Color Theory: Traditional color wheel history, color schemes

1. ART 251: Lecture 3, part 1
Color Theory:
Traditional Color Circle, Color Attributes,
and Color Schemes

2. color theory:
color schemes &
“traditional” color
wheel
ART 251

3. ISAAC NEWTON DISCOVERED THAT LIGHT
CONTAINED ALL COLORS OF THE RAINBOW.
ORGANIZED THE FIRST COLOR WHEEL

5. “Newton’s error was trusting math over
the sensations of his eye.”
-Goethe

6. Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe (1749-1832),
poet and author of
Faust, published Theory
of Colours in 1810. As
a color theorist, he was
more interested in how
we perceive color.

7. COLOR IS ALSO A MATTER OF PERCEPTION AND HOW IT AFFECTS OUR BRAIN.
AFTER IMAGE EFFECT:
STARE AT THE RED CIRCLE,THEN MOVE GAZE TO BLACK DOT.
WHAT DO YOU SEE?

8. Basic Color Wheel…
but it is flawed!

9. Purple not so pure

10. Color Bias Wheel

11. How to use the
Color Bias Wheel
to mix colors...

12. What happens when you mix
complementary colors?
+
+
+

13. What happens when you mix complementary
colors?
+
+
+
= a neutral
grey or brown

14. Color Bias Wheel

15. Make brightest
purple

16. Make duller purple
because some blue
and orange are
mixed

17. M a k e d u l l e s t
purple, because
blue is mixed
with orange and
red is mixed with
green.

18. Understand this
color wheel & you
will be more
successful in color
mixing!

19. Itten’s Color Wheel

20. Ewald Hering (1834-1918)

21. The 3 Properties of
Color
Hue
Value
Intensity

22. Properties of Color
• HUE
• VALUE
• INTENSITY (or saturation)
(HateVideogames Immensely)

23. Properties of Color
HUE - the name of the color, the part
of the color spectrum that the color
belongs to: Red, orange, yellow, green,
blue, or violet.

25. There is no pure blue.

26. . ... ..... . .
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.. . . . ... ...
. .... .. .. ..
... .. .. . ..
.. . . . ... ...
. .... .. .. ..
... .. .. . ..
.. . . . ... ...
. .... .. .. ..
... .. .. . ..
.. . . . ...
.... .... ..
.. .. ... ..
.. . .
.. . . . ...
.... .... ..
.. .. ... ..
.. . .
If colored paints were actually pure
color- every time any two “pure”
colors of paint were mixed you
would get black.
The bits of blue in the blue paint
would absorb the red and yellow
light.
The bits of yellow paint would absorb
the red and blue light.
No light would escape from the
paint, and you’d see a perfectly black
surface.

27. Properties of Color
V A L U E -
lightness or
darkness of
the hue.
Mark Rothko,
Untitled (Black on Gray),
1969/1970.

28. MUNSELL
VALUES

29. Add grey tone = tone

30. InherentValue: “Normal” hues have
different values.

32. Grayscale Chart
Low Key
High Key

33. Shadows in black and white...
7-8
6
3
4-5
2-3
1
3
3

35. Properties of Color
VALUE—lightness or darkness of the
hue.
– Adding white produces aTINT
– Adding black produces a SHADE

37. Add grey = tone.
More subtle transitions in creating a 3D‐effect.

38. Contrast in Value:
Monochromatic areas of shades and tints

39. Painting with a limited number of values

40. David Hockney, Mist, 1973. From
The Weather Series.
Lithograph, 37 X 32 in.
Painting with a limited number of values

41. Assignment # 4
MOSAIC VALUE DESIGN
creating an illusion of depth or 3‐D while
maintaining values from a value scale