I often look at pictures without a single word of comment.
Neither about the author nor about his works

You have to Google it yourself

I want to understand color - composition - perspective - technique, etc.

This post is an attempt at educational education in the field of painting.

When used correctly, colors can convey mood and evoke an emotional response in the viewer. The correct use of colors is one of the most important conditions for a successful drawing. Knowledge about the use of color is not inherited, it is learned.

There are rules that must be followed and others that can be ignored, but every artist who wants to achieve success in his business must start from the foundation, i.e. -

from color theory.

There is a huge amount of scientific material available; however, most of them are far from artists.

1. Three properties of color

Before delving into color theory, it is necessary to understand its basic principles. Let's turn to the so-called three properties of color. These properties represent the general language of color theory and should always be in the artist's mind.

- Hue- the name of a particular color (for example, red, blue, yellow).


- Saturation- this is pallor or darkening of a shade (color).
- Intensitydetermines the brightness or dullness of a hue (color). Pure shades are highly intense.

Dull shades - accordingly, have low intensity.
These three color properties will depend on many things, but mainly on the light in your painting

Color circle
A color wheel based on the colors red, yellow and blue - a traditional form of color scheme in the field of art

Basic colors
There are three basic colors:

red, yellow and blue.

These are three pigment colors that cannot be mixed or made by mixing other colors

Second group colors

These colors include green, orange and purple.

These colors are obtained by mixing base colors.

The colors of the first and second groups together form the six brightest colors in the spectrum.

By mixing each color with its neighbor, we get six more colors - the colors of the third group.
Third group colors


This group includes yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green and yellow-green.

These colors are created by mixing one primary and one secondary color.

Color balance

You can't paint using just one or even all of the base colors. You need to achieve balance in your color composition.

Add a few colors from the third group, or a little gray, so that the picture is not so unnaturally bright.

If you don't keep this in mind, then no matter how good your composition and design are, you won't be able to catch the viewer's eye.

In nature, for example, you will never find pure primary or secondary colors in abundance.

on the contrary, all colors are balanced,

this is what creates our reality b
The artist's job is to know when and how to change this reality or emphasize it to make it more beautiful, more dramatic or more frightening,
depending on the author's purpose.

Famous illustratorAndrew Loomis
(Andrew Loomis)

once said:

“Color is like a bank account. If you go deep, soon there will be nothing left.”

This means that some of the most beautiful creations ever created by artists use a limited color palette.

It is important to understand that color in the spectrum is white light divided into elements.

Objects have color only because their surface receives light and reflects all other colors of the spectrum. If light had no color, it would not be perceived by the human eye at all.

Without a good sketch, of course, color has little meaning, but it's all about the close relationship between solid linear composition and color that makes a good painting a work of art!

Term "mutually complementary colors" used in art criticism very often. However, it is not always clear which pairs of colors can be considered mutually complementary.

Mutually complementary colors are often confused with contrasting, since both are at opposite ends of the diameter. However, there is a difference.

The fact is that the Itten color wheel is usually used to find contrasting combinations:

This is a 12 step circle. It is based on 3 primary colors: red, yellow and blue. The remaining colors are obtained by mixing the 3 main colors.

• Itten's circle describes physical mixing colors - for example, when mixing paints on the palette.

However, it is clear that this model is somewhat arbitrary. The spectrum is continuous:

And when mixing light rays, the primary colors will be red, blue and green.

• What happens during the optical mixing of light rays is better shown not by 12, but by a 10-step color wheel. It will add yellow-green, green-blue and purple to the 7 colors of the spectrum.

To find complementary color pairs(other name - complimentary colors ), you need to draw the diameter through a 10-step color wheel (or through a circle showing the spectrum continuously, as in the figure above).

It is known that when these opposite colors are mixed, an achromatic color is formed. In theory it is white, in practice it is light gray.

You can also find mutually complementary colors in laboratory conditions - it is known that the wavelengths in each such pair have a ratio of 1:1.25 to each other.

The same principle is used to find mutually complementary pairs in computer programs.

And these color combinations are perceived as very harmonious and pleasing to the eye.

This phenomenon was discovered in the 19th century. Hermann Helmholtz, although artists used mutually complementary pairs long before that, finding harmony intuitively.

Let's see how these combinations work in practice, using the example of several paintings by my favorite impressionists:

Auguste Renoir. Summer.

Here 2 mutually complementary pairs are used at once. I would like to draw your attention to this: despite the fact that not pure colors were used, but more muted, whitened ones (which is generally very characteristic of the impressionists), the picture does not look faded.

This happens because complementary colors enhance each other. Why this happens, I wrote in “, but I won’t dwell on this point in detail now.

The following example is "Seated Dancer" by Edgar Degas:

Here the color is already more active, bright color accents are balanced by highlighted and shaded tones from the same range.

Claude Monet. Blue house in Zaandam.

Also used are 2 complementary pairs, and in each of them one color is taken in full force, and the other is highlighted or shaded. This avoids too sharp a contrast.

Camille Pissarro. Five o'clock in the morning.

The picture is based on a combination of only 2 mutually complementary colors and their whitened variations. Hence the feeling of early morning - when all the colors are somewhat closer and brightly lit. If you take the same range, but from the shaded row, there will be a feeling of twilight.

As you can see, painting does not require a huge range of paints. To build a harmonious color range, sometimes only 2 colors are enough.

Can you give examples of the use of complementary colors in painting?

Working with color is always a difficult stage in the artistic process, since the concept of color is abstract. Mixing paints and getting new colors, as well as combining colors on the canvas into a single whole, emphasizing something, leaving something in shadow... This stage can be scary for some artists. This is a lack of self-confidence, as a consequence of ignorance of the basic principles of color combinations. They are quite simple and follow certain rules.

Primary colors

So, there are three main colors in drawing: yellow, red and blue. Primary or primary colors are the basis of all colors. In order to get other colors or their shades, you need to mix the main ones. We will talk specifically about painting, since, obviously, printing and photography have their own set of primary colors.

The colors in the picture are different in lightness, in which the brightness is at its peak. If you convert them to black and white format, you will clearly see the contrast.

Pay attention to the wheel of primary and secondary colors. In the center of the triangle there are three primary ones. Facets are the colors that are obtained by mixing the main ones. On the outer circle you can easily see pairs of complementary colors; they are located exactly opposite. In the case of primary colors, the tip of the primary triangle is located opposite one of the triangles formed by mixing the primary colors.

Complementary colors

When you look at a color, you don't realize that your eyes are seeing a halo of the complementary color.

Take a closer look at the two squares. They are the same color. But the square on the left appears bluer because it has a complementary color surrounding it and both colors influence each other. When we look at the square on the left, our eye also perceives the orange color around it. The second square looks different. If, for example, you place a purple square on a blue background, the color will also be perceived differently, since purple and blue are not complementary colors.

There are 3 main pairs of complementary colors. Each pair is 1 main and 1 complementary color. So, for red, green will be complementary, for blue – orange, for yellow – violet. The same connections unite pairs of contrasting colors: red-orange will be complementary to bluish-green, bluish-violet to yellow-orange, and so on.

Complementary colors and their contrast

By correctly placing complementary colors nearby, you can enhance the effect, as they will deepen each other. Any color will be more saturated next to another than on its own. For example, green and blue contrast with orange and red. The aesthetics of such a combination also depends on the correct proportions: if we use contrasting colors in the same amount, we will get a disharmonious combination, but a minimal amount of red against a green background can look beautiful. An impressive painting will be one in which the contrasting colors are of the same tone and intensity. The eyes move quickly from one color to another, creating an optical vibration that makes the colors appear brighter.

Mixing complementary colors

Avoid using pure complementary colors. The so-called mixed complementary colors will be more pleasing to the eye. That is, separated by a true complementary color. For example, violet is the true complementary (contrast) color to yellow, and blue-violet and red-violet are its mixed complementary colors.

If you are dealing with contrasting colors, do not forget about the rules of composition. In this case, it is necessary that the most contrasting area in the picture attracts attention. That is, you need to make sure that it coincides with the focal point of the picture, otherwise the contrast will distract the viewer. If the picture has several zones of equal contrast, it will simply be confusing.

Saturated colors will appear more vibrant next to neutral colors. When the painting is dominated by dull tones, you can create a center of interest by adding strokes of pure color. This way you will attract the eye and hold attention. An expressive and bright object can always be successfully emphasized with light transitions of cool colors.

Three primary colors

The first thing you need to understand is that in painting there are only three colors that cannot be obtained by mixing others. These colors - yellow, red and blue - are known as primary (base) colors. They form the middle (base) of the color wheel.

If you mix two primary colors, you get what is called a “complementary” (or secondary) color. Red and blue when mixed make purple, red and yellow make orange, and finally blue and yellow make green. The specific shade of the complementary color depends on which yellow, blue and red you use and in what proportions you mix them. If you mix a primary color with a secondary color, you get a tertiary color.

Black and white also cannot be obtained by mixing, but they belong to the group of monochrome colors and do not participate in mixing chromatic colors.

Cool and warm colors

Each color "leans" towards one or the other. This is not always noticeable; sometimes the warmth or coolness of a color is barely noticeable. But cold ones should be distinguished from warm ones, since when mixed, these properties have a serious impact on the result.

Among the main ones, yellow and red are warm colors, and blue is cool colors. In addition, if you make comparisons among species of the same color, you may find that among the reds, yellows, and blues there are warmer and cooler shades. True, this is only appropriate within the framework of comparison: yellow will never be truly cold, but only colder than another yellow - otherwise it is no longer yellow, but some other color.

If you mentally move along the color wheel, you will see that each color has a relative “temperature”. When moving from the cold “pole” to the warm one, the “temperature” of the color increases, and when moving in the opposite direction - from warm to cold - this “temperature” drops.

The difference between warm and cool tones is very important to understand and grasp. Thanks to this knowledge, it will be possible to correctly convey the time of day - sunny day or bluish twilight, the desired mood and atmosphere - sad or joyful, etc. In addition, this will help the artist to competently play on the contrast of warm and cold, which also has a very impressive effect when used correctly.
That's all for today, next time we will continue our conversation about color theory. Have fun with your painting!

In nature, some objects always absorb light rays, while others reflect them. When the rays of the solar spectrum are completely reflected, the object is perceived as white or gray, and when the rays are almost completely absorbed, the object is perceived as black. White, gray and black colors that have no color tone and differ from each other only in lightness are called achromatic. Although they are neutral in themselves, achromatic colors play an important role in the practical work of an artist. Thanks to them, we can increase and decrease the sonority of other colors. Mixing them with colored paints allows you to achieve the desired saturation or lightness of the paint. In addition, combining black with other paints, such as yellow, makes it possible to obtain a new color paint (green).

All colors except white, gray and black, which have a color tint, are called chromatic. In contrast to achromatic colors, which have no hue, chromatic colors vary in degree of chromaticity. In some spectral colors the color tone is very pronounced, in others it is barely noticeable.

All the necessary shades can be obtained by making mixtures in different ratios from the above-mentioned colors. Each of the colors found in nature, like the colors of paints, has three basic properties: hue, lightness and saturation.

Color tone- this is the quality of color in relation to which this color can be equated to one of the spectral colors: red, blue, yellow, etc.

Lightness is the degree of difference between a given color and black.

Saturation- this is the degree of difference between a chromatic color and an achromatic color of equal lightness.

A change in color in nature, associated with the influence of the external environment on it, occurs, as a rule, according to all three characteristics, therefore it is necessary to select one or another color based on lightness, hue, and saturation. Incorrectly found one of these three signs entails a violation of the color characteristics of nature.

To compose this or that mixture, you need to know how each of the paints that make up this mixture will behave. Mixtures must be obtained from two or three colors.

If you mix an achromatic color of different lightness (white, gray, black) with a chromatic color, then both the saturation of the chromatic color and its lightness change simultaneously. The word “pure” means a color without admixtures of other colors or shades. Thus, only three primary spectral colors can be pure - red, blue, yellow.

Optical mixing of the three primary colors produces white, and mixing two of them produces mixtures of colors (for example, yellow and blue-green). The color wheel systematizes pure spectral colors (Fig. 1).

Color circle

Basic properties of color: a - hue, b - saturation, c - lightness

Rice. 1

Mixing paints with each other can be mechanical or optical (see Table 1-2). In this case, the mixed paints can change their color shade, saturation and lightness.