What is hidden in your paint?

Uncovering Overtones For Better Mixing

First Tip: Understand that subtractive mixing is removing light by adding materials that absorb portions of the light spectrum. The more different the colors (the further apart on the color wheel) the darker the mix will be (the greater the portion of the color spectrum that is absorbed).David Hornung’s Colour: A Workshop for Artists and Designers

• “When different colored lights are combined (as on a theater set), the combination adds luminosity or brightness. Hence, light intermixing is considered an ADDITIVE COLOR process.

• In contrast to mixing colored light, the intermixture of spectral

colors in pigment tends to produce colors that are duller and darker than those being combined. (Spectral colors are those that approach the purity of colors cast by a glass prism or seen in a rainbow.) The more unalike the pigments being mixed the darker the result. Darkness means less LUMINOSITY, thus mixing pigments is a SUBSTRACTIVE COLOR process.”

Trisha’s comment: Remember that material absorbs light; as you add more pigments you are subtracting more of the spectrum, moving away from white light.In practical terms, this means that painters often have to add small amounts of white to keep mixtures luminous. The more unalike the darker and duller the mixture is apt to be.

On our most basic color wheel, the standard primaries are red, blue and yellow. The secondary hues are orange, violet and green.

Complementary Colors are across from each other on the color wheel. They offer the most contrast when set next to each other, but when mixed often create dark neutrals. Tertiary colors are the combination of primary and secondary colors. Take out a piece of paper.Name the primary, secondary, tertiary colors on this wheel. Name the complementary pairs.

Analogous Colors are those that are close together on the color wheel.

How to avoid making an ugly neutral rather than a secondary color such as green or purple.

*First, remember you may have to add a dot of white.

Second, UNDERSTAND OVERTONE VS MASS TONEA Mass Tone is the dominant hue, the simple color wheel hue name (blue, red, yellow). The term Overtone is borrowed from music theory, where it refers to a series of secondary vibrations that accompany the major vibration on a given pitch. The perception of color is also based on frequency of vibration (light in this case, not sound). Like musical tones, colors transmit characteristic overtones. For all you musicians…In music, a note has a fundamental wavelength and pitch that depend on the nature of the vibrating air column or string. A violin string’s pitch depends first on its vibrating length, and then on its thickness and tension. Secondary notes linked to this fundamental pitch are created when the string vibrates as though split into halves, thirds, quarters, and so on. The overtones have higher pitches than the fundamental pitch, and the note we hear is a combined sound, enriched by the overtones. The relative strength of the fundamental and overtone pitches contributes to the unique sound we associate with each instrument.

COLOR OVERTONES AND THE PRIMARY TRIAD

• “Red, yellow and blue form the primary triad. When the full continuum of color is represented as a wheel, the relative positions of red, yellow and blue form a perfect

equilateral triangle…

While an infinite number of such triangles reside within the spectrum, the primary triad is unique because red, yellow and blue are each, in theory: indivisible. They cannot be made by combining other colors. Conversely, all other colors can be made by combining two or more colors of the primary triad. But, as with our initial comments on color reflection, this is an over simplification. Any color mixture also includes, along with the intended colors, their subsidiary color reflections.”• • Colour: A Workshop for Artists and Designers, David Hornung.

In Theory, Red and Blue should equal violet, but paint is material, made from insects, earth minerals and the like. It is impure, real, and contains secondary notes (overtones) that can turn theory on its head.

With the scarlet color Cadmium Red, the overtone is orange. In terms of primary colors, we could say that Cadmium Red Light tends toward yellow.

Crimsons, as opposed to Scarlets, have a violet rather than orange overtone. In terms of primaries, they tend toward blue.

The curious case of lemon yellow

Deciphering Potential Mixtures

• What other primary does lemon yellow tend towards? Contain in greater amount?

• Blue or Red?

“It is commonly understood that green can be mixed by combining blue and yellow. But to make a vivid, seemingly pure green would be impossible if the only blue available were ultramarine. An even duller green would result if the mixture were based upon a combination of ultramarine blue and golden yellow.” Trisha asks, “Can you tell me why?”

Trisha asks, “Can you tell me why?” Answer: “Both ultramarine blue and golden yellow are biased toward colors that contain red (violet and orange, respectively). Red lies opposite our desired color, green, on the COLOR WHEEL.” Trisha says, “You are mixing complements. The orange in the golden yellow is going to run smack dab into the blue, while the violet is going to run smack dab into the yellow. Remember, when you mix complements things get DULL AND MUDDY.”

Rule of thumb: ask, “What is my intent?” (In this case the answer would be green). Then ask, “What is the general primary drift of the colors that I am mixing?” (In this case the drift is toward red in both). If the first answer is a complement to the second, you are apt to get a dull mix. “To mix a vivid green, choose lemon yellow and sky blue. Both are biased toward green and reflect insignificant amounts of red.”

Within your paint supply, you should have 2 reds, 2 blues, and 2 yellows, as well as white and black (The names of these hues will differ by brand, and even colors with the same names will look different from brand to brand.)

PULL THEM OUT, IT’S TIME FOR AN IN CLASS EXERCISE !!!!

Each of your colors contain overtones of the secondary hues (orange, green, & violet.)

The goal of the exercise which follows is to get to know your colors, identifying overtones of each primary hue and gain a better understanding of how any two primaries can create an innumerable number of secondary hues, from the “ideal,” pure secondary color to a more neutralized version.

RULES TO GET YOU STARTED

• In the reds, scarlet casts orange overtones, while crimson casts violet overtones.

• In the yellows, deep yellow casts orange, while lemon casts green.

• In the blues, ultramarine blue deep casts violet, and sky blue casts green.

FIRST STEPS• Supplies: You will need: 6 primary colors (2 reds, 2 blues, 2

yellows) + white; painting supplies (brushes, water, palette, etc.); pencil, ruler, compass (or tiny lids); Bristol paper

• • Primary Row 1: • On the top of a piece of Bristol paper, draw out six circles

(about the size of a quarter)—one for each of the six primaries. Squeeze out small amounts of each of the six primary hues on your palette, then apply the primaries, one per circle, in a smooth, opaque manner. (See diagram below for layout instructions.)

Secondary Rows 2-4

• Each row should consist of four different combinations of primaries. For example: orange should be made four times, as follows:

• 1. Red 1 + Yellow 1 = Orange 1• 2. Red 1 + Yellow 2 = Orange 2• 3. Red 2 + Yellow 1 = Orange3• 4. Red 2 + Yellow 2 = Orange 4

Mixing Advice

• In mixing these secondary colors, always aim at what you believe to be a true representation of the color you are trying to achieve. This may mean more yellow is required than red to get a true orange. The proportions will vary depending on which paint you are using.

• Mix on your palette, and only when you achieve the truest color from the combination, apply color EVENLY and NEATLY into the appropriate circle.

• Rinse your brush THOROUGHLY between mixtures.• Label each color combination lightly in pencil.

Simultaneous Contrast

• Simultaneous Contrast: the way in which two different colors affect each other, how one color can change how we perceive the tone and hue of another when placed side by side. The colors themselves don't change, but we see them as altered.

Simultaneous Contrast In Value

Now for our second Simultaneous Contrast Exercise…Principle 2:

SUBTRACTION:A strong or dominant color will subtract its dominant hue from a smaller or less dominant color

For Example: In the next image the orange middle groun is factually the same hue, but appears quite different on the different grounds. Each ground SUBTRACTS hues from from the band.

Compare the two squares and tell me what is going on.What colors are subtracted? Hint: This is subtraction of MASS

TONE.

The ground to the left is a bluish gren. We can say that it has a green “mass tone” and a blue “overtone.” The ground at right is a yellowish green. We can

say that it has a green “mass tone” and a yellow “overtone.” What you see below is subtraction through overtone. It generally works well with analogous

colors. The green (both mass and overtone) seahorse becomes yellow green on the blue green because the ground overtone (blue) is subtracted. What

happens on the right?

Due Next Week

• Color Overtone Chart (paint)• Simultaneous Contrast in Color Aid Paper

showing subtraction of dominant hue.• Simultaneous Contrast in Color Aid Paper

showing subtraction of overtone.

For Next Week: we will move on to…Principle 3:Assimilation:

The Bezold Effect

A Design in Which the Total Effect of the Perceived Hues are Altered by the Change of ONE Dominant Hue.

The subordinate hues take on (assimilates) the characteristics of the dominant hue.

Named after Wilhem von Bezold, a meterologist who discovered that colors could appear to change based on their relation to a dominant color.

Simple Bezold Effect

Third Portfolio AssignmentBezold EffectUsing Color-Aid Papers or Photoshop.Let’s do it now! Plan your design and draw it out on a 3”x6” piece of Bristol. Then paste in appropriate colors.Proper labeling:Title: Simultaneous Contrast Principle 3: Assimilation (Bezold Effect). Explanation: In your own words explain the phenomena.

If you finish early…

• Another way to describe the differences in color created by overtones is TEMPERATURE.

• Oranges, Reds and Yellow provoke a warming sensation, while blues, violets and greens provoke a cooling sensation.

• A yellow green is a “hot” green; a blue green is a “cool” green.

• Look at your rows of secondary colors and give them ratings on a scale from hot to cool.