Color Me
Artistic
These visible
wavelengths are usually referred to as the spectrum. The first
visible light is a purplish-looking red and the last is violet.
Because beginning and end are somewhat similar in hue, artists
usually arrange the colors to form a circle or a color wheel.
Imagine a pyramid with
equal sides sitting on its base with red at the top point, green
at the bottom right point, and blue at the bottom left point.
Now lay another
pyramid, this time standing on a point. The point on the bottom
is half way between the green and blue of the first one and is a
mixture of the two, called blue-green or cyan. The point between
blue and red is magenta and the one between red and green is
yellow.
More to the
Point
If you keep
adding points at equal distances between the points already
there and filling in the mixtures of colors, you'll find every
color you could ever use.
Many rules and principles
have been set up for creating color schemes, but explaining them
would fill millions of pages. So let's keep it simple.
We'll ignore lightness
(shades from black to white) and saturation (vividness) for the
moment.
There are three popular
ways to group colors:
Similar or
analogous colors, such as reds, yellows and oranges, or
blues, greens and purples, are close to each other on the color
wheel. These combinations can create soothing effects and denote
quality and taste.
Contrasting
colors, red, blue and green, are located at the three
points of these imaginary pyramids. These colors, with yellow,
are considered primary and are those from which all others
derive. They generally create a childlike or simplistic color
scheme. If not used carefully, they can be equated with
cheapness and poor quality.
Complementary
colors, red and green, or yellow and purple, are
directly opposite each other on the wheel. These often look
harsh together, but the startling contrast — such as orange with
blue — can be effective at drawing the eye.
Which color combinations
should you use? Same rules as always: Know your audience, know
your product, know the image you want to convey, and work from
there. You'll make the right choice.
Besides, here in
the United States, the money's all the same color anyway: green.
