Colors

Colors

We are so much used to colors that we just can’t imagine a life without them. Colors bring charm in humans life. Colors play a very important role in designing. Color reflect the personality of an indivisual. So  it is must for a fashion designer to  have a perfect knowledge about colors. He should know the effect of colors on human mind and body.

            Nature is a big treasure of colors. We can find almost all shades matched beautifully in nature. The blue color of sky, the yellowish-orange color during sunset, green color of grass and leaves, various colors of flowers make our life charming.

The colors we see are waves of light  absorbed or reflected by each and everything around us. The color of an object depends on how it absorbs and/or reflects light. When the waves of light fall on certain object. The object absorbs most of the colors  but reflects some. When these  wave lengths of reflected color enter our eye the image and color of the object is created A object will appear black if it will absorb all the wavelengths of light, in the same way if it reflects all the wavelengths of light it will appear white. So whichever color is not absorbed by an object, it seems to be in that color. E.g. If an object absorbs all wavelengths other than blue, for example, it will look blue.

            Color Spectrum:-

            Scientist   Newton proved that  colors are present in light. He passed rays of sun through an glass prism forming a rainbow on the screen.  The rainbow  consists of seven colors – Violet, Indigo, blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Red. This band of seven colors is called as color spectrum and represented by the word:- VIBGYOR

            V       -     Violet

            I           -           Indigo

            B         -           Blue

            G         -           Green

            Y         -           Yellow

            O         -           Orange

            R         -           Red

Color wheel:-

Mr. Michelle Shevrul  discovered color wheel. Color wheel is a wheel that shows the relation between primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Color wheel helps a indivisual to get a proper idea of different colors and their mixtures.

Color wheel with 12 divisions

It consists of 3 primary colors

1. Red   2. Yellow    3. Blue

Secondary colors formed by mixing primary colors

1. Orange  2. Violet   3. Green

Mixture of primary colors and secondary colors (Intermidiate colors )

yellow-green, blue-green, red-orange, red- violet, yellow- orange and  blue-violet.

Color Wheel with 18 division

It is a circle which has 18  divisions, consisting of 3 primary, 3 secondary & 12 mixtures. There are two mixtures  between each primary & secondary color in one mixture  primary color is more & in other secondary color is more.

It consists of 3 primary colors

1. Red   2. Yellow    3. Blue

Secondary colors formed by mixing primary colors

1. Orange  2. Violet   3. Green

Mixture of primary colors and secondary colors (Intermidiate colors )

yellowish-green,greenish-yellow, blueish-green,greenish blue, redish-orange,orangish-red, redish- violet,violetish-red, yellowish- orange, orangish yellow and  blueish –violet, violetish -blue.

Types of colors

Primary colors

 These are the basic colors. These colors cant be made and are base of all other colors The primary colors are red, blue and yellow.

Secondary colors

When two primary colors are mixed in an equal proportion, secondary colors are formed . Each secondary color is made from the two primary colors on either side of it, in the color wheel. The secondary colors are

Blue + yellow = green,

Red + yellow = orange 

red + blue = violet

Tertiary colors

When two secondary colors are mixed in an equal proportion, tertiary colors are formed

The tertiary colors are

Green + violet = slate,

Violet + orange = russet

 orange + green = olive

Quaternary Colors:- when two tertiary colors are mixed in an equal proportion Quaternary colors are formed.

Slate +Russet = Plum

Russet + Olive = Buff

Olive + Slate = Sage

Intermediate colors

Intermediate colors are made by mixing a secondary and a primary color together. Some examples of intermediate colors are yellow-green, blue-green, red-orange, red- violet, yellow- orange blue-violet.

Achromatic colors :- Various value intensity of black and white. It covers all the shade from black to white .It is also called as Grey scale    The uppermost part of a gray scale is pure white and its lowermost part is pure black. There are 9 divisions in between these two parts. These nine parts are again divided into three keys – The high Key, The middle key and the low key.

1. High Key – Going down from white color the first 3 shades of gray are called as high Key. Each Key is called as

High light (90% white+ 10 % black)

Light ( 80 % white + 20 % black )

Low light (70 % white + 30 % black ) respectively.

2. Middle Key:- The next three divisions which has mostly equal amount of black and white are called as middle keys. They are again classified as

 High medium (60% white+ 40 % black)

Medium ( 50 % white + 50 % black )

Low medium  (40 % white + 60 % black ) respectively.

3. Low key:- The three shades prior to black are called as low Keys and are classified as

High Dark (30% white+ 70 % black)

Medium dark ( 20 % white + 80 % black )

Low Dark (10 % white + 90 % black ) respectively.

           

Monochromatic colors: - When any one color in it’s various values and intensities are used in a design. Take a color  and  go on adding  white on its one side  and black on its other. The monochromatic color is divided into there parts - tint, tone and shade.

Tint
Tints are light values of a color. One usually makes tints by mixing a color with different amounts of white.

Shade
Shades are dark values of a color. The shades formed by adding black to a particular color are called as shades.

Tone           The color when mixed with an exact gray shade is called as tone.

Value
Value is the lightness or darkness of a color. You can get different values of a color by mixing its shades and tints.

Local color

Local color means realistic color—color as it appears in nature  e.g. green grass, blue sky, brown horses, etc

Cool colors

Cool colors are made mostly of green, blue and violet (purple). This family of colors is called cool because they remind you of cool things. Cool colors can even make you feel cooler because they can slightly decrease your circulation and body temperature!

Warm colors

Warm colors are made mostly of red, orange and yellow. This family of colors is called warm because they remind you of warm things like the sun or fire. Warm colors can even make you feel warmer because they can slightly increase your circulation and body temperature!

Neutral colors

Neutral colors or earth tones are not seen on most color wheel. Black, gray, whites are neutral. Browns, beiges and tans are sometimes neutral too. Neutral colors can be made by mixing:

• black and white
• complementary colors.
• all three primaries together (plus some black or white)

.Complementary colors

Complementary colors are located directly across from each other on the color wheel. Complementary pairs contrast because they share no common colors. For example, red and green are complements, because green is made of blue and yellow. Complementary colors can appear very exciting and seem to vibrate when placed side by side. Some complementary colors are : Yellow x Violet, Yellow-Orange X Violet-Blue, Orange X Blue, Red-Orange X Blue-Green, Red X Green, Red-Violet X Yellow Green etc  Double complementary colors:-  Two  adjacent colors in a color wheel and two colors  exactly opposite to them are called as double complementary colors.

e.g.   Yellow, Yellow orange          X          Violet , Blue Violet

Ethnic colors: - These colors are the traditional Indian colors. Hindus mostly use these colors during wedding.

Pastel colors: - They are light and pale colors made by adding lot of white to any bright color e.g. lilac, baby pink etc.

Earthy colors: -These colors are found in nature. They are related to brown family.