The Art of Harmony - learn about colour

[webfrau]

INTRODUCTION

A harmony is "a pleasing combination of elements". Standard art harmonies are used throughout the world of art, fashion, decorating and graphic design. They help to enhance our experience and appreciation of colour and can be an inspiration for experimenting with our page design. In other words they provide arrangements that are pleasing to the eye.

Art harmonies are organised through the use of the colour wheel, an arrangement for displaying a system of colour and helping to understand the relationships between colours. There are many different colour theories but a commonly used wheel divides the circle into 12 with all the colours equidistant. The circle is derived from three sets of colours arranged in a rainbow sequence.

PRIMARY - Red, Yellow, Blue
These are pure colours that can't be obtained by mixing

SECONDARY - Yellow + Red = Orange, Yellow + Blue = Green, Red + Blue = Violet
These are made by mixing equal amounts of two adjacent primary colours.

TERTIARY - Yellow + Orange = Yellow-Orange, Red + Orange = Red-Orange etc
These are made by mixing equal proportion of two adjacent colours, one primary and one secondary.

You can read more detail about colour wheels and see some pictures of them here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_wheel

There are many online colour wheel or similar sites that help with putting together a colour scheme. You could try these
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
http://websitetips.com/colortools/sitepro/

Feel free to share any of your favorite colour wheel sites.

In this thread we will share a series of approximately monthly challenges over the next six months to help us explore the use of colour in different ways.

February: Monochromatic. (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1051223&postcount=2)
March: Complementary (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1061648&postcount=15)
April: Split Complementary (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1072030&postcount=16)

[webfrau]

The first art harmony is MONOCHROMATIC. The page consists of one hue in a variety of tints, shades and tones. Contrast is achieved by the use of value and intensity and could also be enhanced by the use of texture.

In art
• Value refers to the lightness or darkness of a colour.
• Intensity is the strength of a colour, it's vividness or saturation.
• Hue is another word for colour
• A shade is achieved by adding black to a colour to make it darker
• A tint is the opposite of a shade, white is added to a colour to make it lighter.

We should also consider the SYMBOLISM and MOOD evoked by colour in our page design.

One psychological interpretation is that yellow stands for intuition, blue for thought, red for emotion and green for sensation. This corresponds to sun, sky, fire and earth.

In the western world colours have acquired the following associations

YELLOW: sunshine, illumination, hapiness, wealth, safety, cowardice, sickness
RED: excitement, danger, daring, couage, passion, blood, patriotism
BLUE: devotion, honor, quality, nobility, infinity, solitude, depression
GREEN: hope, fertility, renewal, stability, jealousy, poison, decay

You can explore more about colour meanings here: http://www.colormatters.com/color-symbolism/the-meanings-of-colors

Feel free to share your favorite colour interpretations.

YOUR CHALLENGE
Produce a monochromatic layout. Use your favorite or any colour you like, do double duty with any other challenges. If you like explain your thinking behind your choice of colour.
You may post your layouts in the Colour My World Gallery: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=5247
Don't forget to link your layout in the thread.

[evergreen100]

Serendipity!!! I uploaded this one just last night. I think it will work for this challenge.

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/8117/thumbs/Maddy_webjmb.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403436&title=maddy&cat=5247)
Maddy (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403436&title=maddy&cat=5247)

[webfrau]

Yes Jill! That's a great example.

[kaybutler@mweb.]

What a great challenge Julia !!! Marking my spot !!!

[Mars]

Great to see this challenge. I always loved the ones you used to do on colour... very interesting and informative.

[kaybutler@mweb.]

Here is mine ! :tup: Although I used a contrast for the background paper I tried to keep the main LO in the same tones ! Thanks for the great challenge !

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/4918/thumbs/A_wink_and_a_giggle.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403818&title=with-a-wink26amp-3b-a-giggle21&cat=4918)
With a wink & a gi... (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403818&title=with-a-wink26amp-3b-a-giggle21&cat=4918)

[kathleennscraps]

Saving a spot.
http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/5247/thumbs/Howl.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403841&title=howl&cat=5247)

[Scrapping4Him]

I did this 2pg spread a few days ago that fits the monochromatic theme. At first I thought I was crazy to choose to do LegoLand pictures like this but it fit so well and the mood created is one I totally love.

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/518/thumbs/Jan11_LL_MiniLand_left.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403354&title=miniland-at-legolandleft&cat=all)http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/data/518/thumbs/Jan11_LL_MiniLand_right.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403353&title=miniland-at-legolandright&cat=all)
[/URL][URL="http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403354&title=miniland-at-legolandleft&cat=all"]MiniLand at LegoLand -left (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403353&title=miniland-at-legolandright&cat=all)
MiniLand at LegoLand -right (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/forum/../gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403353&title=miniland-at-legolandright&cat=all)

[kathleennscraps]

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/5247/thumbs/Beauty50.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=403895&title=beauty&cat=5247)
Here's another.

[sanra]

Combined this with brushes and sure have a lot to learn... Been fun. :D

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/1348/thumbs/Boys-And-Their-Toysjpg.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=404348&title=boys-and-their-toys&cat=1348)
Boys and Their Toys

[hlmbugle]

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/1348/thumbs/Sweet-Lily.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=404827&title=sweet-lily&cat=5247)

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=404827&title=sweet-lily&cat=5247

[moog25]

I missed this one. Is there a challenge for march?

[webfrau]

Eventually, just haven't had chance to organise details yet. :)

[webfrau]

MARCH CHALLENGE: COMPLEMENTARY HARMONY

A colour's complementary colour is it's "opposite". If you were to draw lines on the colour wheel the complementary hues would lie on the same line i.e opposite each other. Red is the complement of green, blue the complement of orange and yellow the complement of violet. The secondary and tertiary colours and all other tints and shades in between also have exact Complements.

Complementary colours
- produce rich exciting colour schemes.
- in equal proportions they are vibrant, making a strong statement.
- they can be quieted with the use of tints or shades.
- visually intensify each other i.e. green looks greener when next to red.
- contain a warm-cool contrast which is useful for highlighting or accenting.

Maybe you can see some kits in the store that have complementary colour schemes - let us know if you do.

YOUR CHALLENGE
Produce a layout with a complementary colour scheme. Use any colour scheme you like, feel free to do double duty with any other challenges.
You may post your layouts in the Colour My World Gallery: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=5247
Don't forget to link your layout in the thread and share your inspiration for your use of colour.

[webfrau]

APRIL CHALLENGE: SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY

This is going to make you think a little harder.

A split complementary colour scheme takes your colour of choice and uses the two colours on either side of its complement but NOT the actual complement.
This type of harmony lessens the contrast between the hue and its complement.

For example
If you choose yellow the colours on either side of the complement (violet) are red-violet and blue-violet so these are the three colours you would use.

There are some examples of this type of colour scheme used in interior design here:
http://www.color.interiordezine.com/color-schemes/split-complementary/
http://colorindesign.net/2010/08/29/color-schemes-for-interiors-split-complementary/

More tips and tricks describing the harmonies and examples can be found here:
http://designfestival.com/color-the-scheme-of-things/
http://www.color-wheel-pro.com/color-schemes.html
http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorshadesuse.html

YOUR CHALLENGE
Produce a layout with a split complementary colour scheme. Use any colour scheme you like, feel free to do double duty with any other challenges.
You may post your layouts in the Colour My World Gallery: http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=5247
Don't forget to link your layout in the thread and share your inspiration for your use of colour.

[hlmbugle]

Triple Duty with Inspiration Station Style/Trend and Graphically Challenged:

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/8120/thumbs/Chatsworthian-Gothic.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=408061&title=chatsworthian-gothic&cat=8120)

[Mars]

I looked at your link with the chart for colour themes and I think the colours in this layout are a Split Complementary, or close. I used the formula for the colour wheel.

Base colour (sage) = 155° = #BCCBC5 █
Complement 155°+180° = 335°
Split Complements
335°+20° = 355° = #F4A8AE █
335°-20° = 315° = #E1B9D7 █

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/data/5865/thumbs/mars-13-4-free-web.jpg (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=408060&title=free-to-be&cat=5865)
Free to Be (http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=408060&title=free-to-be&cat=5865)

[hlmbugle]

Whoa, Mars, how do you know your degrees? All those numbers make my head spin, but I'd like to make sure I did ok with my colors.

[hlmbugle]

Nvm, found the degrees on the same color wheel site, wow, I guess I was close...kind of, lol!

[Mars]

oh good you found the link.

A circle of course is 360° so the complement directly across would be minus half a circle or 180°.... and then for the split complementary it says to add or subtract 20° from the complement. The math part is simple but I don't know if there is a way to find the matching colour code without the chart.

Color Codes chart: http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorcodes.html
Color Shades chart: http://www.december.com/html/spec/colorshades.html

[hlmbugle]

Right, it makes perfect sense! I bookmarked that particular color wheel site, because this is fascinating. I've always been kind of bad at choosing colors, so this thread is very helpful!