Tuesday, February 11, 2014

A Compendium of Colour

This is the second in my compendium posts about Popular Art Topics from the Archives. This one is all about colour.  Feel free to bookmark it!

(ie I've got my head down writing my book about drawing and sketching!)

It's maybe worth mentioning that my blog posts about colour and colour theory also got the thumbs up from James Gurney in the Internet Resources about Colour identified in his book "Color and Light - A Guide for the Realist Painter" which I'm also very happy to recommend!
makingamark.blogspot.com - Various resources for artists, including summaries about colour theory with additional linksJames Gurney
Goethe Colour Diagramsin the first plate of Zür Farbenlehre (Theory of Colors) (1810)
courtesy WebExhibits - Colour Vision and Art
Curated by Michael Douma

What is Colour? (9th June 2008) 

Sets out the seven ways I've decided to try and answers the question "What is Colour?"

Colour - a scientific perspective (10 June 2008)

This post focuses on the science of colour – in simple terms:
  • The defining characteristics of colour
  • How colour is made
  • How we see and think about colour

Colour - a materials perspective #1 - pigments and dyes (25 June 2008) 

This post provides a materials perspective on colour for artists and a basic overview of pigments and dyes.

Colour - pigments and related colours (26 June 2008)

I want a table which tells me all about different colours - and relates pigment to colour names to chemical names and then explains what all that means. But can I find one on the internet? (Note: I was well advanced with this table but then lost if when a computer blew up and haven't had the heart to try and reinstate it!)
Every pigment has an international classification and standardised name but not every colour is what it says it is.

Hues - a systems perspective (8th July 2008) 

A detailed examination of systems which explain primary colours

Describing a colour space - there's more than one colour wheel! (10 July 2008) 

About a Matrix of Theories about Colour Space - which is the method I've adopted to categorise some of the people who have tried describe colour in terms of spatial relationships - to describe a colour space.

A Matrix of Colour Space Theories (pdf file) (2008) 

Table of colour theories organised by approach to colour theory - additive, subtractive and partitive
How to identify complementary colours in the context of different shapes which explain colour theory
This post is an attempt to redress the balance on the paucity of online information about analogous colours - but it also recommends other sources of even better advice and information!

Colour Schemes: Split Complementaries, Triads and Tetrads (18 July 2008) 

Discusses and explains three colour schemes used by professional artists:
  • Split Complementary - a colour plus the two colours either side of its complementary colour 
  • Triad - any three colours which are equidistant on the colour wheel
  • Tetrad - any four colours which are equidistant on the colour wheel

Symbolic Colour (24 July 2008) 

This post provides an overview of some of the meanings of different colours - and the origins of some of those meanings.

Why your colours onscreen don't look the same when printed (10 March 2011) 

Have you ever wondered why your images onscreen don't come out looking the same when printed? This post discusses: how the CMYK model works; why RGB files don't look like CMYK files and how to convert an RGB file to a CMYK file for printing purposes
Lots of photos of pigments and some links to websites which describe and record Artists' Colourmen.

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