Color has great expressive qualities; so it is important to understand what it is and how you see it.
Definition: Color is what is perceived when waves of light strike the retina of the eye. Every color is the product of a combination of reflected light waves—white reflects all light waves and is, therefore, a combination of all colors.
By bending a white light wave through a prism, we can see the color spectrum: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Color has three properties, which work together to make the colors we see: 1. Hue
2. Value
3. Intensity
Color has three properties
1) Hue is the name of a color in the color spectrum. Red, yellow, and blue are the primary hues in pigments.
The Color Wheel
The color wheel
shows hue as a
spectrum bent into a circle.
It is a useful tool for
organizing colors. It shows the primary, secondary, and intermediate hues.
2) Value is the element of art
that describes the darkness or lightness of a color. You can add
black or white to hues to change their values.
(3) Intensity is the brightness or dullness of a hue. A light value of a hue is called a tint. A dark value of a hue is called a shade. To lower the intensity of a hue, you can mix it with its complement.
A color scheme is simply a plan for organizing colors. Color schemes are classified by how the colors relate to each other on the color wheel. Types of color schemes include monochromatic, analogous, and complementary.
Monochromatic Color Schemes A color scheme that includes only one hue plus the various values and intensities of that hue is called a monochromatic color scheme.
EXAMPLE: Monochromatic
EXAMPLE: Monochromatic
Artist Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881 -1973) Title
Un verre sur une table (A Glass on a Table)
Date 1913
medium oil on canvas size 7-1/2 x 9-1/2 in.
Analogous Color Schemes
An analogous color scheme uses hues that are side by side on the color wheel and share a hue. Any of the values and intensities of those hues could be used in the color scheme also.
EXAMPLE: Analogous
EXAMPLE: Analogous
Can you name other Analogous colors?
Complementary Color Schemes
Another type of color scheme that is often used by artists is a complementary color scheme, which is created using hues that are opposite each other on the color wheel.
EXAMPLE: Complementary
EXAMPLE: Complementary
EXAMPLE: Complementary
Georges Braque (French, 1882–1963)
The Studio, 1939 Oil with sand on canvas; H. 44-1/2, W. 57-1/2 in. (113 x 146.1 cm)
Can you name other Complementary colors?
Color pairs that are opposite on the color whee are:
- red & green
- yellow & violet - blue & orange - red-violet & yellow-green - red-orange & blue-green - yellow-orange & blue-violet
Split Complementary
One color plus the two colors that are on either side of its complement on the color wheel.
Triadic
Three colors equidistant each other on the color wheel.
Name That Triadic
Now you name the three colors equidistant each other on the color wheel beginning with YELLOW.
Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red), 1949. Oil on canvas, 81 1/2 x 66 inches.
Henri Matisse, Nu bleu I, 1952
Helen Frankenthaler American, born 1928 Untitled (study for Postcard for James Schuyler), 1962 Drawing in acrylic, oils, and crayon over a lithograph, on cream paper 19 7/8 x 25 3/4 in. (50.7 x 65.4 cm)