MC_03_DescribingColor.pdf

Richard Robinson's

Mastering Color

[Chapter 3]

Describing Color

I n the previous chapter we learned how our brains make it difficult for us to judge color accurately.

Another thing which makes color a difficult subject to learn about is the confusion which stems from so

many different ways of describing color. For instance you might hear someone say, 'what a lovely shade

of green in your curtains', or 'the sunrise was tinted with gold'. Then there's hue, saturation, tone,

intensity, vibrancy, chroma, contrast, brilliance, luminence, purity, and brightness, to name a few. If we

had a standard way describing color it would make discussing and understanding color a much easier

job - and thankfully, we do…

Birren's Triangle

The American art historian Faber Birren created a

Color Triangle which describes the terms of tone,

tint and shade. Birren made these distinctions:

TINT is a color mixed with white.

TONE is a color mixed with grey.

SHADE is a color mixed with black.

Birren stated that most good color harmonies in painting come from a combination of any three of

these elements which are in a relatively straight line. He suggested for instance that color-tone-grey

would be a harmonious color usage, as would tint-tone-shade, for example.

Munsell's Color System

Albert H. Munsell, American painter and teacher

created the Munsell color system, which shows

how color can be defined by three separate

elements - Hue, Value and Chroma.

Here are their meanings:

HUE is the quality by which we distinguish one

color from another, as a red from a yellow, a

green, a blue or a purple. Munsell divided the

color spectrum into 100 distinct hues, numbering

them all. For our purposes we can list his 10 base

colors like this:

Yellow, Green Yellow, Green, Blue Green, Blue, Purple Blue, Purple, Red Purple, Red, Yellow Red

Richard Robinson's

Describing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 3]

VALUE is the lightness or darkness of a color and Munsell used an 11 value scale from black (0) to white

(10). For painters it is far easier to make a 9 value scale than an 11 value scale, and no more than 9

values are needed for convincing realism, so we generally use a 9 value scale with black as 1 and white as 9.

Munsell 11 Value Scale

A Typical 9 Value Painter's Scale

CHROMA describes the greyness or saturation of a color. Munsell has a 14 step chromatic scale with 1

as grey and 14 as highly chromatic. A ll the earth colors on your palette like yellow ochre, burnt sienna

and raw umber are low chroma. Your other paints like cadmium red, cadmium yellow and ultramarine

blue are high chroma.

Munsell's 14 Chroma Scale

So again, the 3 dimensions of color are hue, value and chroma . Munsell's 'Color Solid' provides an

illustration of the 3 color dimensions in action. This image shows the Color solid with a piece cut out of

it so we can see what's going on in the middle.

Munsell's Color Solid

Moving around the sphere changes hue .

Moving up or down the sphere changes value .

Moving towards the centre changes chroma .

Richard Robinson's

Describing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 3]

Munsell's system and Birren's triangle don't help you mix colors, they just let us describe a color in a

standard way so that we all know what we're talking about. For example if we are looking at a

particular green color we can describe it as "Yellow-Green with a mid-value of 5 and a chroma of 10".

Color Temperature

We use the term 'temperature' a lot when talking

about color because it simplifies the question of Hue.

Warm and cool describe opposite sides of the color

wheel, but also help to define one color from

another. For example a green will always be in the

cool section of the color wheel, but one green can

also be warmer than another green - which would

make it a warm cool color.

The colors aren't actually cool or warm, it's just a way

of describing a color. We subconsciously relate

greens and blues to cool things like water, ice, sky,

and trees. We relate yellow, red and orange to warm

things like fire, the sun and human skin.

A common 'rule' we hear as painters is that warm colors advance and cool colors recede. As with most

painting rules this one works most of the time, but not all the time - just believing what your eyes are

showing you is the best rule of all.

Most things in nature will have both cool and warm colors within it because of the color of the light

upon it. Generally, a subject in warm sunny light will have warm plains in the light and cool plains in the

shade. With cool light (eg. An overcast day) this dynamic is reversed with cool lights and warm

shadows. If you look hard you may also see cool colors within the warm and warm colors within the

cool. This is due to the reflected light of everything around our subject.

Analysing Color

Good painting involves analysing hue, value and

chroma constantly. When we appreciate these 3

elements of color it becomes much easier to see a

color properly in relation to it's surroundings. To get

better at analysing color you can go to the extent of

printing out a color wheel and value scale and trying

to find certain colors in a scene within those devices,

this can be very helpful to get you to start to see

color properly, but it's hindered by the fact that you

can't show all the 3 dimensions of color on a 2

dimensional color wheel. However, I have provided

you with the 'Ultimate Artist's Tool' with this lesson in

case you want to do that. We will be using it for other

things later on in this course too.

Richard Robinson's

Describing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 3]

The easier option (easier is not always better though) is to just begin to compare colors you are seeing

around you with one another. That means asking yourself questions about them. For example, let's

look at the color in the red boat here. What color is B? Well that's not a very useful question is it? We

don't have a name for that color. A better series of questions when analysing a color would be this:

1. How does the hue of B compare to the hue of A and C?

A is a little it warmer than B and C, leaning towards red yellow.

2. How does the value of B compare to the value of A and C?

A is lightest, B is 2 steps darker on a 9 value scale, and C is 1 step

darker than B.

3. How does the chroma of B compare to the chroma of A and C?

We see the highest chroma in the colors in the spectrum, so a good

question to ask when comparing chroma is 'which color is closest to

pure spectrum color?' Looks to me like C is lowest chroma, B is higher

and A is highest.

High Chroma

Mid Chroma

Low Chroma

Richard Robinson's

Describing Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 3]

If I were trying to make the color B on my palette I would ask myself these questions:

1. What tube color on my palette is closest to B? (probably Permanent Alizarine)

2. What hue is B compared to Permanent Alizarine?

3. What value is B compared to Permanent Alizarine?

4. What chroma does B have compared to Permanent Alizarine?

Once I had color B ready on my palette I would ask myself these questions to make color C:

1. How does the hue of C compare to the hue of B?

2. How does the value of C compare to the value of B?

3. How does the chroma of C compare to the chroma of B?

Notice that whether I'm mixing a color or analysing a color in a scene I'm always comparing one color

with another color which is like it. So there's a good rule of thumb - 'always compare like to like' .

To do that it's a good idea to use a color checker like the one in the tool I've given you with this lesson.

You could make one yourself by cutting some holes in a mid grey card too. When you're using the color

checker to compare like to like it's a good idea to close one eye. Just practice seeing colors in terms of

Hue, Value and Chroma, and comparing like to like through a color checker and you'll be surprised at

the subtle differences in color you will begin to be able to see and understand. When not using a color

checker just look at the edge of the colour area, go slightly cross eyed (to blur the image - perhaps close

one eye too to flatten it) - this will help you see the color relationships, which is what good painting is

all about.

Next chapter we're going to learn about value, which is the basis of all good color work - and we're

finally going to get our paints out!

Sources:

'Alla Prima' by Richard Schmid 1998

http://www.applepainter.com/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/397642/Munsell-colour-system

'Color' by Barry John Raybould 2002

'Colour Mixing' by Winsor & Newton 1997

'Gouache For Illustration' by Rob Howard

'Hensche on Painting' by John W. Robichaux 1997

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsell_color_system

http://www.huevaluechroma.com/

'Mastering Color' by Vick Murry 2006

'Sergei Bongart' by Patricia LeGrande Bongart 2000

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