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Terms, or definitions, are necessary
in order to better understand and communicate color and color characteristics.
This article only includes the basic terms and eliminates the
"more-information-than-you-probably-need-at-this-point" definitions that have
the distinct possibility of totally confusing the issue.
When the term "pigment" is used, it often refers to the coloring matter used to obtain the color. This coloring matter is usually in the form of an insoluble powder, mixed with oil, water, or another base. It can also refer to any coloring matter in the cells and tissues of plants or animals. Although the term is not going to be used in this article other than here, it is important to understand its meaning, as it directly relates to color. COLOR WHEEL
Click here for the large size of the Real Color Wheel shown to the left, print it off, and take it to your fabric store with you. To keep the color accurate, please follow these instructions by the author, Don Jusko: "This Real Color Wheel is for everyone to print out and use, but not sell. There are no pigment reference dots on this one. Download it directly. Notice that the image you down load is a png file, your printer may need it converted to a tiff file. Also, for the internet in had to be a 72 dpi file, change that to 300 dpi for a 5" printout. Other wise it will be 11.5x11.5 inch printout. The image was made in CMYK and converted to an RGB png. Download it, convert it back to a CMYK tiff for the printer and print. I like the profile in the image for printing with no profile in the printer." (That was a direct quote, so I did not correct spelling, punctuation, or grammar. It hurt.) The color wheel is a valuable tool for showing and organizing color in a useful manner. Using the color wheel as a helpful diagram for reference, it is much easier to see if that specific purple is really going to look great against that particular green... and, by the end of this article, you should know why it does or does not. For example, suppose a quilt
required six (6) different fabrics. Referring to the color wheel above, an interesting and appealing choice of colors would be to choose ANY
fabric as A, then moving in EITHER direction, skip over six (6) segments
and find a fabric that is close to that color for B. Next, moving in the same direction, skip six more
segments, and that would be C. Do
this until you have all six fabrics selected. This would be a very simple
fabric selection technique.
In the example above, six (6) was selected randomly. You could actually choose any number less than 18. It would make sense mathematically if you were to take the required fabrics number for your project, then divide that into 36 and use that number to help select colors. Example: A quilt requires three (3) fabrics. There are 36 total colors in the color wheel above. 36 divided by 3 equals 12 (36 ∕ 3 = 12). So, theoretically, you could choose any fabric for A, then use the number "12" to move in either direction to select your colors. If I chose color 10 as my primary fabric, then I would also then use colors 22 and 34 for my quilt that required three fabrics. You can choose to go either direction and any amount of segments (as long as there is a noticeable difference in color range). You can also choose the value on the wheel (with the lightest being on the outside edge and the darker values on the inside). So, if you choose a color in the outer ring, then stick to that ring to select the other fabrics. If you choose a color in the inner ring (the largest), then stay in that ring. In other words, try to stay the same distance from the outside edge on all of your choices of fabrics. Any hue in the segment would work, however, but it is easier (and I think more attractive, at times) to keep in the same part of the circle (outer ring or middle ring or inner ring range) for the fabric selections. Of course, choose what looks the best to you! These are merely suggestions. Explore the color wheel for yourself to see what you come up with! Using the example of six (6) above and making a quilt from solids or tone on tones, here is one (out of many!) option.
Here are jewel-tone colors that would work with the six fabrics above:
These are just suggestions. Explore the color wheel for yourself to see what you come up with!
PRIMARY COLORSThere are three (3) primary colors: Red, blue, and yellow. These are the purest of color. The color trio. The basis of all other colors. Why are they called primary? No two (2) colors can be mixed together to make red. Or blue. Or yellow. That is why they are called Primary Colors. Nothing is mixed to make these colors. They are pure. All other colors (too many to imagine) beyond red, blue, and yellow are made by mixing different amounts and combinations of these three primary colors. Keep in mind that each time two primary colors (making a secondary color) are mixed, the colors become less pure and darker. What would happen should you mix all three colors together? Neutral greys.
SECONDARY COLORSSecondary colors are made when two of the primary colors are mixed. There are also three (3) secondary colors: 1) Red and blue make purple, 2) Blue and yellow make green, and 3) Yellow and red make orange. We now know of six (6) colors on the color wheel: 3 primary (red, blue, yellow) and 3 secondary (purple, green, orange), plus we now know their origins.
What happens when you mix a primary color (red, blue, or yellow) with a secondary color (purple, green, or orange)? Tertiary colors, of which there are six (6): 1) Red-orange, 2) Yellow-orange, 3) Yellow-green, 4) Blue-green, 5) Blue-purple (or violet, used interchangeably in this article with purple), and 6) Red-purple. The term "tertiary colors" sounds much harder than the actual definition, don't you agree?
Take any of the 12 colors described thus far (red, blue, yellow, purple, green, orange, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, and red-purple), add white, and violá... you have a tint of a color. Adding white to any primary, secondary, or tertiary color dilutes the color, thus lightens it. Tints added to a quilting project add dimension and interest to a quilt. They are bright and cheerful, simply because of the addition of white.
Take any of the 12 colors described thus far, add grey (grey being various combinations of white and black), and you get a tone. For example, mauve is a tone of red. Turquoise is a tone of blue. Tones tend to make the colors in a quilted project look more quiet and also, more neutral.
Hue is, in simple terms, the name of the color. There are many, many names that can be given to one single color and the color named depends on who is calling it what. Sometimes, I use the names "aqua" and "turquoise" to refer to my idea of what I deem the same color. What you may see as "lemon yellow", I may be thinking "banana yellow" or vice-versa. We would both be right, since we would be referring to the same, identical color on the color wheel. Hues vary immensely according to what they are made from (minerals, roots, etc.). One could easily go to a paint store and ask the attendant for "yellow" to paint your kitchen, and you would be shown many variations of "yellow". Each manufacturer has its own "yellow" and all of the choices are going to look very similar. Whichever "yellow" one chooses is a personal choice. This even holds true for white! Ask for white, and not all "whites" match one another! Some are brighter than others, and so on (I first discovered this little known fact to be true when I painted my living room white back in 1977 and ended up with two variations of white! Hint: Buy all of your paint/fabric/color at the same time, from the same batch/bolt to be more assured that it matches.). The same theory holds true with fabric also; you can see subtle differences in each color which vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
A shade is the opposite of a tint. Adding black to a color makes a shade of that color. This darkens colors (duh, you are adding black!), and makes them more somber.
Using the color wheel diagram on the right, generically speaking, the warm colors are located on the right side, and the cool colors are found on the left. A good way to remember this is that yellow is like the sun and the sun is warm!
What a difficult sounding term! It does, however, have a very simple definition. Select any color on the color wheel, then select the color to the left and the color to the right and you have analogous colors. Any three (3) colors on the color wheel that are side by side are said to be analogous colors. Colors 1, 2, and 3 are analogous, as shown to the left. Colors 19, 20, and 21 analogous. Colors 35, 36, and 1 are analogous. And so forth. As long as three colors are side by side, they fit this definition.
Complementary colors are simple: They are two (2) colors that are exactly opposite one another on the color wheel. The complement to color 1 is color 19 on this wheel. The complement to color 2 is color 20; the compliment to color 9 is 27, and so on. Complementary colors are the maximum contrast that one can have in a color combination, and, at times, when two complementary colors are chosen, a quilted project seems "too busy" and does not allow your eyes to rest or settle. So when would one use complementary colors? When one wants to show high contrast! When one really needs a color to zing.
A Split Complementary Color is a little more complex. Choose any color on the color wheel, for example color 32. Look for its complement, which would be color 14. To find the split, select the colors on each side of the complement, which would be 13 and 15, in this example. So the Split Complementary Colors of color 32 are 13 and 15. Using this method to select colors for a quilted project is one of my very favorite.
The value of a color is a characteristic that is important to understand. In general, when speaking of the value of a color, one is referring to the light and dark aspects to that specific color. Naturally, colors that are light against dark provide contrast, while the colors that of the same value (close in color) tend to blend together, Each usage serves its own purpose in a quilt, depending on whether you want your quilt to pop a color (contrast) or blend together (look more subtle or subdued).
Have you ever had difficulty trying to sort your fabrics by value? I remember the first time I made an all-purple wallhanging, I tried to sort my fabrics and came up blank on a few! A couple of easy solutions? First, you can purchase a "value" finding tool at your local fabric store (or online). Second, and the easiest for me at times, is to take small pieces of the fabric, lay them on my printer/copier, copy them, then print them in "greytones" (or "black/white") mode. The various shades of grey easily show your values when viewed in this manner.
All quilters have their own particular taste in color. I love blues/aquas/purples. And, let's face it. Color in a quilt really does make a difference! Quilters can use the same pattern to make the same project, and each quilt will look totally different from the others simply based on the choices in color. If you need evidence of this, simply view the gallery, specifically Mystery Quilt 4. To get started in selecting colors for a quilt is to first choose your main or focus fabric. This is usually a fabric that is multicolored. Once you have your focus fabric, simply select colors from that fabric and try to match them as closely as possible. This sounds like such a simple concept to seasoned quilters, but I sure wish someone had explained this to me for my first quilt. Once you are comfortable in selecting colors for a quilt using the method described in the paragraph above, then begin experimenting with the color wheel. Use analogous colors, or split complements, or shades, etc.
The world of color is fascinating and can be a lot of fun, especially when armed with a little more knowledge about colors and they work together and mix. As mentioned at the beginning of this article, colors can make or break a quilt. Hopefully, this article has been informative and will help you with future color selections! Comments to this article are definitely appreciated! For more information regarding
color, please refer to an
article
written by a very talented artist,
Donald A. Jusko.
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08/23/09 04:50 PM
ANALOGOUS COLORS
