4-2: Color Theory

These slides provide a technical overview and introduction to Color Theory.

They're heavy on technical information; this is meant to be a resource for you to refer back as-needed, rather than something you're expected to earn in a single sitting or memorize.

I'll note which slides are most important to our assignments/project (in class).

Non-objective art—a general term that defines abstract art forms that lack adherence to identifiable, quantifiable, and observable characteristics of the living world.

Non-objective art aims to convey a sense of simplicity and purity, and is usually, but not always, geometric.

4-2a: Non-Objective Color Wheel

Drawing inspiration from Kandinsky, we will create a non-objective design to use for our color wheel.

This activity encourages individual creativity & experimentation as you practice the fundamentals of color theory, color mixing, and mixed media techniques.

You will draw a non-objective design and fill each "space" with a color/color combination (at least 20), and you should incorporate a variety of techniques. You can repeat techniques from your previous assignment (4-1), or try something new.

Materials—

• Watercolor Crayons or Pencils

• Paintbrushes

• Pencil

• Ruler (if you have them, stencils or geometric objects to trace)

• Mix Media Paper/Pad (11x14” or larger)

• Water

• Cups/Containers for water

• Paper towels, cloth, sponge

• Salt (sea salt or rock salt is better than Morton’s table salt)

• Plastic cling wrap

• Masking Fluid (if you happen to have it on hand)

• Rubbing alcohol

• Other

Instructions—

1. Use your pencil (ruler, stencils, etc.) to draw a non-objective design onto a sheet of 11×14″ mixed media paper.

   1. • Use geometric shapes (circles, triangles & squares/rectangles, squiggle-shapes, etc.)

      • Make sure to overlap your shapes (to create new, interesting shapes).

      • Vary the size of the shapes to create interest and emphasis.

      • If you prefer, you may outline your design with a waterproof black marker/ink pen (only). If you're not sure -- test it. If it runs, don't use it! It will bleed into your colors and damage your drawing.

2. Use your watercolor crayons/pencils to fill the shapes.

   1. • Use a variety of blending techniques -- review links on 4-1

      • ALL shapes must be filled with color.

      • Any shapes/areas leftover are open to any color/color combination of your choice.

3. Your non-objective color wheel must include the following color combinations, so make sure you have at least 20 "empty" shapes in your design.

Complementary Combinations

3. 1. Yellow + Violet

   2. Blue + Orange

   3. Red + Green

Triadic Combinations

3. 4. Primary: Blue + Red + Yellow

   5. Secondary: Orange + Violet + Green

Two-Color Combinations

3. 6. Yellow + Orange

   7. Yellow + Red

   8. Yellow + (Yellow + Green)

   9. Blue + Green

   10. Blue + Red

   11. Violet + Red

   12. Violet + Blue

Color Scheme Combinations

3. 13. Cool + Warm

   14. Warm + Warm

   15. Cool + Cool

   16. Analogous (3 colors of your choice)

   17. Split Complementary (3 colors of your choice)

Open Color Combinations

3. 18. Open- your choice of color/combination of colors

   19. Open- your choice of color/combination of colors

   20. Open- your choice of color/combination of colors

4. When you finish, use your black crayon/pencil (and minimal water) to fill in the negative space around your non-objective color wheel. There should be NO blank/paper areas left.

Let it dry and take a photograph.

Post it to the Critique Padlet: https://austincc.padlet.org/courtneycone/bdo9922j07fqd7rq

For artists who wish to arouse an emotional response in the viewer, color is the most effective element. Even before we "read" the subject matter or identify the forms, the color creates an atmosphere to which we respond.

In a very basic instance, we commonly recognize so-called warm and cool colors. Yellows, oranges, and reds give us an instinctive feeling of warmth and evoke warm, happy, cheerful reactions. Cooler blues and greens are automatically associated with quieter, less outgoing feelings and can express melancholy or depression.

These are generalities, of course, for the combination of colors is vital, and the artist can also influence our reactions by the values and intensities of the colors selected.

Excerpt from Design Basics (by David Lauer)

Color is one of the fundamental elements of our existence, and defines our world in such deep ways that its effects are nearly imperceptible. It intersects the worlds of art, psychology, culture, and more, creating meaning and influencing behavior every step of the way.

This activity explores the emotional impact of color through color compositional strategies & collage.

COLLAGE COLOR STUDIES

We will make 2 collages that explore color compositional strategies and the emotional impact of color.

Each collage should be constructed to express a distinct mood (of your choice), and fall within one of the following color composition strategies covered in class:

• Monochromatic

• Analogous

• Cool/Warm

• Complementary

• Split Complementary

• Triadic

Instructions—

1. Make two 4”x5” collages using found/colored paper from a variety of sources (i.e., paper colored with your watercolor crayons/pencils, paint samples, construction paper, magazines, packaging, junk mail, etc.). Only use papers (or cut-out sections of paper) that contain flat color—there should be NO recognizable imagery in your collages.

2. Cut vertical bands/strips of varying widths to use for your colors. Each collage should have at least six distinct color (band) variations.

3. Keep in mind the visual weight of various colors due to their value, saturation, etc., and consider carefully the extension of each color (how much of that color is used). Images should be well-balanced.

4. Craft of execution is extremely important. Collages may be adhered with acrylic medium, a glue stick, or thinly applied PVA (Elmer's) glue.

When you finish:

Let them dry; take photos- make sure the entire collage fits inside the frame.

Post your photos to the Critique Padlet: https://austincc.padlet.org/courtneycone/bdo9922j07fqd7rq

Be sure to type each "mood" in the title/comment section!