REFERENCE: The Color Wheel / Color Relationships

 

COLOR WHEEL: A color wheel (also referred to as a color circle) is a visual representation of HUES arranged according to their chromatic relationship.

IMPORTANT LINKS TO COLOR THEORY

AND TERMINOLOGY

Monochromatic Colors are shades (add black) or tints (add white) variations of the same hue. There is a risk of monotony but using it with pure colors, white or black can break that dullness.






Analogous Colors lie on either side of any given color. Often these are color schemes found in nature so they usually feel harmonious.

Complimentary Color are directly opposite from one another on the color wheel. They are contrasting and stand out against each other; it is a good idea to use a complementary color as the highlight color.

Split Complementary Colors is a color and the analogous colors to its complement color. This combination give you a greater harmony than the use of the direct complementary and can give your design a higher degree of contrast.

Double-Complementary Colors are two complementary color sets; the distance between selected complementary pairs will effect the overall contrast of the final composition.

Triad Colors are three hues halfway on the color wheel. When you want a design that is colorful and yet balanced, a triad color scheme might be the way to go.

Grayscale Portrait or abstract composition w/ B/W Acrylic Paints (refer back to your gray value scales)

 

Project Description

Project Due on October 19 / October 20

Create a 9" x 12" self-portrait or portrait or abstract composition in B/W (grayscale) Acrylic applying the practice of value scales you just finished doing. Use at least 5-7 gray values from black, dark grays, medium grays light grays, white to create a well executed portrait or abstract design using a good range of gray scale value system.

Have fun with expressions, angles, framing to create a unique image to draw out for your  sketch studies and then you will select the best direction to work on as your final composition. please be be creative. 

avoid blending/shading of paint with this assignment, instead break the image down into shapes that represent the changes in value. You will be creating solid shapes (blocking out fields) each value in the gray value scales. there will be 5-7 value distinctions in the final compositions. 

Be very aware of your placement, layout, figure ground relations, cropping, good framing, interesting angles and vantage points. Be creative in how you create your compositions. Use lighting to create more dramatic shadows, mid tones and highlights. be aware of your light source and how it plays with the details on your face when mapping out the value fields. Create the most dynamic and interesting composition possible. If you need to do more sketches to resolve your piece, you will have to do more studies. 

Have your final composition drawn out on 9" x 12" bristol board, and map and block out all the fields values ranging from black (#5) to white (#1). 

Just in case you need reference. Value Scale Technique - Training Videos to practice learning technique and how to judge values.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WowABJEpm1c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-jkKJmSW_8

Note: You will receive a full project grade on your homework meaning your sketches and studies. This will be reviewed and graded in class.

Rubric
You will be assessed on the overall composition (dynamic and interesting), craftsmanship (even  surface with good tonal value fields using value as highlights, mid tones and shadows, clean edges on paper, no marks/dirt on paper), and range of value (full range of values from black to white- with at least 5 steps). Use continuous even lights mediums darks shades on each field that you black out. 

Student Examples

   

      

REFERENCE - Figure/Ground Relationships

Figure/Ground Relationship

The figure/Ground relationship is the most basic of all relationships in design. It refers to the relationship between positive and negative shapes, and is used as an aid in 2-D composition. 

In art/design, one way we define space is by placing objects in it. This creates a relationship (object-in-space). Something and nothing. Placing an object IN space, defines that space, and CREATES a Figure/Ground Relationship. The object becomes the figure, and the space becomes the ground. 

Here is another way to think about it: The part of a composition that we pay attention to is called figure.  Everything that is not figure is ground. As attention shifts an object can go from figure to ground and back. Positive/Negative shape are analogous terms for Figure/Ground. 

Three Main Types of Figure/Ground Relationships

The figure and ground are inseparable. The figure always defines the ground, and the ground defines the figure. If you draw the figure in a composition, you are drawing the ground at the same time.

Stable-  Unchanging. You know what the figure is, and what the ground is. The focus of our attention does not change. 

Reversible- The positive and negative space/elements attract our attention equally. Our attention is drawn back and forth between the two. 

Ambiguous- The positive and negative space/elements challenge the viewer to find a focal point. What is the figure? What is the ground? Figure is entangled with ground without dominance. Ambiguous f/g relationships are usually abstract. See example below.

Rubin vase—an ambiguous figure/ground illusion. When you see the faces as figure, the vase is the ground. When you see the vase as figure, the faces are the ground.
The viewer shifts from one figure to the other but do not to see both as figure at the same time.

Compositional element within F/G relationships

Active- group elements off-center (asymmetrical) to create visual movement. 

Neutral- centered compositions are stable, not dynamic. Do not center! 

Bleeding- dynamic (it bleeds of the page, and can’t be contained)

Cropping- creates abstraction

Balance in F/G relationship 

In Stable relationship- balance (size/shape) = unified design.

In Reversible relationship-  balance (size/shape) = tension. which is which?

In Ambiguous relationship- balance (size/shape) = action. all space is active. 

Tips on working with figure/ground

• Balancing figure and ground make the composition more clear.
• Using unusual figure/ground relationships can add interest.
• Spaces with convex (a), symmetric (b), smaller in area (c) or enclosed (d) shapes are “seen” as figure.
• An expressive use of white space requires an asymmetrical design. Centering kills the white space (dividing it into unusable emptiness). Asymmetrical design creates a NEED for interestingly shaped white space. 
• A deliberate use of white space creates + and - space that are equally important.

Sample Figure/Ground Relationship Studies