COLOUR

Colour

Colour is a characteristic of light or of surfaces or objects that is perceptible to

human vision and is described by various color names, like red or blue. Color
derives from the spectrum of light interacting in the eye with the spectral
sensitivities of the light receptors.
The science of color is sometimes called chromatics. It includes the perception of
color by the human eye and brain, the origin of color in materials, color theory in
art, and the physics of electromagnetic radiation in the visible range
 COLOR HAS THREE
DIMENSIONS OR QUALITIES:

• Hue
• Value
• Intensity
HUE

The name given to a color.

RED YELLOW VIOLET

 VALUE
The lightness or darkness of a color
TINT

Made by adding white to a color so that it is lighter.

+ =
HUE WHITE TINT
SHADE

Made by adding black to a color so that it is darker.

+ =
HUE BLACK SHADE
NEUTRALS
(NOT REALLY COLORS)

White No color

Black All colors

Gray White + Black

Beige Can be used with most colors

Neutral colors: The neutral colors contain equal parts of each of the
three primary colors. Black, white, gray and sometimes brown are
considered as "neutral”.
 PRIMARY HUES

RED YELLOW BLUE

yellow

•Pure and basic

•Cannot be made from any other colors
red
•All other colors are made from these
•Equal distance from each other on color wheel

blue
Primary Color-Base Artwork
 SECONDARY COLORS

•Made by mixing equal amounts of 2 primary colors

•Found halfway between the primary hues on the wheel

+ ORANGE
=

+ = GREEN

+ = VIOLET
Secondary Color-Base Artwork
INTERMEDIATE (TERTIARY) HUES

Yellow Yellow
orange green

Red Blue
orange green

Red Blue
violet violet

Made by mixing equal amounts of adjoining primary

and secondary colors.
Colour Wheel
Complementary colour

Complementary colours
are opposed to each other
on the colour wheel.

For example;

When these colours are

Colour wheel placed together they create
a complimentary contrast
and offer the greatest
brightness of each colour.
MONOCHROMATIC COLOR SCHEME

This is a one-color plan that uses different tints, shades and

intensities of the color

BLUE
ANALOGOUS COLOR SCHEME
This color scheme uses related, or neighboring colors on the
color wheel with varying values and intensities of the colors.
Complementary Colour Scheme

This color scheme uses opposite hues on the color

wheel. These colors are across from each other on the
wheel and have great contrast.
SPLIT-COMPLEMENTARY COLOR SCHEME

This color scheme uses three colors, one color with the two
colors on each side of its complement.

VIOLET
TRIAD COLOR SCHEME

This color scheme combines three colors equidistant on the

color wheel and has a great deal of contrast.
 Colour Schemes: Monochromatic

• Monochromatic:
Artist: Marc Chagall One Hue many values of Tint
Title: Les Amants Sur Le Toit and Shade
 Colour Schemes: Complementary

Artist: Paul Cezanne

• Complimentary: Colours that
Title: La Montage Saint Victoire are opposite on the wheel.
Year: 1886-88 High Contrast
 Colour Schemes: Analogous

Artist: Vincent van Gogh • Analogous: A selection of

Title: The Iris colours that are adjacent.
Year: 1889 Minimal contrast
 Colour Schemes: Warm

Artist: Jan Vermeer Warm: First half of the wheel

Title: Girl Asleep at a Table give warmer colours. The
Year: 1657 colours of fire.
 Colour Schemes: Cool

Artist: Pablo Picasso Cool: Second half of the wheel

Title: Femme Allongée Lisant gives cooler colours
Year: 1939
 Colour Schemes:
Achromatic, Chromatic Grays

Achromatic: Black and Chromatic Grays: Also

white with all the grays in- called neutral relief. Dull
between. colours, low contrast.
 Colour can serve many design needs

Colour can be used to represent:

• objects
• people
• places
• ideas

in descriptive or symbolic ways.

• Emotional Properties of Color
Colors are often associated with emotions. Most people have a favorite color,
probably stemming from long traditions and impressions of color. The feelings
one has about certain colors may come from the association we have with
warm and cool colors in nature.
COLOR POSITIVES NEGATIVES
Anachronism, boredom, decay,
Elegance, humility, respect, reverence, stability,
Gray decrepitude, dullness, dust,
subtlety, timelessness, wisdom
pollution, urban sprawl
Reverence, purity, snow, peace, innocence, Coldness, sterility, clinicism,
White cleanliness, simplicity, security, humility, surrender, cowardice, fearfulness,
marriage, sterility, winter winter, unimaginative
Evil, death, fear, anonymity, anger,
Modernity, power, sophistication, formality,
Black sadness, remorse, mourning,
elegance, wealth, mystery, style
unhappiness, mystery
Passion, strength, energy, fire, love, sex, Danger, fire, gaudiness, blood,
Red excitement, speed, heat, leadership, masculinity, war, anger, revolution, radicalism,
power aggression, stop
COLOR POSITIVES NEGATIVES
Seas, skies, peace, unity, harmony, tranquility,
Depression, coldness,
calmness, coolness, confidence, water, ice,
Blue conservatism, idealism, obscenity,
loyalty, conservatism, dependability, cleanliness,
ice, tackiness, winter
technology, winter
Nature, spring, fertility, youth, environment, Aggression, inexperience, envy,
Green wealth, money (US), good luck, vigor, misfortune, jealousy, money,
generosity, go, grass illness, greed
Cowardice, illness (quarantine),
Sunlight, joy, happiness, optimism, liberalism, hazards, dishonesty, liberalism,
Yellow
idealism, wealth (gold), summer, hope, air avarice, sissification, weakness,
greed
Sensuality, spirituality, creativity, wealth, Arrogance, flamboyance,
Purple royalty, nobility, ceremony, mystery, wisdom, gaudiness, mourning, profanity,
enlightenment exaggeration, confusion
Aggression, arrogance,
Buddhism, energy, balance, heat, fire, flamboyance, gaudiness,
Orange
enthusiasm, flamboyance, playfulness overemotional, warning, danger,
fire
Anachronism, boorishness, dirt,
Calm, depth, natural organisms, nature, richness,
Brown dullness, filth, heaviness, poverty,
rusticism, stability, tradition
roughness