Color harmony
Media
Part of The Philippine Educator
- Title
- Color harmony
- Language
- English
- Year
- 1947
- Rights
-
- Fulltext
- ,. ·..-: .. ':. .:,.. ~._: ' c .-- ·!_~COLOR :HAR~Ol_iY._-:.- ·; :_ - ,: :·., ·-·;.···...::"' -..:....,-- ~ ..... SANCHO ENRIQUEZ Supervisor of Art Education Munsel and Prang Color Systems Art students must -be thoroughly familiar with the use of the Munsell Color - System and Prang Color System. 1 Place the;'e two color chart~ in front of the art class all the time. These color charts may be prepared by the instructor on strong, white -drawing pap~r with either ·water colors or No. 16 C~ayola. Colors Have Visual Weights Color areas have, what artists call, visu_ al weights. Two c~rcles of the same size, for example, are filled with a light red hue and a bright red hue. It will --be noticed that the bright red circle looks heavier .than the light red circle. If one circle were filled with bright yellow· and the other circle with bright purple, the purple- circle will look heavier than the yellow circle. Colors, therefore, appear light or heavy dependin~ upon their difference in hue, in value, or in intensity. - This is the way designers train their eyes to balance colors. It is by this method that the law of color areas had been determi~ed. According to this law, large areas of color should be quiet in effect, while small areas may show strong contrasts. Warm and Cool Colors There are two large groups of color - that every art student should knowthe warm colors, including the reds and yellow, and the cool colors, which are around blue. Designers believe that the most beautiful color harmonies are those which give a single impression: an im. ~~ pression of warmth with perl,laps -a note :~~ of coolness for variation; or of coolness --~ with an accent of warmth. It w_ould look - · less interesting, for example, to display _ in a store window suits and dresses of •.. cool colors...:......blues, blue-greens, and ;, greens--!unless _some accents of "?rm ~ colors are brought in, like oran-~e and _,j%: red-orange bandannas, ties, or scarfs. ,. Keying the Colors .,. Another way designers barmoni~e col' ors is by "keying" them that is to say '--. to make each color have ,somefhing in . ·'-;;. common with every other color. _ Colors - ,. may be keyed to each other by (1) neu- "".' tralizing them, (2) mixing them to inti oduce a color in common, (Jt glazing, veiling, or topping them, (4) tying them_ together by means of a neutral color, or . (5) using a rough texture. Let students bring in clippings showing color suggestions. _ These clippings may be colored covers, illustrations; or advertisements from discarded magazines; colored fabrics such a~ cretonnes, chintzes, printed linens, and silks; color reproductions of paintings; or colored pictures of flowers, leaves, birds, insects, -E etc. Monochromatic Harmony This harmony-in different values, intensities, and textures-is effective for _ a small area, as in a dress, a rug, or eve!) walls and rugs It is tiresome, however, to use it in an entire room Remember that the neutrals blacK, white, and gray may be used in any harmony. Analogous Harmony 1 Read Chapter~ Eight and Nine of Art in • Colors that lie near each other on the E-.eryda,y Lift by Harriet. and Vetia Goldstein, II d l colors. Third revised edition. color chart are ca e ana ogous FOR MODERN OPTICAL NEEDS-SEE KEEPSAKE OPTICAl-80 Escolta - 37 38 l'RILIP,PlNE EDUCATOR ·--Usually the colors between any~ two primaries ;ue the most agreeable. These colors like those in the monochromatic, when 'used in a harmony should always be in' different values and intensities. Analogous harmony is sometimes used in decorating a room but a variety of textures is introduced and the colors of materials are of different values and intensities. Complementary Harmony Colors opposite each other in the color circle are called complementary colors. When using this harmony, the two opposite colors are usually neutralized, or one of the complements is made light or dark, or only a small note of the opposite color is introduced. On the Prang chart, rea and green are difficult to combine · beautifully. Red with bluegreen or green with red-purple on the Munsell c.hart are apt to be more pleasing. Uouble Complementary Harmony Two neighboring colors and their complements, when used together, form a double complementary harmony. "In using a double complementary harmony, then: should be one outstanding hue, which would be the largest amount used, and it should be the dullest of all the colors ; the next color may be a little brighter, but should still be dull; file third color, used in only a small amount, ought to be about one-half neutralized; the fourth color, for the 2 Harriet and Vetta Goldstein, Art in Everydav Life, p. 209. The Macmillan Co. New York, 3rd Edition, 1946. 'smallest ~~cents, may be 111 or near its brightest intensity." 2 Split Complementary Harmony Combinations of a primary or an mtermediate color with the colors on , either side of its complement form a · split comple~entary harmony. One cannot start to plan a split complementary harmony with a secondary color, be- _ cause its complement is a primary which is impossible to split because it is an element in itself. Triads Of all the harmonies, the triad , is the richest but it needs the most careful treatment. A sa~e guide to follow is to neutralize the two colors for the large areas and to brighten the third color for the smallest area. On the Prang color chart, the triads are (1) primary triad: red, blue, and yellow; (2) secondary triad : green, orang-e, and violet; and (3) intermediate triads: (a) yellow-orange, blue-green, and red violet, and (b) yellow-green, blue-violet, and red-orange. Three triads, containing red-purple in each, on the Munsell color chart are {1) red-purple, yellow, and blue-green; (2) red-purple, green-yellow, and blue; and (3) red-purple, yellow, and blue. Any similar triangles on the chart will locate the other triads. If the foregoing principles are followed, much jarring color combination may be avoided in situations close to students' lives. THE ~//.fi, ' tA r FUo/-Jf'wtb w EDUCnTDR Organ of 57,000 Teachers Entered as Second Class Mail Matter in the ~lanila Post OfFice. Subscription rate, P7.00 a year. -