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BASIC
COLOR
THEORY
FOR
DIGITAL
COLORING
Functions of Color:
One of the first things to do when working with color is
to think about what it does.
► It helps to identify objects: From knowing that
the fruit a character is holding is an apple because it's red to
knowing which character it is because of the color of their
hair.
► It helps distinguish objects from one another: This is
especially true when working with very busy lines. It may be
hard to tell at a first glance where one character ends and one
begins or to distinguish a character from the background. Color is a great way to deal with those problems.
► It sets a mood: An image colored with dull bluish
colors
will have a different effect than if it was colored with sunset
colors.
All three of these things color can do, along with ones
I didn't
mention, fall under one main function:
► Color helps to tell a story
◄
Whether it's just a stand-alone image where the past or
future for the subject of the drawing is implied, or a page of a
comic where the story is being laid out, the job of the color is
to help tell the story.
How Colors Interact With Each Other:
Colors don't exist in an empty void. They're surrounded by
other colors, which can affect how they're viewed.
► Hue
One element that affects how colors interact with each other is
the hue. Hues are usually what are referred to as colors. Blue,
green, purple, and red are hues. One of the best ways to
illustrate how hues relate to each other is a color wheel. Here
are a few different colors wheels:
This is a Red/Green/Blue color wheel. It shows the way your
computer screen, as well as anything that gives off light,
represents color.
This is a Cyan/Magenta/Yellow color wheel. It shows the way most
printers, as well as anything else that uses transparent colors,
represent color.
This is a Red/Blue/Yellow color wheel. This is the color wheel
most people are familiar with. It's used for working with opaque
pigments and is the wheel that most commonly represents the
relationships between colors. It's also the color wheel I'll be
talking about.
And now some color wheel related terms and what they mean for
color interaction:
Complimentary colors - Colors that are opposite each
other on the color wheel. Red and green are complimentary
colors. Blue/Orange and Yellow/Purple are also complimentary
pairs. Placing complimentary colors next to each other will
create contrast and draw attention.
Analogous colors
- Colors that are touching on the color
wheel. Blue and green are analogous colors, as are red and
orange. Placing analogous colors next to each other has the
opposite effect of complimentary colors.
► Saturation
Another thing that can affect how colors interact is
saturation. Saturation is the amount of pure pigment in a color.
It can
also be described as how far from grey the color is.
<<High Saturation
Low Saturation>>
High saturation colors draw more attention than low
saturation colors because they appear to be in front
of colors with lower saturation. This is why you generally
shouldn't use high saturation colors as background colors or as
shading colors.
► Value
The third element that affects color interaction is value, which
can also be called brightness. Value is how light a color is.
These two colors have a high value:
And these two colors have a low value:
Just like saturation can affect which colors appear to be in
front, value can too. Colors with a higher value appear to be in
front. Also, like complimentary colors can create contrast and
draw attention placing colors with large differences in value
next to each other can too.
► Temperature
The last thing that affects color relationships is
temperature, or how warm or cool the colors are. This is a bit
harder to to explain than the other elements.
First, let's start with a slightly more detailed version of the
Red/Blue/Yellow color wheel
Now let's break the wheel into basic warm and cool sections
The warm colors have more yellow and red. Cool colors have more
blue.
Identifying warm and cool colors can become a bit more
complicated, though, because technically each color can have a warm and a cool side. Green can be cool if
it has more blue and warm if it has more yellow. Purple can be
cool if it has more blue and warm if it has more red.
Just like the other color elements temperature affects which
colors appear to be in front and which ones behind. Warm colors
will look like they're in front of cool colors.
Summary:
► Color helps to tell a story
► Complimentary colors and ones with high differences in value
placed next to each other create high contrast and draw
attention. Analogous colors and lesser value differences will
reduce contrast.
► Highly saturated, light, warm colors look like they're in
front of low saturation, dark, cool colors. |
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