Johannes Itten Color Theory The 12-hue color circle

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Seven Kinds of Color Contrast

1. Contrast of hue 2. Light-dark contrast 3. Cold and warm contrast 4. Complementary contrast 5. Simultaneous contrast 6. Contrast of saturation!7. Contrast of extension!

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1.&CONTRAST OF HUE

Contrast of hue is illustrated by undiluted colors in their most intense luminosity. Some combinations are: yellow/red/blue; red/blue/green; blue/yellow/violet; yellow/green/violet/red; violet/green/blue/orange/black Just as black-white represents the extreme of light-dark contrast, so yellow/red/blue is the extreme instance of contrast of hue. At least three clearly differentiated hues are required. The intensity of contrast of hue diminishes as the hues employed are removed from the three primaries.

2.'LIGHT-DARK CONTRAST The painter's strongest expressions of light and dark are white and black. The effects are opposite with the realm of grays and chromatic colors between them.

3. Cold and warm contrast These diverse impressions illustrate the versatile expressive powers of cold-warm contrast. It can be used to produce highly pictorial effects. In landscape, more distant objects always seem colder in color because of the intervening depth of air. Cold-warm contrast contains elements suggesting nearness and distance.

4.Complementary contrast

Two colors are complementary if their pigments, mixed together produce a neutral gray-black. They are opposite, they required each other. For example: Blue + Orange They create maximum vividness when adjacent, they create great contrast. In the color circle, complementary colors are diametrically opposite each other. Split Complementary – Two colors adjacent to the complementary, they create less visual contrast than complementary

5.Simultaneous contrast The contrast is formed when the boundaries between colors perceptually vibrate. Simultaneous contrast results from the fact that for any given color the eye simultaneously requires the complementary color, and generates it spontaneously if it is not already present.

For$example$Complementary$Green!&!Red!Blue!&!orange!Split$Complementary$Green+!Red3violet!&!Red!orange!Blue!+!yellow3orange!&!red!orange!

6.Contrast of saturation Saturation, or quality, relates to the degree of purity of a color. Contrast of saturation is the contrast between pure, intense colors and dull, diluted colors. The contrast is formed by light and dark values.

7. Contrast of extension Also known as the Contrast of Proportion. The contrast is formed by assigning proportional field sizes in relation to the visual weight of a color.

RESOURCE: The Art of Color: The subjective experience and objective reationale of color Johannes Itten various pages 18-47 The Elements of Color A treatice on the color system of Johannes Itten based on his book The Art of Color Edited and with a forward and evaluation by Faber Birren Translated by Ernst Van Hagen various pages 30-61 http://www.utdallas.edu/~melacy/pages/2D_Design/Itten_ColorContrasts/IttenColorContrasts.html http://monoskop.org/images/4/46/Itten_Johannes_The_Elements_of_Color.pdf