Understanding color

There are many ways to experiment with and apply color to your artwork in Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. As you work with color, it’s important to keep in mind the medium in which the artwork will be published, such as a print piece or a website. The colors you create need to be described in the correct way for the medium. This usually requires that you use the correct color mode and color definitions for your colors. The first part, color modes, will be described next.

Exploring color modes

Before starting a new illustration, you should decide which color mode the artwork should use, CMYK orRGB.

• CMYK—Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black are the colors used in four-color process printing. These four colors are combined and overlapped in a screen pattern to create a multitude of other colors. Select this mode for printing (in the New Document dialog box or the File > Document Color Mode menu).

• RGB—Red, green, and blue light are added together in various ways to create an array of colors. Select this mode if you are using images for onscreen presentations or the Internet.

When creating a new document, you select a color mode by choosing File > New and picking the appropriate profile, such as Print, which uses CMYK for the color mode. You can change the color mode by clicking the arrow to the left of Advanced and making a selection in the Color Mode menu.

Check out

PETER PIPER'S PALETTE PICKER

which provides an explanation of the hexidecimal system that Adobe uses when numbering colors in an RGB environment.

All Color has 3 main properties

1. Value-how light or dark a color is
2. Intensity or chroma-how prismatic or pure a color is
3. Hue-what color is it? Red, Blue, Green, etc.

Key Color Terms

Achromatic – Having no color.

Achromatic grays – Grays mixed from black and white only. Achromatic grays appear to have no coloration.

Additive color – Color as seen in light. Red, green and blue-violet are the additive color primaries. When mixed they produce white light.

Analogous colors – Closely related hues adjacent to each other on the color wheel.

Chromatic - Having color.

Chromatic grays – Grays mixed from colors rather than black and white.

Complementary colors – Colors that share no common hue and lie directly opposite each other on the color wheel.

High key – refers to colors that are light in value.

Hue – The name given to a color based on its position in the spectrum and its wavelength. The common name of a color.

Low key – Colors that are predominantly dark.

Monochromatic – One color or a color scheme based on one color.

Muted color – Colors that have lost saturation in mixing, but whose parent colors are still easily identifiable (blue-green or red-orange).

Primary triad – In subtractive color red, yellow, and blue from which (theoretically) all colors can be mixed.

Prismatic color – Pure hues that represent the spectrum colors at highest saturation.

Saturation – Intensity or chroma. Saturation refers to purity of hue.

Secondary triad – In subtractive color orange, green, and violet. The three colors equidistant from each other on the color wheel made by mixing pairs of primaries.

Shade – Mixing black with a color.

Simultaneous contrast – The tendency for complementary colors to intensify each other when juxtaposed.

Spectrum – Pure colored light as seen with a prism or in the form of a rainbow.

Subtractive color – Color seen in pigment as a result of reflected light.

Temperature – The relative warmth or coolness of a color as determined by its hue (blue is cool, orange is warm).

Tertiary colors – Intermediate colors created by combining a primary with a secondary color.

Tint – White mixed into a color.

Triad – Color scheme involving any three hues equidistant on the color wheel.

Value – The relative lightness or darkness of a color.

If you need more information about color theory, here is a very comprehensive color introduction that I give to Color Foundations Classes.

Color intro from Thomas Everett Green

Assignment:

In Class:

Take the color challenge

http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge

Take a screenshot of your results!!!

BOYS VS. GIRLS

Then:

Complete Exercises 1, 2, 3, and 4 from the digital foundations wiki page:

http://wiki.digital-foundations.net/index.php?title=Chapter_5_CS6

Review the following Color Schemes (Harmonies)

Monochromatic Color Scheme-only one color (and shades and tints of that color are used). This color scheme is very low contrast (within color) and can convey a very emotional effect.

Analogous Color Scheme-is also a lower contrast color scheme, and can also convey emotions, moods, and temperature.

Complementary Color Scheme-very impacting and exciting, high contrast scheme.

Split Complementary Color Scheme-very high impact, exciting, less obvious.

Tetrad Color Scheme-can still be as impacting, but more complex relationships can develop. It's not obvious to the viewer the color scheme being used.

Triadic-equidistant medium Contrast color scheme. Still provides some excitement, but not as engaging as complementary or tetrad schemes.

Square Color Scheme equidistant medium Contrast color scheme. Complex color scheme.

Contrast can be achieved in many different ways.

Project 3:

1. Take 5-10 digital photos of the architecture on MCA campus. Look for areas that are visually interesting and have lots of angles, shadows and shapes. You may use any of the tools that you have used so far in Illustrator. Use one of the harmonies we have suggested above,

Or by creating your own palette based on one of Itten's color contrasts.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VARIATIONS OF COLOR CONTRAST

2. Select an image and create a new 11x17" document with 1/8 (.125") bleed.

3. Place and lock that file in illustrator, then recreate that image

The most important thing you will need to consider for your works to be successful is the use of value. If your values are not correct, the work will not have the believe-ability of works that have taken value into consideration.

Previous student work.

Complementary Contrast (blue-green and red-orange)