Colour Theory

Colour Theory

Colour is one of the ultimate things in art, it derives from the spectrum of light and can be used as a form of visual/ sensual expression. Colour theory is a theory that creates a logical structure to colour.

 

The colour wheel is based on red, yellow and blue and is split up into three main groups, primary colours, secondary colour and also Tertiary colours

 

Primary colours are red, yellow and blue. These are the 3 colours that cannot be mixed or formed by and another combination of colours and all other colours are derived by a combination of these hue's.

 

Secondary colours are green orange and purple and these colours are formed by mixing primary colours

 

Tertiary colours are yellow- orange, red- orange, red- purple, blue- purple, blue- green and yellow- green. These colours are formed by mixing primary and secondary colours, so that is why they have a two toned name.

 

The way a colour wheel works is by showing the relationships between colours you can split a colour wheel in half for the warm and cool colours for example red, yellow and orange are seen as warm colours whereas green, blue and purple are seen as cool colours, however a colour can have hints of another colour in it which will make that colour cool, again for example a red might have undertones of blue making it cool.

 

Colour schemes can be created using a colour wheel, colour schemes can either be;

Analogous - this will be created by using colours that are close to each other on the colour wheel, this creates a really calming feel as all the colours tie together.

Complimentary - Complimentary colours are colours that are directly opposite to each other on the colour wheel for example red and green, the opposing colours cause maximum contrast. Contrasting colours can be used for example in make-up when doing corrective make-up you look to the opposite side of the colour wheel to see what colour will cover up a certain tone in the face, so using the example of red and green, a green concealer will be applied to counteract the redness of someone's face.

Monochromatic - A monochromatic colour scheme is based on using different shades of the same colour, so a segment of the colour wheel would be chosen and different variations of the shades will be used.

 

All colours have different attributes that are used to define all colours and these are lightness (light vs dark or white vs black) saturation (intense vs dull) and hue (red, orange, yellow, green, blue or purple)

 

Achromatic colours are colours that lack chromatic colours for example black, white and greyscale and neutral colours are browns, tans, taupes and can be of any hue or lightness.

 

 

Colour context is how colours behave in relation to other colours and shapes, this is a very complex part of colour theory. Putting a colour on top of another colour can change the vibrancy of the colour and can even change how big or small things appear to be. If you look at the picture above, the red looks considerably more vibrant on the black and blue backgrounds, and duller on the white, you can also see how the square looks bigger against the black background although all the red squares are the same size and colour.

 

Colour theory is hard as all colours can be interpreted differently, you sometimes have to look to other cultures or nature to find out the meanings or true definition of colour.

Morton J.L. (Unknown). Basic Colour Theory. Available: http://www.colormatters.com/color-and-design/basic-color-theory. Last accessed 11th October 2015.

Colour Theory Face Chart (Practice)

 

After learning about colour theory, we were asked to create a face chart using one of the colour schemes that we had been taught. I decided to create a complimentary make-up look for someone with green eyes, so I worked with different shades of purple on the eyes, because this colour is opposite to green on the colour wheel it will make green eyes POP and will be a very flattering look.

This was a complete new experience for me, I am used to drawing my make-up designs myself and also tend to use other media like watercolours, I found it really difficult to get the desired amount of product on the paper and it was weird buffing the colour into the paper instead of using brush strokes. However I am happy with my first attempt, I believe my designs will look a lot better when we get the Solent face charts as this was done on normal photocopier paper, so it was too slippy to work on, so the colours will come out a lot better on textured paper. When creating my 3 designs, I will focus on practising the skin, brows and eyelashes and also re shaping the features to give my face charts more character.