Just looking for fresh ideas and new ways to experiment all sorts of things.
Created by: irgeorgellanespecore
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
COLOR THEORY
Color Definitions
How are colors classified? What is a saturated color? Here is an explanation of the chromatic circle and definitions of color terms such as you have never had before!
Primary colors: Primary colors - red , yellow and blue - may not be created by mixing other colors. On the contrary, they are mixed with one another to produce other colors. In printing and plastic arts, magenta (a pinkish red), yellow and cyan (a blue) are used as primary colors because they are better suited to mixing, and yield better balanced secondary colors. A mixture of the three primary colors produces black.
Secondary colors: They result from the mixing of two of the primary colors. Red (magenta) and yellow produce orange, yellow and blue (cyan) produce green while red and blue (cyan) produce violet.
Intermediate colors: Mixing a primary and a secondary color produces an intermediate color such as orange-yellow.
Complementary colors: Colors that are opposite one another in the chromatic circle are called complementary. For example, green (resulting from the mixing of the primary colors yellow and blue [cyan]) is complementary to red. Orange (a mixture of yellow and red [magenta]) is complementary to blue, while violet (a mixture of blue [cyan] and red [magenta] is complementary to yellow.
Warm colors: Colors ranging between yellow to red-violet on the circle i.e. yellow, orange-yellow, red and red-violet.
However, interaction between colors may cause a hue such as red-violet to appear warmer if it is placed next to a cold color, such as green, or colder if it is placed next to a warm color, such as orange.
Cold colors: Colors ranging between blue-violet and yellow-green on the chromatic circle i.e. blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow-green.
However, interaction between colors may cause a hue such as yellow-green to appear colder if it is placed next to a warm color, such as red, or warmer if it is placed next to a cold color, such as blue.
Saturated or bright colors: Pure hues containing, theoretically, no white, black, gray or complementary colors. However, this definition can be stretched to extend the range of complementary colors. For example, the range of saturated blues is not limited to pure blues. Blues containing white or black may still be considered saturated. On the other hand, orange containing black, even in small quantities, is considered unsaturated because it becomes brownish.
Unsaturated or gray-tinted colors: Hues containing more or less gray, or of their complementary color. Theoreticians also use the expression "dull colors" to designate those colors. The expression does not carry a derogatory meaning.
Harmony: In decoration, harmony refers to a combination of colors that is pleasing to the eye.
The Voice of Color® has adopted definitions derived from the Munsell System of Color Notation. The Munsell System arranges colors in a three-dimensional space resembling a tree. The trunk (vertical axis) serves as a scale for neutral gray tones, black being at the bottom, white at the top. The horizontal axes, in variable lengths, represent a degree of saturation for each of the hues.
The world renowned Munsell System describes each color according to three attributes: hue, value and chroma (saturation), terms that allow all those interested in color to speak the same language.
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For more information see The Voice Of Color
Chromatic Circle (Courtesy of Munsell Color Services, A Division of GretagMacbeth)
