Color Theory and Space Carty 2013

Color An element of design with three properties: hue, value, and intensity. Also the character of surfaces created by the response of vision to wavelengths of reflected light.

Hue The property of a color that distinguishes one gradation from another and gives it its name. For example: Hue would identify colors on the color wheel of spectrum as blue, green, yellow, or red as they are seen.

Primary Colors The three basic colors, red, yellow, and blue, from which it is possible to mix all other colors. The primaries cannot be produced by mixing pigments.

Secondary Colors Colors that result from the mixture of two primary colors. On the twelve color-wheel: orange, green and violet.

Intermediate Colors Colors produced by mixing a primary colors and the adjacent secondary colors on the color wheel. (For example: yellow-green, or red-orange) They are also made by mixing unequal amounts of two primaries. (For example: by mixing yellow and blue, with a majority of yellow, one would yield yellow-green)

Complementary Colors Two colors which are directly opposite to each other on the color wheel, meaning they are in extreme contrast with each other.

Monochromatic One color which is modified by changing the values and saturation of the hue by additions of black and white.

Intensity The degree or purity, saturation or strength of a color. High intensity colors are bright; low intensity colors are dull.

Triadic Color Scheme Any three colors equidistant on the color wheel.

Split Complementary On the color wheel, a hue which is combined with hues on either side of its complement.

Analogous Colors Colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and are closely related, such as yellow, yellow-orange, and orange.

Space An element of art that indicates areas between, around, above, below, or within something. The element of space that is defined by the interior space of an object or room is called volume.

Da Vinci and Space Leonardo Da Vinci used several types of perspective to give his paintings a sense of space: atmospheric perspective, which shows objects and the air appearing bluer and hazier as they get farther away; diminishing perspective, which shows objects decreasing in size the farther away they are from the viewer; and one-point perspective, which uses mathematical principles to show lines that recede from the viewer getting closer together as they converge towards a vanishing point on the horizon.

Linear Persepctive A technique of creating the illusion of depth on a flat surface. All parallel lines receding into the distance are drawn to converge with one or more vanishing points on the horizon line.

Vanishing Point The vanishing point in a work of art which displays liner perspective is the point on the horizon line at which receding lines converge to create the illusion of depth

Horizon Line The horizon line in a work of art which displays linear perspective is the horizontal line on which vanishing points are located and to which receding lines converge.

Aerial Perspective The diminishing of color intensity to lighter and duller hues to give the illusion of distance.