Color Theory

Color Wheel §

• Hue - the name of the color family (i.e., Red, Green, Blue, Cyan, Yellow, or Magenta)

• Saturation - pertains to how intense or dull the color is. Specifically, it is the intensity of the light proportional to brightness.

  • Shade is a related quality. It is the color obtained when black is added to the color .
  • Tint is another related quality. It is the color obtained when white is added to the color.
  • A Tone is a pure hue with neutral gray added. That is, it is the color obtained when gray is added to the hue.
  • Gray is defined as a neutral color (low saturation)

• Chroma is a similar quantity which pertains to the perceived strength of a surface color seen in relation to white.

  • Saturation and Chroma are not the same.

    Chroma can be modified by changing the lighting of the scene Saturation is invariant to lighting and is more dependent on how “faded” or “intense” the object would appear under bright light.

• Value - pertains to how light or dark the color is

  • The Peak Chroma Value is the value of a given hue that gives the greatest chroma.

• A Complement is the color that appears directly across the color wheel.

  • When complements are mixed, the result is neutral gray.

• Local Color pertains to the color of the surface of an object as it appears up close in white light.

  • Local Color is not the same as Perceived color.
  • The colors used in the actual piece will be the local color with a slightly modified hue, saturation or value. This comes about due to the effect of Lighting.

Palette / Schemes §

• Analogous - directly next to each other in the color wheel. The colors farther away from the primary color have increased saturation.
  • Typically creates a softer design with less contrast.
  • They are automatically related and harmonious.
• Monochromatic - one hue with varying values (going light to dark).
  • We can use a monochromatic scheme to plan for tonal values [^grisaille]

[[^grisaille]: This derives from a painting process called grisaille (lit. in gray).

• Complementary - use two colors that are directly adjacent from each other on the color wheel.

  • The traditional approach is one color is dark and desaturated, the other is light and saturated.
  • It tends to evoke high contrast.

• Split Complementary - create a Y on the color wheel. That is, one dominant color and the two colors adjacent to the dominant color’s complement.

  • All colors provide contrast. Two colors work great together but more than two will require more balance.

• Triadic - choose three colors that are equally placed in lines around the color wheel.

  • Tends to create high contrast while retaining saturation.
  • It also gives a bright and lively appearance.
  • The three colors appear in a variety of shades, tones, tints, and mixtures.
  • The secondaries of of any triadic gamut will be lower in chroma than the primaries. This is called the saturation cost

• Square - choose four equidistant colors from each other. Typically, we choose one dominant color than try to balance all four.

• One technique we can use is called Gamut Mapping where we mark the boundaries of a palette on the color wheel using a shape on the color wheel (called the gamut).

  • The Gamut defines the range of colors. Any colors outside the gamut are ignored.
  • The Subjective Primaries pertain to the outer lines of the gamut map. These are the cleanest mixtures between any two starting colors.
  • The Purest Secondaries are formed halfway along straight lines in the Gamut Map.
  • The Subjective Neutral is the color at the center of the gamut. This is the color that would appear as neutral in the piece.
  • Any other color is a mixture of primaries.
  • Gamuts let us control the colors in the piece.

Color Moods and Perception §

• Color and Lighting affect the viewer’s mood>

• Low value = Low Contrast and Sharper. High Value = Harsher

• Low saturation = Low energy. High saturation = High energy.

• Closer to Red = Warmer. Closer to Blue = Colder

• The key is to balance low and high value. Low and High Saturation.

• All mood relies on context.

• In a sequential art form, no color scheme stands alone. The color scheme of each frame must be seen in relation to the one that precedes and follows it. In such a case, color moods reflect the narrative being told.

  • Changes in color signal a change in mood.

• Oversharpness happens because our eyes naturally adjust their focus to both near and far objects when we look around at the real world. Thus everything being equally crisp is an illusion.

• If only one plane of distance is in focus (i.e., in the case of a camera), then this creates depth of field.

• We do not see objective colors. Colors are perceived.

  • Purkinje Shift - a phenomenon where blue-green hues appear lighter in tone in dimmer conditions.
  • This affects the artist’s perception as much as it does the audience’s. Thus, the artist should be wary of how the brain perceives color.
  • Opponent Process Theory of Color vision suggests that all colors we see are the results of interactions between opposing pairs of color receptors.
  • Color Constancy refers to the habit of interpreting local colors as stable and unchanging regardless of the effects of colored illumination, cast shadows and form modeling
  • When looking at a scene, the experience of one color affects the way we see others.
    • When we look at an object of a certain color, our eyes adapt to that color. This afterimage affects what we look at next.

Mixing §

• Additive Color Mixing involves adding one light to another.

• Subtractive Color Mixing occurs when light is absorbed by a medium.

• Additive Mixing produces a brighter, more vibrant / saturated color.

• Subtractive Mixing produces a darker, more muted / saturated color.

• A Color String consists of a set of colors of a given hue, mixed from light to dark values ¹

Techniques §

• Grays accentuate the brighter colors of the image.

  • It tends to be better to derive grays from mixing complementary pairs.

• One way to desaturate is to mix in the complementary color to add grays to the image.

• A low saturation image can be enlivened by shifting value and hue.

• Do not have overall saturation too high.

• Greens tend to look intense, especially outdoors See here . Some tips

  • Remove green from the palette and mix them from blues and yellows to get weaker and more varied greens.
  • Vary the greens
  • Mix pink or red into the piece.

• Gradiation can come in multiple ways — gradual variations in hues, saturations or values.

• Tints / Adding White creates a more pastel color or a feeling of light permeating in the image

• Keep your palette limited. Often you only need at most four or five colors (with mixing allowed).

• Start with grayscale to analyze the role of contrast in the image.

• Warm and Cool colors can be used to complement eac each other

• A color accent is any small area of color noticeably different from the rest of the colors in the composition.

  • It adds interest to a low saturation image. It draws attention to the color accent.
  • We usually use a complement or near complement to the other colors except with more chroma.
  • They can also be used to provide variety to the image, especially if it has large areas with the same hues.
  • It enlivens the scene by breaking the monotony as a result of the eyes adapting to the rest of the colors in the composition.

• Use edges, regions of controlled blurriness, especially along the boundary of the form, to communicate depth or dim illumination

  • Softened edges help make depth more apparent. They allow the sharper edges to stick out more

• When coloring from observation, learn to isolate the colors, that is, bypass how our mind perceives color.

  • When using a picture (from a camera) as reference, remember that the camera does not see as the eye does. In particular, things out of focus appear blurry. More specifically ,look out for the following:
    • Clipping - loss of information due to the camera’s inability to respond to extreme bright or dim light. This means that deep shadows appear pure black and bright highlights appear pure white.
    • Colors tend to shift or weaken in chroma and become monochromatic.
    • Close variations between adjacent warm and cool colors are not registered.
    • Weak sources of illumination are often lost.
  • The appearance of colors is influenced by the following:
    • Simultaneous Contrast - the hue, saturation or brightness of a background color induces opposite qualities in an object sitting in front of it.
    • Successive Contrast - looking at one color changes the next color we see.
    • Chromatic Adaptation - our visual system becomes accustomed to a given color of illumination. When the illumination changes in color temperature, the sensitivity of color receptors changes in relative proportion.
    • Color Constancy - local colors appear consistent regardless of lighting circumstances that may actually affect hue, saturation or value.
    • Size - the smaller a colored object becomes, the less distinct the color appear to be.

• Keep lighting consistent.

Links §

• How I pick Colours by Bluebiscuits

• How to Pick Colours for Your Art by Winged Canvas

• Color Theory 101

• Practical Color Theory

• Gamut Mask Tool

• Color and Lights by Gurney

• Lighting Principles

Footnotes §

1. Actually, this technique comes from the same-named technique in painting called premixing where blobs of hues are pre-prepared. ↩