Tips to Understanding Color

 Understanding Color and the Color Wheel



Understanding color is very important in the embroidery world. The beauty in the pieces you create depends on what each eye can see and what the eye sees is always better in color.  

  “In design school, the color wheel drove me crazy. Understanding which color model to use left me completely muddled, and choosing colors using it seemed like too much work. So, I pushed it to the back of my mind and left it there... Not a good idea for a designer. However, while we can leave it alone for while and rely on our own sense of color; we are limited without it; and so, use it we must. ” 
Deonne D.

Let’s face it; not all of us are brilliant at unraveling things the first time around. Some of us need to zip around a few times before discernment dawns; which, in this case, is no surprise when you consider who invented the color wheel.

In my article, I will attempt to make the complexity of color and the color wheel as easy to understand as possible.


The Beginning of Color in a Wheel

The color wheel has long been considered a useful tool in the fields of fashion, film, interior design, and fine art. Designers and artists use color wheels to create color schemes in order to achieve the desired artistic effect. Yet, where did the concept come from?

Sir Isaac Newton created the first color wheel in 1704. It was an asymmetrical color wheel that had seven colors… red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Then in 1810, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe developed a symmetrical color wheel that consisted of six colors; eliminating indigo. This one was similar to the one we use today.


Putting Things into Perspective

Let’s put away the idea of a wheel for the moment and concentrate on the colors.

Simply put, color is arranged into three divisions.

1. Primary colors; 

2. Secondary colors; and 

3. Tertiary colors.

Yes, here begins the scary words. However, don’t tune out just yet; it’s really quite easy...


Primary colors are the very first colors that you combine to make other colors., and there are three primary color models.

Primary Colors of the RYB model.

Secondary colors are the colors that result from combining two primary colors. In the (RYB) model yellow plus blue gives you green; yellow plus red gives you orange; red plus blue gives you purple.

Secondary Colors of the RYB model.

Tertiary colors are the combination of one primary color and one secondary color. For example, red plus purple gives you magenta, and yellow plus orange gives you amber.
Tertiary Colors of the RYB model. (the center circle of colors)

The traditional color model is the Red, Yellow, and Blue (RYB) model.

The Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black (CMYK) model is the color printing model. this model subtracts light and combines its colors to form its range of colors, including red, blue, and green.

The Red, Green, and Blue (RGB) model adds light or different colors of light to form its range of colors which include cyan, magenta, and yellow…

You can use any one of these models. All it takes is deciding what artistic effect you want to achieve. 

Simple, isn’t it? However, let’s not stop here. let’s go on to discuss complementary colors; analogous colors and other aspects of color theory.


The Color Wheel

We now come to the concept of the color wheel. In the color wheel, the primary colors occur as a triad and each of the secondary colors will have its related primary colors on either side of it. For example; the secondary color orange will be in the middle of its primary colors red and yellow. The Tertiary colors occur in the center of the wheel.

Complementary colors are the colors that occur opposite each other on the color wheel. Contrasting colors such as blue paired with orange; red with green and yellow with purple, make bold statements in fashion and embroidery.

Analogous colors are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, primary, secondary, and tertiary… red with orange and vermilion; blue with violet and teal.


Other Elements that Effect Color


Now that this is all very understandable, there are a few expressions in the world of color that I would like to mention. Words like color harmony; color temperature and color context.


Color harmony is pairing colors that are pleasing to the eye and provide a sense of order. To achieve this we choose color schemes based on complementary and analogous colors.


Color temperature. All color has a temperature; either warm, which is associated with the sun and daylight; or cool, associated with overcast light.


Color context; placing colors next to others will make the colors behave differently. They might look dull or bright depending on the color it is paired with.


Learning to Use Your Sense of Color


Now that you have a stronger knowledge of color, the way to reach a certain confidence is to experiment. Play around with concepts of tints, hues, tones, and shades. An artist would experiment with paint; mixing colors in these four forms to discover different color schemes. 

In embroidery, the four forms are worked out for you when the threads or ribbons are dyed. Embroidery thread and ribbons come in all tints, hues, tones, and shades. Understanding what makes the colors you see will help you put together color schemes for your embroidery patterns.


Four Forms of Color


Tints (light) This will help you achieve soothing, soft, misty colors. Shades of these colors are attained by mixing any color with white.

Hues (vibrant) This is the true color in its purest form. With this, you can achieve playful, happy, festive pieces.

Tone (muted) Tone gives you natural, organic color. A degree of Grey is added to your color for this effect.

Shade (dark) This gives you mysterious, sophisticated, rich, elegant color. A degree of Blackis added to your hue (color) and you’re good to go.

In any embroidery project, you do well to have all four forms of color present. This will ensure a quality, pleasing finish.


Tips for Building Your Embroidery Collection

These four forms give you an endless variety of ribbons, yarn, and thread to choose from.

    My advice is; after reading this article,

  • Jot down a few colors based on what you read and from the nature outside your window.

  • Then go shopping for embroidery skeins or ribbons to build your collection.

  • Practice pulling together different color schemes for your embroidery projects.


The Conclusion of the Matter


Creating color schemes for your embroidery projects, based on the understanding of color is easy and enjoyable. nevertheless, it does take practice.

“Learning to look at color in relation to nature and the world around helped me gain a strong sense of how color worked. Understanding color really isn’t difficult and is a good start to the learning process. The key is practicing with the four forms of color. Get it right and you're on your way.” Deonne D.








Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Combining Ribbon Embroidery with other Forms of Embroidery

Image
  Hi dear friends. Welcome to another creative masterclass with me, Deonne D.  Today let's talk about creating something special by Combining ribbon embroidery with other embroidery techniques . I teach the complete practical dimensions of this in my advance ribbon embroidery course at Deonne’s World. Here I will cover the basic idea in a little detail. Ribbon embroidery is delicate and takes patience to work and it is pleasing and homey to the eye. However, ribbon stitches on their own give your creation an over-the-top, heavy, unnatural appearance. This is a problem easily sorted. The idea of combining other types of embroidery with your ribbons now comes into focus. Yes you read right… other types of embroidery. Not other types of embroidery techniques recreated in ribbon; but the embroideries themselves; with their materials, and techniques. What embroidery? How can combining embroideries make a work pop? Embroideries that Complement Ribbon Embroidery. Now don’t
Read more

The Ketogenic Diet and Me

Image
  My Pros and Cons of the Keto Diet. Yes, we have all heard of it and in my last article, I discussed how I came to be on a Ketogenic diet. I also mentioned some of the significant limitations I came across. I think it’s time I talked about, why I call the standard Keto diet limiting. The whole experience from that first shopping trip to four months on Keto was a continuous tweaking session. now I finally have a diet that works well for me. These are my pros and cons of the Ketogenic diet. A One-Size-Fits-All Diet I suppose; one-size-fits-all is a good thing, if you’ve got a diet that works. However, as an international diet, I found that the standard Keto diets do not fit every individual. There are a lot of factors that bear upon an individual on Keto like environment, and where in the world they live when on this diet, especially if you plan to change your diet habits for life. The standard Keto diet for autoimmune disease d id not take into account factors like a country’ s
Read more

Hand Embroidery Tips That Make You an Embroidery Artist.

Image
  Welcome to your hand embroidery lesson on skill tips and common mistakes t hat you need to avoid . It’s wonderful that you decided to take the plunge and with a few quick and simple habits you will, in time, become a good artist. While it is important to practice your stitch techniques, your skills as an artist will develop with the integration of simple tips and avoiding the mistakes that we all start out making. We don’t have to learn things the hard way these days, and knowing what to do is effortless when it becomes second nature to you . W hat size needle should I use? The most popular embroidery needles are needles 7 through 9. However, for embroidery,  there is no hard and fast rule as to the needle you use. I find that knowing your needles is important. Through experience, I learned that for embroidery to be neat and elegantly finished, t he use of thin needles with long eyes works pretty well . Th ese can carry more than one strand of thread when necessary
Read more