composing with color
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Composing With Color. Dana Schutz , Bad Instincts. Spatial effects of colors. Brighter, more saturated (high keyed) colors will seem to pull closer to the viewer than duller colors. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Composing With Color
Dana Schutz, Bad Instincts
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 when covering the same area 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
Hans Hoffmann
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
LIGHTER HEAVIER
Achromatic Colors
High Value (light)Colors
Medium-value 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
Compositional Tools to create harmony
Harmony: compositional oneness and cohesion. The following elements help 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
Romare Bearden
Romare Bearden
Henri Matisse
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: elements that lead the viewer’s eye from one part of the composition to the next.
James Rosenquist
James Rosenquist
Kaye Donachie
Emphasis will depend on a contrast of value, color, or saturation, causing one color-area to stand out.
Van Gogh
Focal Point: Contrast of complements
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)
Henri Matisse
Elizabeth Murray
Wassily Kandinsky
How is this painting balanced through color?
Bruno Paul
This book jacket is not based on any color scheme. However, it ‘works’. The blue/green and red are similar values, as are the pink and yellow. The black stands out in contrast. Red, pink, and yellow are all warm, so the blue/green adds additional contrast.