Monochromatic Painting
What is Monochromatic?
What comes to mind when you hear the term "monochromatic"? Well, let me break it down..
Mono = one
Chroma = color
So... one color. Monochromatic is the term giving to a color scheme that involves lights and darks, or tints and shades, of ONE color.
Tint and shade?
Yes... a tint is when you add white to a color to make it lighter and a shade is when you add black to a color to make it darker.
The hues used in the monochromatic color scheme are White, Black, and one color! That's it!
So... for this project... you will use the following:
ONE COLOR
WHITE
BLACK
Monochromatic Color Schemes and their purpose
This image of a group of ants at the bottom of a glass cup is an example of a monochromatic color scheme. It is black, white, and multiple grays. What feeling does a gray scale image give you? Does it give you a feeling of nostalgia when colored imagery didn't exist? Or perhaps a toned down emotion that you're supposed to be feeling, as if you're supposed to be focusing on the actual subject matter rather than the colors?
What about a red monochromatic image? What does the variety of reds provide you? The light reds, medium reds, dark reds... what emotions does this image evoke? Anger? Love? Why would someone use red in a painting? Since color has meaning, red is possibly the strongest of all the colors as far as symbolism goes.
This magnified image of a spider is staring back at you. Do you like spiders? Do you not like spiders? Does the red color palette give you a sense of heightened fear about them? What about love?
Or perhaps yellow...
Take this painting titled "Golden Evening" by AnnMarie Bone. What emotions does this painting give off? Yellow has a sense of joy and happiness, bringing about excitement and jubilance. This painting of a marshy forested area in a yellow color scheme may give you the feeling that something exciting is coming over the hill, like a new day is shining and there's joy to be had.
Green evokes jealousy... but it is also an earthy color that provides you a feeling of connectedness to the earth and nature. Does this deer standing in the middle of the painting titled "Emerald Forest" by AnnMarieBone give you a sense of jealousy or relatability to Mother Earth? What is the deer looking at? Is the deer perhaps jealous?
Student work
Color Scales
Do you remember the value scales? The lights and darks and everything in between? The same goes for the monochromatic color scales. The concept is the same as the shading techniques; however, this time there's a color. Here are examples of a monochromatic color scale using black, blue, yellow, and red. You will be creating one of these in class using the color you are going to choose for your painting. Your scale will show at least 10 different values and will be worth 10 points and will be graded during class, not on Google Classroom.
COLOR
COLOR + WHITE
COLOR + BLACK
You will not use all three together... If you see COLOR + WHITE + BLACK, then it is a TONE of the color
(Tone = Color + Gray)
TURN IT IN
You need to complete the following for credit:
An image showing your sketches and ideas for your painting with any notes attached so I can understand your thinking
At least 10 different values ranging from the lightest TINTS to the darkest SHADES.
Keep in mind, the COLOR needs to be present throughout the entire painting. You cannot have just straight white or black.
The canvas needs to be covered completely with paint