Color Theory IIAdditive and Subtractive

Additive Color Theory

Additive Color Theory states that in the natural world white light is made up of three basic components: red, green, and blue light

In theory adding these three primary colors of light, red, green, and blue, together achieve white

This is where we get RGB which is used by computer monitors

Subtractive Color Theory explains how cyan, magenta, and yellow pigments or inks on paper subtracts white light components

Since white light is made up of red, green and blue light, the inks subtract out that particular portion or color of light

Whatever light that is left is recognized by the eye as a particular hue

This is where we get CMYK which is used in the printing process

Subtractive Color Theory

Photoshop info

Color Picker

Color

Cool colorsCool colors are made

mostly of green, blue and violet (purple).

This family of colors is called cool because they remind you of cool things like a cool forest or a cold lake. This painting by Claude Monet uses cool colors to suggest a quiet pond.

Cool colors can even make you feel cooler because they can slightly decrease your circulation and body temperature!

Warm colorsWarm colors are made

mostly of red, orange and yellow. This family of colors is called warm because they remind you of warm things like the sun or fire. Warm colors can even make you feel warmer because they can slightly increase your circulation and body temperature!

Neutral Temperature ColorsThe two Neutral

temperature colors appearing on the color wheel are: Yellow-green and Red-violet.

They are neutral because they depend upon the temperature of the colors they are placed next to.

Yellow-green

Red-violet

What is the Feel (temperature) of the Neutral colors?

Notice how the neutrals feel cool or warm depending on which color temperatures you group them with.

Complementary colors

Complementary colors are located directly across from each other on the color wheel.

Complementary pairs contrast because they share no common colors. For example, red and green are complements, because green is made of blue and yellow.

Complementary colors can appear very exciting and seem to vibrate when placed side by side. By placing brilliant orange flowers against a bright blue background, Vincent van Gogh's painting buzzes with visual energy.

Because van Gogh did not smooth his brush strokes, it's easy to see how he used complementary pairs. The red of the flowers contrasts with the green of the leaves. He also included dashes of violet which interact with the yellows.

Tint = color + white

Tints are light values of a color. One usually makes tints by mixing a color with different amounts of white.

Or, a tint can be made by allowing the white of the paper, canvas or board to show through the color.

In water color paint, just thin with water and watch the tint come through.

Shade = color + black

Shades are dark values of a color.

One usually makes shades by mixing a color with different amounts of black.

Side note: Pigments

Pigments give color to paint. In the past, pigments were powders made by grinding up minerals, plants and animal parts. The most expensive pigments used to be gold, vermilion (a red pigment made from sulfur and mercury) and ultramarine (a blue pigment made from a stone called lapis lazuli). Modern pigments are made from chemicals which come in brighter colors, resist fading, and are less expensive.

Pigments are mixed with a "binding agent" such as egg, oil, animal fat, water or synthetic resin to make a paintable liquid that dries.

Color Schemes and HarmoniesColor Schemes are a systematic way of using the color wheel to put colors together… in your art work, putting together the clothes you wear, deciding what colors to paint your room….

◦ Monochromatic, ◦ complementary, ◦ analogous, ◦ warm and cool.

Color HarmoniesThink of a color

wheel as a map for locating colors. The route you travel between the colors is what you use to create your color scheme.

Or use it like a clock and symbols to remember the color harmonies.

Complementary Color Harmony

Complementary colors are those colors that appear opposite each other on the color wheel.

Y

V

Complementary Color Harmony

Paul Cézanne has used complementary colors of blue and orange to create this composition of onions and wine.

Split-Complementary Color Harmony

Split complement is taking the two colors on either side of the complement.

i.e. Split-complement of yellow is blue-violet and red-violet

y

BV RV

The Scream Edvard Munch was a

Norwegian artist whose brooding and anguished paintings and graphic works, based on personal grief and obsessions, were instrumental in the development of expressionism.

Analogous Color HarmonyThree or four

colors that are adjacent or next to each other on the color wheel.

Analogous colors are ‘similar’ in that they all share one primary color in their composition or make up.

Analogous

Henri Rousseau was a self-taught Sunday painter who began intensive painting when he was 40 years old.

Triadic Color Harmony Triadic Color Harmony is three

colors equidistant (the same distance from one another,) on the color wheel.

Triadic color

Piet MondrianMondrian was one of the

most original thinkers of early twentieth century art, as he pushed for a simplification in art, restricting his palette to the ‘plastic’ essentials of the primary colors.

Tetrad Color HarmonyTetrad Color

Harmony is four colors equidistant on the color wheel.

Sometimes called a double complement because there are two complementary color harmonies together.

Henri MatisseInstinct must be

thwarted just as one prunes the branches of a tree so that it will grow better. -- Henri Matisse

Madame Matisse, "The Green Line" ( La Raie verte). 1905. Oil on canvas. Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Monochromatic Color HarmonyMono (one)

chromatic is one color and various tints (lighter) and shades (darker) of the same color.CHROMA means; The intensity or brilliancy of a color.

Monochromatic

Monochromatic can be very powerful for evening scenes where values are more evident. Also for scenes of the desert or Mountain scenes in the winter.

Tints

Tints are lightened colors.

Always begin with white and add a bit of color to the white until the desired tint is obtained.

This an example of a value

scale for the tints of blue.

Shades

Shades are darkened colors.

Always begin with the color and add just a bit of black at a time to get the desired shade of a color.

This is an example of a value scale for the shades of blue.

Values of ColorColor values are the lights and darks of a color

you create by using black and white (“neutrals”) with a color. This makes hundreds of more colors from the basic 12 colors of the wheel.

White + color = tintColor + black = shades

HUE is another name for color.

Neutrally mixed Colors The principles of color

mixing let us describe a variety

of colors, but there are still many colors to explore.

The neutral colors contain equal parts of each of the three primary colors. Black, White, Gray and sometimes brown are considered “neutral”.

Gray is a neutral color made by mixing complementary colors or the primary colors. Semi-neutral colors such as browns are also made by mixing colors across the color wheel.