COLOR RELATIONSHIP COMPOSITIONS USING COLOR WHEEL (COLOR THEORY)

 DUE DATES: Monday/Tuesday, October 25th / 26th 

Create a series of two dynamic compositions on 9"x12" paper.  Choose two different combinations from COLOR RELATIONSHIPS on the color wheel for your compositions.  you must use the pure color and its tints (mixing color with white) for value changes and contrast. Please sketch 4 different design directions and select 2 final designs to work on final painting. If you don't have paints, use color pencils, colored markers or oil pastels.

Next: Select 2 different color relationships from the 6 choices below (reference info below). Identify the color relationship and the original hues and write the information on the back of each composition.

Formal color relationships: 
analogous, monochromatic, triad
complimentary, split complimentary, double complimentary

Subject can be interpretive still life (close up) or inspire yourself with images from nature, anything that has interesting details you can reference to build your concepts. You will be required to find a close up of image from nature or other non-representational elements that has detailed areas of interest where you can see different design elements in the shapes of the image. This an abstraction/interpretive composition.

It can be inspired from your own creativity or from the shapes of images that exist in nature. Look at the details. explore, look beyond just the actual image of, i.e…  a flower, leaves, shattered glass, grid systems, water, etc... Deconstruct the shapes and details, make them work together, reconstruct, interpret the shapes and create your own design. Nature has many dynamic shapes that can inspire ideas. Interpret and recreate your own version.

You can use cropping  by forming a rectangle with your hands to focus in and frame your selected areas in the image. The cropping is to show how crop and isolate subject or scaling up or down works in relation to the page size.

When creating compositions think of asymmetry, use variations in size of shapes (small, medium, large), you should use a broad range of values using a little white to create contrast, use flat colors, solid colors. create focal areas, unity, flow, cohesive, Use your judgement on Aesthetics and provide creative visual solutions please. Be creative and inspired.

Select your main hue as starting point and from there, you will see relationships according to the color wheel. YOU must refer to the color wheel and the examples from the different combinations from the color wheel posted from the blog. Go back to the reference material on the color theory chapter of the blog. YOU MUST LEARN THE COLOR WHEEL AND ALL ITS RELATIONSHIPS.

Start anywhere on the color wheel, Select a key color. but you must respect the color relationships that are created from the main hue chosen. DO NOT deviate from the color selections. DO NOT use black. you can only use white to shift the values of hues. Where do the colors fall when using each relationship. you are to stick to them but can use pure color and incorporate tones and tints of that particular hue.

    - Complimentary colors

    - Split Complimentary colors
    - Double Complimentary colors
    - Analogous colors - Colors next to each other on the color wheel

    - Monochromatic colors

    - Triad

RUBRIC:

You will be graded on understanding of how to use color wheel and and it's color relationships, creativity, aesthetics, craftsmanship, use of color variations, use of values, hierarchy of shapes in your design, harmony within the composition. Clean edges, solid, flat colors, no blending, clean edges, Clean brush strokes. Be clean and neat.

Materials

• White Bristol 9”x12” format (4 final repeating paintings)

• DO NOT USE BLACK. you can use white to create shift in value.

Check Georgia O’Keefe's work

Students Samples:

Focus on the individual compositions. look at repetition and the different color selections and how they are used. This is past work from prior 9th grade classes. Study them.

 

 

IMPORTANT: You will be responsible for an additional series of three 9"x12" during the holiday break. Both series of 3 designs will be presented for JURIES.

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