Visual Problems in Value

Introduction:

“Value is simply the artistic term for light and dark. An area’s value is its relative lightness or darkness in a given context. Only through changes of light and dark can we perceive anything”.

—Design Basics, Chapter 12

Application:

The following exercises and project are designed to give the student both short-term and long-term experiences in creating lights and darks--value. Four individual exercises require students to explore the relationships between light and dark as well as the relationship between value and color. One culminating project encourages students to synthesize various important concepts of value such as emphasis and space. Students render their value projects in a professional manner with media used in the field of design, including the computer. The final results are critiqued by their classmates and by their instructor.

Traditional Media

Using regular sketching paper make an eight-step value scale from dark to light. Each value step should be one inch square. Various drawing pencils may be used, i.e., a 2B or 4B pencil creates a dark value, whereas a 2H or 4H pencil creates a light value. Using a Master Card-type design (see diagram), render as many black and white (positive or negative) options as possible. You cannot change the design of a rectangle with two overlapping circles. You must fill in shapes with black and leave the remaining area(s) white with each attempt. There are sixteen variations.

Begin with a rectangle of either a vertical or horizontal proportion. Next, draw into the rectangle six straight horizontal or vertical lines. The lines may overlap or not depending on the individual design. No two areas in the composition can be the same size. Now render the rectangular shapes in white, black, and middle values. Using pencils make even applications of these values.

Start with the same rectangular design with lines similar to exercise 3. This time make a dark, middle, and light valued design, but with the concept of "key". Key refers to the overall lightness or darkness of a composition. Either render these three values in "high key" or in "low key". Special note: The three values will be closer together than was the case in exercise 3; but you must still establish a dark value and a light value with a "mid-way" value in between these two values.

Electronic Media

Using Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, make a ten to twelve step value scale from dark to light. Each value step should be one inch square. Print out scales to see how well the values hold their distinctiveness in print. Compare the results with their appearance on the monitor.

Using Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, create as many black and white designs as possible utilizing a Master Card composition as shown in "Traditional Media, number 2. You cannot change the design of a rectangle with two equal overlapping circles. You must fill in shapes with black and leave the remaining area white with each try. Note: draw one design and copy it each time to create a possible black and white design. There are sixteen possible variations.

Start with a rectangle of either a vertical or horizontal proportion. Using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop draw into the rectangles either horizontal or vertical. The rectangles may overlap or stand alone. No two areas of the composition can be the same size or proportion. Next, render the resultant shapes in white, black and middle values. Print the results.

Begin with the same rectangular design made for exercise 3. This time create the same design, with dark, middle, and light values, but with the concept of "key". Render this design either in "low key" or "high key". Special note: The three values will be closer together than was the case in exercise 3; but a dark value and alight value with a mid-way value between the two must be established.

Project:

Goal: To create a vertical or horizontal landscape design in which atmospheric perspective creates an illusion of depth.

Materials:

A. Traditional design media that will be employed in the execution of this project.

Illustration or bristol board approximately 12"x15".

Black drawing ink and white opaque water-based paint.

Two watercolor sable brushes, one chisel and one rounded.

Drawing pencils and tracing paper

B. Electronic design software such as: Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop. Project can be designed and rendered either with traditional media or electronic (computer) software. It is also possible to mix traditional and electronic media. For example, a student could use traditional media in drawing original images and utilize Adobe Illustrator to create multiple horizontal planes for use in the project.

Guidelines:

An illusion of depth must be created through the principle of strong value contrasts in the foreground and subtle value contrasts in the background.

Overlapping horizontal planes in various gradations of sizes, from large in the foreground to small in the background, can be used to create the overall pattern of perspective.

A focal point created through the principle of value contrast should be created in the foreground of the landscape design.

A wide range of "key", or values, should be used in the landscape composition.

Chapter 13. Color

Assignment 1. Read the text of Chapter 13 and do the following:

1. Identify and list primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.

2. Define hue, intensity, and saturation and be able to accurately use these words in relation to design concepts.

3. List complimentary colors and understand the effect they have on each other when in close proximity.

4. Define and provide examples of monochromatic, triadic and analogous color schemes.

5. List and discuss the emotional responses to warm and cool colors.

6. Understand how to tint and shade a hue.

Assignment 2. Oral Quiz. Express your views working in groups (see Glossary below).

1. Give an example of local color. Why is it considered local?

2. List the 5 Basic Color Schemes or color harmonies and briefly describe them.

Glossary

Additive system A color mixing system in which combinations of different wavelengths of light create visual sensations of color.

Afterimage Occurs after staring at an area of intense color for a certain amount of time and then quickly glancing away toward a white surface where the complementary color seems to appear.

Analogous colors A color scheme that combines several hues located next to each other on the color wheel.

Chroma See Intensity.

Color constancy A psychological compensation for changes in light when observing a color. A viewer interprets the color to be the same under various light conditions.

Color discord A perception of dissonance in a color relationship.

Color harmony Any one of a number of color relationships based on groupings within the color wheel (see Analogous Colors, Color Triad, and Complementary).

Color symbolism Employing color to signify human character traits or concepts.

Color triad Three colors equidistant on the color wheel.

Color wheel An arrangement of colors based on the sequence of hues in the visible spectrum.

Complementary A color scheme incorporating opposite hues on the color wheel. Complementary colors accentuate each other in juxtaposition and neutralize each other in mixture.

Composition The overall arrangement and organization of visual elements on the two-dimensional surface.

Constancy effect An aspect of human perception that allows us to see size, or color, or form as consistent even if circumstances change appearances.

Cool color A color closer to blue on the color wheel.

Emotional color A subjective approach to color usage to elicit an emotional response in the viewer.

Hue A property of color defined by distinctions within the visual spectrum or color wheel. Red, blue, yellow, and green are examples of hue names.

Intensity The saturation of hue perceived in a color.

Local color The identifying color perceived in ordinary daylight.

Monochromatic A color scheme using only one hue with varying degrees of value or intensity.

Opaque A surface impenetrable by light.

Optical mixture Color mixture created in the eye as small bits of color are perceived to blend and form a mixture.

Pointillism A system of color mixing (used in painting and drawing) based on the juxtaposition of small bits of pure color. Also called divisionism. (see also optical mixture)

Primary colors The three colors from which all other colors can theoretically be mixed. The primaries of pigments are traditionally presented as red, yellow, and blue, while the primaries of light are red, blue, and green.

Saturation See Intensity.

Secondary color A mixture of any two primary colors.

Simultaneous contrast The effect created by two complementary colors seen in juxtaposition. Each color seems more intense in this context.

Spectrum The range of visible color created when white light is passed through a prism.

Subtractive system A color mixing system in which pigment (physical substance) is combined to create visual sensations of color. Wavelengths of light absorbed by the substance are subtracted, and the reflected wavelengths constitute the perceived color.

Tertiary A mixture of a primary and an adjacent secondary color.

Tint A hue mixed with white.

Tonality A single color or hue that dominates the entire color structure despite the presence of other colors.

Tone A hue mixed with its complement.

Transparency A situation in which an object or form allows light to pass through it. In two-dimensional art, two forms overlap, but they are both seen in their entirety.

Triadic A color scheme involving three equally spaced colors on the color wheel.

Vibrating colors Colours that create a flickering effect at their border. This effect is usually dependent on an equal value relationship and strong hue contrast.

Visual color mixing The optical mixture of small units of color so that the eye perceives the mixture rather than the individual component colors.

Warm color A color that appears to be closer to the yellow-to-red side of the color wheel.

Assignment 3. Do the tutorial quiz

1. … is a property of light.

2. Real life color or color that is created from light is referred to as … .

3. Creating color from pigments is referred to as … .

4. … are mixtures of primary colors.

5. … are a mixture of a primary and an adjacent (next to) secondary color.

6. … are directly opposite on the color wheel.

7. … When you mix complimentary colors and you get gray, what is this effect called?

8. … is when our mind insists that grass is green, despite contradictory visual evidence.

9. … is the brightness of a color.

10. Another term for chroma or saturation is … .

11. What is the term for the general name of a color?

12. What term is used to refer to the lightness or darkness of a hue?

13. Adding white to a hue is referred to as a … .

14. Adding black to a hue is referred to as a … .

15. When two complimentary colors are placed next to each other they increase each other's visual brilliance. This is called … .

16. When an artist attempts to create a color by placing two pure colors next to each other rather then mixing them on a board it is called … .

17. What group of artists has investigated and expanded our ideas of color more than any other?

18. When you use different objects of different colors and different sizes on either side of the center axis it is referred to as … .

19. The use of only one hue, plus shades and tints is called … .

20. Several hues that sit next to each other on color wheel are called …colors.

21. Opposite colors on color wheel are called … colors.

22. Using the two colors on either side of the compliment is called a …compliment.

23. Three hues equal-distant on the color wheel are called .

24. Tonality is also referred to as … .

25. … refers to the dominance of a single color or the visual importance of a hue that seems to pervade the whole color structure despite the presence of the other colors.

26. The opposite of color harmony is referred to as … .

27. To imply distance, what color should you fade your object towards?

28. … is the intensification and exaggeration of the color that the artist may have seen.

29. Red + Yellow =

30. Blue + Yellow =

31. Red + Blue =

32. True or False: Some examples of visual mixing are Post-Impressionist era Seurat and Van Gogh, pointillism, and divisionism.

a. True

b. False

33. True or False: Modern day printing is an example of visual mixing.

a. True

b. False

34. True or False: Any color can be mixed from the three primary colors.

a. True

b. False

35. True or False: There are relatively few hues, but unlimited colors.

a. True

b. False

36. True or False: Most people cannot distinguish more then 10 tints and shades of a color.

a. True

b. False

37. True or False: Most people can distinguish at least 40 tints and shades of a color.

a. True

b. False

38. True or False: Our perception of colors changes according to their surroundings.

a. True

b. False

39. True or False: To create visual balance, the objects must have equal weight, interest, appeal, or attraction.

a. True

b. False

40. True or False: Color is often used to create balance.

a. True

b. False

41. True or False: Dust in the earth's atmosphere breaks up objects' color rays and makes appear bluish.

a. True

b. False

42. True or False: Warm colors can convey the emotions melancholy, depression

a. True

b. False

43. True or False: Cool colors can convey the emotions warm, happy, cheerful

a. True

b. False

44. True or False: Color symbolism does not vary between cultures.

a. True

b. False

45. True or False: Color can represent a concept or idea like sin, greed or cowardice.

a. True

b. False

46. True or False: Warm colors recede.

a. True

b. False

47. True or False: When you use local color in a painting you are depicting color as seen in daylight or what we 'know' the color to be.

a. True

b. False

48. True or False: Pure arbitrary color is often seen in 20th century painting.

a. True

b. False

49. True or False: Optical Color depends on illumination or what an object looks like under moonlight, candlelight, etc...

a. True

b. False

50. True or False: Arbitrary color is based on reality; colors are not subjective.

a. True

b. False

51. The 3 Primary Colors are:

a. Purple, Green, Orange

b. Red, Blue, Yellow

c. Purple, Red, Orange

52. The 3 secondary colors are:

a. Orange, Green, Purple

b. Red, Blue, Yellow

c. Yellow, Green, Blue

53. The following are all tertiary colors except for which one:

a. Red-purple

b. Lavender

c. Blue-green

d. Yellow-Orange

54. The 3 complimentary color pairs include all of the following except:

a. Blue & Orange

b. Red & Orange

c. Red & Green

d. Yellow & Purple

55. Which of the following is not a way to lower the intensity of a color?

a. Mix with compliment

b. Mix with black

c. Mix with gray

56. Three examples of warm colors are:

a. Red, Purple, Green

b. Red, Orange, Yellow

c. Blue, Green, Purple

57. Two examples of cool colors are:

a. Black and White

b. Red and Yellow

c. Blue and Green

58. All of the following reasons are listed in your book as to why an artist may choose to use Arbitrary Color. Which one is not a reason?

a. Design reasons

b. For realism

c. Or emotional reaction

d. Aesthetics

Class project