Download Chromatic Value, Monochromatic images, Primary

Chromatic Value,
Monochromatic Images, Primary
Colors, Hue, Saturation
A very quick intro to Color Physics
Isaac Newton: by refracting rays of light through a prism, hediscovered color was a function
of light, and that all color is contained in sunlight.
Color: the visible spectrum is found in
light, aka Spectral Hues
These spectral hues are the basic colors we work with; red, orange, yellow, green, blue,& violet
HUE
• The color quality identified by a color’s name.
This is determined by a color’s wavelength.
• Any of these colors fall under the general hue
“red”.
Primary Colors
• RED
• BLUE
• Yellow
These are the primary colors in the subtractive
(pigment based) color system. Mixing two primary
colors produces Secondary colors: Orange, Green,
Purple. Primary colors cannot be mixed from other
colors.
Stuart Davis
An Additive, or Light-based color system, where the three primaries create white
Primaries and Secondaries in a light-based system, where Red, Green, and Blue
Make magenta, yellow, and cyan, and finally, white.
Traditional, Pigmentbased color system,
where the three
primaries create black
Saturation
• The purity of a color, how ‘true’ it is. A color
with no white, black, gray, etc added is said to
be at Full Saturation, or Highly Saturated.
• Colors that have been mixed or blended with
black, white, or other colors are Low(er) in
Saturation.
Vermeer
A primary composition?
Chromatic and Achromatic Value
• Last week, we mixed Achromatic neutrals,
grays that are mixes of black and white.
• Chromatic neutrals are neutrals mixed from
colors to create grays or browns.
•
A ‘neutral’ is a non-color, like gray or brown.
Achromatic
Chromatic
What is this? What kind of value is
demonstrated here?
What is ‘value distribution’? Does this image depict a high key, low
key,high contrast, or full range value pattern?
Value: the amount of light or dark in colors
Colors have inherent values. In these Chromatic Value Scales the step at Full Saturation
(full purity) arrives at different point in each scale. In yellow, it is step 4, red: step 7, blue:
step 9. This is because pure blue is inherently darker than pure yellow.
To change a color’s saturation, as well
as it’s value:
TINTS: Color +White
•Shades: Color +
Black
•Tones: Color + Gray
Brief History of Color
Theories/The Color Wheel
Artists develop Color theories in order to create rules for harmonious color
relationships, to understand how colors relate to one another, and to
visualize how colors mix. In many cases, a circle is the convenient format for
observing color relationships, as it allows us to visualize how colors relate to
one another (green is between yellow and red) and visualize each color
individually.
The Color Wheel
Our standard color wheel includes
twelve pieces, made up of three
primary colors, three secondary
colors, and six tertiary colors
(mixtures of primary and secondary
colors)
Aristotle
Developed a theory of colors based on
observing color in nature. He believed color
was perceived through combinations of light
and dark, and represented how the elements
of nature behaved in the physical world.
The elements of color were: Sunlight, Firelight,
Air and Water
Colors were made by mixing the elements: for
example, red was a mixture of sunlight and
darkness.
This explained why the sky turned red at sunrise
and sunset—the sun was mixing with the
approaching or receding night.
His basic colors were red, yellow, blue, green,
violet, black, white and brown
Leonardo da Vinci
Developed his own palette of basic hues, each
hue relating to the natural world.
NIGHT AIR WATER FIRE EARTH LIGHT
His palette was a spiritual manifestation of the
physical world through paint.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)
Was the first color theorist to approach color from a
scientific, rather than spiritual standpoint.
(Mostly. Originally, he observed seven, not six
spectral hues, including indigo, possibly basing
this on the seven musical tones and the seven
spheres of heaven.)
Newton created the first color wheel.
• Newton discovered color was a function of
light. He observed the spectral hues when he
bent light through a prism.
Because his color system was based on light, his ideas were somewhat theoretical (at
the time).
He was never able to reproduce all his theories through paint (for example, mixing all
primaries together to create white) because the pigment system works different than
the light system does.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832)
Reacted against Newton’s theories because they
didn’t translate to mixing pigments.
He theorized that color phenomenon happened
in the human eye, rather than in white light.
Goethe observed that under strong midday sun, shadows were black or gray, but
that in other conditions, cast shadows were the complement of the hue of light.
This observation was important to the Impressionist painters.
Richard Diebenkorn
And later, to Bay Area Expressionists
Wayne Thiebaud
Goethe’s models of color relationships
are the six-hue color wheel
Which demonstrates primary and secondary colors (depicted as triangles) and
complementary relationships (depicted as straight lines.
…and the Color Triangle
In this model, primary colors
(red, yellow, blue) are the
points of the triangle, and
secondary colors (orange,
yellow, green) are on the inside
edge of the triangle.
For Goethe, tertiary colors are
mixtures of the three colors
surrounding them. They are
nameless, non specific colors,
mixtures of red, violet, and
orange, for example.
Otto Runge
Attempted a threedimensional
depiction of color,
to demonstrate
that color was
not only a
function of hue,
but also value
and saturation
• In his sphere, the equator (center line) was
made up of pure saturation colors, and they
traveled as tints and shades towards the two
poles, which were pure black and pure white.
Johannes Itten
• Was a teacher at the Bauhaus school in
Germany prior to World War II.
The Bauhaus teachings are the foundation for
modern color theory:
Color phenomenon, simultaneous contrast
relationships, contrasts of hue, saturation,
value.
• Shortcomings of the Bauhaus model are that
they tend to look at color in a vacuum,
focusing on color perception without
considering it’s relationship to imagery,
psychology, or communication.
Joseph Albers
Itten’s Model for Color Relationships:
The Color Star
Itten’s color star is a
flattened representation
of Runge’s color sphere,
allowing the viewer to
see all colors, values, and
saturation at once.
He favors hard, geometric
edges to allow us to
perceive the effects
colors have on one
another in their pure
forms.
Albert Munsell
Expanded on Runge’s three-dimensional color
model with his COLOR TREE
In Munsell’s color tree, value is represented along the center axis and
saturation is represented across the horizontal axis.
The tree is not symmetrical like the rest of our color models, because colors
reach full saturation at different values.
Munsell’s system began with 5 basic hues:
Red, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Violet.
And create a ten-part color wheel
His complementary pairings are:
Red--blue/green
Yellow--Blue/violet
Green—Red/orange
And Blue—Orange: the only pairing we
recognize from the traditional color wheel.
He developed his complementary pairings from
after-images, observing the ‘ghost’ image we
see after staring at a highly saturated form
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6i
6Eo0o0fvI
Munsell’s color tree was the basis for the
expanded color palettes we work from with
digital and industrial colors