The Study Of Colour

Front matter

THE SPECTRUM PRIMARIES art- Red, (Iroen, and Violet

TH E PIGMENTARY PR IM A RIES

arc— Crimson

Introduction

ID Q.k*^

If the youth were taught the laws and theory of color in the same way as he is taught the laws and theory of music in the schools, the art of any country would be raised to a higher level.

This book is designed as a means of teaching the theory of color by progressive exercises as demonstrated in my first book, “The Art of Color.” These exercises are so arranged that the student does the easy task first and gradually progresses until the designs become more advanced and complicated.

I have divided the book into three parts or sections which can be used for the first, second, and third year in the study of color. The student may do the entire work laid out in the book, or the instructor may omit any part without impairing the general instruction. The student will find that by doing these exercises the eyes become physically stronger to see color in nature, and things that were unnoticed in the past will hold an enhanced value when he sees the subtle colors with which Nature bedecks herself. The lessons will also correct false impressions and give a wider range of the possibilities of color com¬ binations and compositions; and the color of shadows, which is always difficult to see, will automatically become discernible.

V

VI

INTRODUCTION

The theory of color used is based on the latest discoveries in the scientific and artistic world and is now used by many noted artists, designers, interior decorators, poster and costume designers, and for all the other fine and applied arts.

The standardization of colors and their names, hues, tones, shades, and tints, can be designated accurately by the use of the color-mixing charts which in itself will do away with the conflicting names so long in use. The terms of secondary and tri-cendary colors in the old sense have been discarded, as these are now known to be imperfect complementaries, or muddy color, and in their place gray or neutralized color substituted.

These exercises have been successfully used at the Metropolitan Art School of New York, and they have been found to hold the attention of the student and to keep that enthusiasm with which he first approaches the graphic arts. It is hoped, after he has studied and worked in these exercises, that work will be continued in the study of color, as it is a subject when once started will be a source of unending joy.

The charts numbered i to 86 are so arranged that they can be torn out of the book and inserted into a binder. These binders can be secured from the publishers or from the book stores at a moderate cost.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction .a . v

Chapter One . x

Chapter Two. 6 FIRST SECTION

First Lesson: The Spectrum. 14

Second Lesson: Color Mixing. to

Third Lesson: One Color and One Complementary in Brilliants.... 2$ Fourth Lesson: Two Colors and Two Complementaries in Brilliants 31 Fifth Lesson: Three Colors and Three Complementaries in Brilliants 33 Sixth Lesson: Four Colors and Four Complementaries in Brilliants. • 35 Seventh Lesson : Five Colors and Five Complementaries in Brilliants 37

SECOND SECTION

Eighth Lesson: One Color and One Complementary in Neutralized

Tones . 42

Ninth Lesson: Two Colors and Two Complementaries in Neutral¬ ized Tones . 45

Tenth Lesson: Three Colors and Three Complimentaries in Neutral¬ ized Tones. 47

Eleventh*Lesson: Four Colors and Four Complementaries in Neu¬ tralized Tones . 48

Twelfth Lesson: Five Colors and Five Complementaries in Neutral¬ ized Tones . 50

Thirteenth Lesson: Three Colors in Analogous Harmony, Brilliants 5a Fourteenth Lesson: Four Colors in Analogous Harmony, Brilliants. 5$ Fifteenth Lesson: Five Colors in Analogous Harmony, Brilliants... 56 Sixteenth Lesson: Six,Colors in Analogous Harmony, Brilliants.... 58 Seventeenth Lesson: Three Colors in Analogous Harmony, Neutral¬ ized . 59

Eighteenth Lesson: Four Colors in Analogous Harmony, Neutralized 62 Nineteenth Lesson : Five Colors in Analogous Harmony, Neutralized 64 Twentieth Lesson: Six Colors in Analogous Harmony, Neutralized. 65

vii vm

CONTENTS

THIRD SECTION

PAGE

Twenty-first Lesson: Two Colors and One Mutual Complementary. 70 Twenty-second Lesson: Three Colors and One Mutual Comple¬ mentary .!. 75

Twenty-third Lesson: Three Colors and Two Mutual Comple-

mentaries . 77

Twenty-fourth Lesson: Four Colors and One Mutual Complemen¬ tary . 79

Twenty-fifth Lesson: Four Colors and Two Mutual Complemen-

taries. So

Twenty-sucth Lesson: Four Colors and Three Mutual Complemen¬ tary . S2

Twenty-seventh Lesson: Five Colors and One Mutual Complemen¬ tary . S5

Twenty-eighth Lesson: Five Colors and Two Mutual Complemen¬ tary . 86

Twenty-ninth Lesson: Five Colors and Three Mutual Complemen¬ tary . 88

Thirtieth Lesson: Five Colors and Four Mutual Complementary.. 90 Thirty-first Lesson: Six Colors and One Mutual Complementary... 92 Thirty-second Lesson: Six Colors and Two Mutual Complementary 94

Thirty-third Lesson: Six Colors and Three Mutual Complemen¬ tary . 96

Thirty-fourth Lesson: Six Colors and Four Mutual Complemen¬ tary . 98

Thirty-fifth Lesson: Six Colors and Five Mutual Complementary. 100

Thirty-sixth Lesson: Triads. 103

Thirty-seventh Lesson: Monochromes. 105

Thirty-eighth Lesson: Still Life Painting. 106

Co glia

PLATE ILLUSTRATIONS

No. i.—12-Color Spectrum in Colors.

No. a.—24-Color Spectrum in Colors.

No. 3.—24-Color Spectrum—Names of Colors.

No. 4.—Mixing Chart in Red and Blue.

No. 5.—Illustration of Palette in Black and White.

No. 6.—Black and White Illustration—Rabbits, etc.

No. 7.—Brilliant Complementaries in Colors.

No. 8.—Shadowgraphs in Black and White.

No. 9.—Black and White Illustrations, Houses.

No. xo.—Neutralized Complementaries in Color.

No. xx.—Harmonies in Colors.

No. 12.—Black and White Illustration, Boats.

No. 13.—Black and White Illustration, People.

No. 14.—Split Complementaries in Colors.

No. 15.—Diagram of Split Complementaries, Starting with Red. No. x6.—Still Life.

ix

Digitized by LjOOQle

WITH LESSONS AND EXERCISES

Chapter I

“The difference between the artist and the scientist is that the artist is interested only in the rays of light which are visible to the human eye and the scientist is interested in the laws of light with all their invisible rays which he records with instruments; still, the principle of the law of nature is the same.”

Sir Isaac Newton told us in 1667 that a beam of white light could be divided into three colors, and he called them red, yellow, and blue. The red that he men¬ tions was a color which is known in this system as scarlets

Later discoveries by Helmholtz in 1866 proved that the three primary colors of the spectrum are red, green, and violet, from which all other colors are made. These colors he particularly mentions are French vermilion, emerald green, and spectrum violet. By combining the red and the green rays of light we get a sensation in our eyes which we call yellow. By combining the green and the violet rays we get a sensation of blue, and by com¬ bining the violet and the red rays we get a sensation of crimson. You cannot mix the colors of the rays of light in the same way that you mix paints because if you mix the three colors of the spectrum, red, green, and violet, with lights you make a white light, whereas, if you mix the three paints, red, green, and violet together you make a black paint.

In this system the law of light and the law of pig¬ ments are made to coincide; although it is the same law they work like everything else in nature—by the law of opposites.

The Law of Helmholtz is the law of direct light; the Law of Newton is the law of reflected light. If we changed the red of Newton, which is a scarlet, and made it crimson we could make both the Law of Newton and the Law of Helmholtz interchangeable. To repeat, if the three primary colors of light are thrown on to a screen at one time it will produce a white light; if the three primary colors are mixed together with paint it will pro¬ duce black paint.

By using this knowledge we make up a spectrum circle and divide it in three equal parts, red, green, and violet, which we call the spectrum primaries, and in the alternate spaces between these colors, crimson, yellow, and blue, the true pigmentary primaries. In this way, one pig¬ mentary primary will be opposite to the spectrum primary. It is very important for you to know the true comple¬ mentary of each color so that you can mix these colors together, because if you do not mix the true complemen¬ tary, your colors will not be pure and you will get muddy grays.

A combination of colors is also arrived at by the arrangement of the spectrum as illustrated (Plate I),

S as by this arrangement harmonies, contrasts, and other combinations can be seen very quickly. These combina¬ tions are necessary to make beautiful designs for cloth or silk, or designs of any kind, and also for the making of beautiful portraits, landscapes, pottery, posters, and all works of art, even for the colors of dresses, or the decorating of our homes. There are a great many other uses to be made of this spectrum and the way it is ar¬ ranged.

It must always be remembered that color is simply a reflection from some surface which has the power of sending back to our eyes one or more of the colored rays of light. We have all seen the rainbow or the beautiful colors that the sun casts on the floor or wall when the light goes through a beveled-glass window. If you look at this color band closely you will see distinctly the three colors of the spectrum and where they overlap the other three colors. Let us say that we see a piece of cloth which we call red. We remember that that particular red has the power to reflect the red ray of light only, and it will not reflect any of the other colors. You can try this by placing a red piece of cloth under a blue light or under a green light, and it will immediately look black because it cannot reflect any other ray of light but the red. If we take a violet article and place in a white light it looks violet, but if we place it under a red light it will not reflect, and looks black. If we take a yellow article and place it in a red light it will look red to us, and if we place it in a green light it will look green, and in a white light it will look yellow. This is because yellow can reflect both the red and the green light, and when both are reflected together it looks yellow, but if we place it in a violet light it will also look black because yellow cannot reflect anything but red and green, or yellow which .of course is a combination of the red and green light together. Study the spectrum chart (Plate I) and memorize what colors are opposite to each other and you will understand that the colors that are so placed are called complementaries. A complementary color means that when two colors are mixed together with paint it would make a black or dark gray paint called neutral; and if two lights were thrown on a screen together it would look white. This, of course, is only in our eye because we have three sets of nerves which are sensitive only to red, green, and violet. When the red and the green are set in motion together we get a sensation of yellow, and when the gteen and the violet, we get a sensa¬ tion of blue, and when the violet and the red, a sensation of crimson. To prove this, if you will take a bright red glass and place as a lantern slide in a magic lantern and shine it on a white sheet and look at it for about five minutes, getting your eye full of the red light, and then suddenly turn off the red light, you will see the exact shape on the screen—only instead of red you will see this in its complementary color blue—that is, of course, if the red is a vermilion or red of our spectrum chart (Plate I). If you take a green piece of glass—that is, emerald green—and throw this on the screen and quickly turn out the light you will get the same image in crimson. If you take a violet glass this after image, as it is called, will

S be yellow. If you take a yellow glass the after image will be violet. If you take a crimson glass the after image will be green. If you take a blue glass the after image will be red—so you see that the complementary colors can be worked either with the spectrum primaries or the pigmentary primaries.