Color Theory and Space

Carty 2013

Color• An element of design with three properties:

hue, value, and intensity. Also the character of surfaces created by the response of vision to wavelengths of reflected light.

Hue

• The property of a color that distinguishes one gradation from another and gives it its name.

• For example: Hue would identify colors on the color wheel of spectrum as blue, green, yellow, or red as they are seen.

Primary Colors

• The three basic colors, red, yellow, and blue, from which it is possible to mix all other colors. The primaries cannot be produced by mixing pigments.

Secondary Colors

• Colors that result from the mixture of two primary colors. On the twelve color-wheel: orange, green and violet.

Intermediate Colors

• Colors produced by mixing a primary colors and the adjacent secondary colors on the color wheel. (For example: yellow-green, or red-orange) They are also made by mixing unequal amounts of two primaries. (For example: by mixing yellow and blue, with a majority of yellow, one would yield yellow-green)

Complementary Colors

• Two colors which are directly opposite to each other on the color wheel, meaning they are in extreme contrast with each other.

Monochromatic

• One color which is modified by changing the values and saturation of the hue by additions of black and white.

Intensity

• The degree or purity, saturation or strength of a color. High intensity colors are bright; low intensity colors are dull.

Triadic Color Scheme

• Any three colors equidistant on the color wheel.

Split Complementary

• On the color wheel, a hue which is combined with hues on either side of its complement.

Analogous Colors

• Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and are closely related, such as yellow, yellow-orange, and orange.

Space

• An element of art that indicates areas between, around, above, below, or within something.

• The element of space that is defined by the interior space of an object or room is called volume.

Da Vinci and Space

• Leonardo Da Vinci used several types of perspective to give his paintings a sense of space: atmospheric perspective, which shows objects and the air appearing bluer and hazier as they get farther away; diminishing perspective, which shows objects decreasing in size the farther away they are from the viewer; and one-point perspective, which uses mathematical principles to show lines that recede from the viewer getting closer together as they converge towards a vanishing point on the horizon.

Linear Persepctive

• A technique of creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface. All parallel lines receding into the distance are drawn to converge with one or more vanishing points on the horizon line.

Vanishing Point

• The vanishing point in a work of art which displays liner perspective is the point on the horizon line at which receding lines converge to create the illusion of depth

Horizon Line

• The horizon line in a work of art which displays linear perspective is the horizontal line on which vanishing points are located and to which receding lines converge.

Aerial Perspective

• The diminishing of color intensity to lighter and duller hues to give the illusion of distance.