Composing With Color

Dana Schutz, Bad Instincts

Color schemes: specific arrangements of colors, based on their placement on the

color wheel

Triadic, monochromatic, etc are color schemes.

Color schemes depend on a LIMITED PALETTE—not all colors will be used-- to

ensure harmony

Sol Lewitt

OPEN PALETTE: is when any colors from the color wheel are used—there is no limitOpen-palette compositions will be more pleasing if saturation and value are taken into consideration.

AKA, “ Color Keys”

None of these colors are at full-saturation. Each is a shade of a hue.

These are all: DARK-KEYED colors. Desaturated colors on the low (dark) end of the value scale.

Deeper, heavier Colors

HIGH-KEYED Colors: Colors at their full-saturationLow-Keyed Colors: Tints, desaturated colors mixed with white

Brighter, more intense colors Lighter, subtler “quieter” colors

Spatial effects of colorsBrighter, more saturated (high keyed)

colors will seem to pull closer to the viewer than duller colors.

Colors that are lighter at pure saturation seem (yellows) will seem to take up more space than darker saturated colors (blues)

Full saturation colors will seem closer than dark keyed colors (shades)

Larger areas of brighter colors appear closer

Smaller shapes appear farther

Peter Halley

How is he creating an illusion of deep space?

Hans Hoffmann

Repeating colors in this Mark Grotjahn image define the distance between the yellow marks.

Luminosity: The appearance of Light in an image

Lighter colors placed within darker colors will create an illusion of luminosity, as will warm colors contrasted with cool colors.

Tobey Archer

LIGHT HEAVY

Achromatic Colors

Light ValueColors

Medium Cool Colors

Low SaturationLight Colors

Inherently Light Hues

High SaturationColors

Dark ValueColors

High SaturationWarm Colors

High SaturationDark Colors

InherentlyDark Hues

Color weight: color’s tendency to seem to rise or fall in a composition (depending on it’s relationships)

Traditional Color Contrasts, thought to balance a composition

Light/DarkContrast

Cool/WarmContrast

Hue Contrast

ComplementaryContrast

Light/Dark Contrast

JWM Turner, Storm at Sea

Graham Nickson

Warm/Cool Contrast

Hue Contrast

Stuart Davis

Complementary Contrast

PRINCIPLE OF FAMILIARITY

Mary Heilmann, Hermosa Beach

Familiarity is pleasing and readily accepted. Color schemes based on nature will seem pleasing to most people, because we are used to them.

Light and dark variations of the same color will harmonize.

Nature as inspiration and color swatches from the photo.

Principle of Resemblance

Salvador Dali

Colors harmonize better when the differences between them are less.

Principle of Novelty

While we crave harmony and balance, too much becomes boring. A new or unexpected color will draw attention to itself and enliven the piece.

Mostly analogous blues and greens, the orange creates a ‘pop’.

Principle of Order

• Having an orderly plan to determine color choices, like a specific color scheme

Triadic, secondary color scheme

Avoidance of Ambiguity

Don’t use colors that seem incongruous with the rest of your scheme—a gray amongst vivid colors may draw attention away from the rest of the composition and ruin the flow.

An off-hue color may be distracting because the viewer won’t know if it is intentional. There are three reds in this photo, and they don’t quite work together. Are they meant to match?

Compositional Tools to create harmony

Harmony: compositional oneness, cohesion the following create harmony:

• Repetition: The use of the same visual element (in this case, colors) to create unity

• Continuity: degree of flow between parts of a composition

• Focal points: Parts of the composition that command the viewer’s attention and allow them to look closer

Ben Vautier, Store Repetition

Dana Schutz

As these colors blend into one another (white to yellow, blue to grey to yellow) they create continuity, allowing the viewer’s eye to travel from one section and one element to another

Continuity

Kaye Donachie

Emphasis will depend on a contrast of value, color, or saturation, causing one color-area to stand out.

Focal Point: Contrast of complements

Van Gogh

Focal Point

Juan Miro, Portrait of a Man

Focal Points

Victor Moscos

What is going on in this image? Repetition? Unity? Focal points? Continuity?

Balance

• The equal distribution of weight or force among elements of a composition

• Symmetry: mirror imaging across an axis• Asymmetrical balance: uneven yet balanced

components to a composition (think of balance like a scale—it needn’t be

identical to be balanced—one ten lb. brick weights the same as ten one lb. bricks)

George Harriman ,Krazy Kat Comic

How is the palette limited (what is the color scheme)?

How does the artist use color to lead our eye through the composition?

What does he do to create balance?

Wassily Kandinsky

How is this painting balanced through color?

Peter Doig, Pink Snow

Most of the painting is depicted in warm brown/orange hues. The white scumbled over the top further unifies this piece. The dark ice creates contrast to the white falling snow, and the bright light reflected in the ice creates further contrast and interest.

Achromatic Color scheme: no color, all neutrals (black, brown, grey)

Samuel Morse, Gallery of the Lourve

Mary Heilmann

Monochromatic

Frances Barth

Mary Heilmann, Shocking

Analogous, green, blue-green, blue

Faul Cezanne, Still life with apples Complementary Color scheme

Jacob Lawrence, The Family

Triadic

Dana Schutz

Double-complementary

Red-green, purple-yellow

Bruno Paul

This book jacket is not based on any color scheme. However, it ‘works’. The green and red are similar values, as are the pink and yellow. The black stands out in contrast.