, nobility, elegance, sophistication, artificial, luxury, mystery, royalty, elegance, magic

GRAY: conservatism, traditionalism, intelligence, serious, dull, uninteresting

BROWN: relaxing, confident, casual, reassuring, nature, earthy, solid, reliable, genuine, Autumn, endurance

BLACK: Elegance, sophistication, formality, power, strength, illegality, depression, morbidity, night, death

WHITE: Cleanliness, purity, newness, virginity, peace, innocence, simplicity, sterility, snow, ice, cold

Nursery Rhymes and Abstract Design

Yay! Done with project 2. Personally I’m pretty much satisfied looking at the final printed version of my best four nursery rhymes composition.

Overall, I find this project really fun and interesting. It reminded me a lot of my childhood time. This project not only taught me on the basic
design principles of creating creative design, but through this project, it developed my sensitivity on looking at composition and understand the layout and aspect of the design principles better. Besides that, I managed to pick up some Photoshop skills, which are rather quite new to me, this enables me to be much more proficient in using software such as
Photoshop and illustrator.

Apart from that, choosing the right format, in terms of the resolution and the art board size is the most crucial step before starting on any
design work.

Hence for my final four work, it all came down to an idea of using the basic design principles. Keeping my artwork simple yet it still retained the original meaning and some on the other hand had a sense of
symbolism.

If you could notice, most of my artwork, I left a lot of white space and this is one of my main key elements to my design that is what I would generally like to achieve. By doing so, it added a contrast and focuses
entirely on the the main subject or the foreground. This set of principles I picked up from the book of Using Design Basic – To Get Creative Result by Bryan L. Peterson. I also used a lot of perspective to create depth and forming the shapes into symmetry line to make the whole composition balance.

Okay I think I shall stop saying much and let my composition do the
talking instead. Enjoy!