COLOR SCHEMES PART 2

Before I start, I'd like to recommend a website that takes the guess work out of color schemes. On colorsupplyyy.com (yes, there are 3 y's) you will find a simple to use color scheme finder. Click the right or left arrows by the color wheel to choose analogous, complementary, etc. Then move the circles to a color. The chart to the side shows how variations of that scheme will look, using more intense, shaded, tinted, or even muted colors. Check it out. I got this web site from Dr. Oto Kano's youtube on tetradic color schemes.

ANALOGOUS

Three or four colors next to each other on the color wheel. These are colors that play nicely together.

ANALOGOUS + A COMPLEMENT

Three colors next to each other on the color wheel PLUS a complement of one of the colors.

TRIADS

Three colors that form a triangle on the color wheel. 

MUTING COLORS BY ADDING COMPLEMENTS

You can keep colors on the scheme that are muted variations of a color. (or less intense) You accomplish that by adding a little of it's complement. For example, If I want to use a triad of red, green, and blue, I can dull one of the colors, say red, by adding a little green to it to make it less intense. 

THE PROJECT CHALLENGE today was to draw a simple landscape and show each of the four seasons using different color schemes. Color choice is usually very personal--what speaks of spring to me might be different to someone else. I might choose pinks, yellow greens, and pale blues; someone else might choose yellows, greens, and lavender. 

Below you'll see spring and winter. For spring I chose a tetrad of magenta/yellow green/blue/orange. I used a tint of red for the pink trees; cerulean for the sky; yellow green for the grass; muted orange for the barn; shaded orange for the path and tree trunk.

For the winter scene I used analogous cool colors: blue/blue violet/violet/red violet to create a very cold feeling. 

Below you see autumn and summer. I used the neutralized versions of each color to demonstrate that it is still part of that color scheme if you use tints, shades, and neutrals. It s a tetrad of blue/orange; red green. I muted the blue of the sky with a little orange to create a grayer sky; I neutralized the red of the barn wth a touch of greeen; the green grass is neutralized with a drop of red so that it looks more like autumn. I used the orange in the tree as an intense color to bring out the tree. 

 The summer picture I used with a triad: blue/red/green. I kept the colors pretty bright and pure because to me, summer means bright lights, lots of contrast, and a very warm feeling.

If I hadn't wanted blue for the skies, I would not have needed to include it in my color scheme. I could have used a violet sky, or orange sky, or gray, and it would have changed what I could use as a color scheme.

It was interesting in class to see how differently each student perceived the seasons.

For more in-depth videos on color schemes, Dr. Oto Kano has 11 on youtube on color theory.