Tuesday 19 January 2016

The Basic Tenets Of Advanced Color Theory

By Ronald Howard


Classic paintings involve more than mere application of colors on the canvas or surface. The painter must tap into a deeper perception in order to produce a picture that looks more realistic. Advanced color theory helps you to recognize and take advantage of outer qualities of light which lend form or objectify your images or matter. This is a departure from the basic understanding of colors which emanated from primary and secondary groupings.

The game of colors changed with the discovery or advanced use of magenta and green. The new dimension enabled people to appreciate the essence of colors beyond what is perceived with naked eyes. It is this intrinsic essence that makes different colors unique and lovely. By appreciating this aspect, you will produce a fantastic image from ordinary colors.

Colors were originally defined by the perceptions people obtained using naked eyes. This meant that there was little or no appreciation of the individual qualities that differentiates colors. Human perceptions were subjective and would therefore lead to glaring errors when the colors were applied on different surfaces. The perception is blind to saturation, hue, lightness and other elements that are distinct to light.

Hue is considered as the distinct characteristic that enables you to differentiate red from blue and yellow, among other colors. It is largely dependent on dormant wavelengths that are reflected from the object or emitted by its surface. The use of black and white on these colors yields tonal families that are basically different in lightness, saturation and hues.

Saturation can be described as value or lightness of colors which define its brightness. These elements or characteristics are in light of closeness to gray. Saturated colors are distant from gray while less saturated colors are those that are nearer to gray. The explanation is that gray dilutes the essence of individual colors.

There are elements of this advanced theory on colors that guide their use. Jumping colors and holes are cautions that should be observed by painters. A hole is a section that appears distant on a painting because of the colors used. A section that is jumping out emanates from a distant object that is painted using similar intensity or saturation as one on the foreground. Such use of colors affects the aesthetic appeal of your work.

The theory lays a lot of emphasis on shadows. There is an element of directional light on every painting. This has been witnessed on every classic painting. Your work should depict consistency in shadowing which is conscious of the shape of the object and the surface on which the shadow has fallen. While painters depend on memory their recollection must produce a realistic image.

Optic illusions will affect the realistic appreciation of your work. These tricks to the eyes change your intention and will end up eliciting a different interpretation of your painting. For instance, a lit window on a night painting appears bigger than it actually is. As such, you should draw a smaller window since the illusion will enlarge it. Failure to appreciate illusions will create imbalances in your coloring.




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