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Color Nerd
United States
Приєднався 7 чер 2021
Let's explore color theory in all its weirdness. Join me as I mix paint, bust myths about primary colors, analyze color schemes, and tickle your brain with color science.
Choosing Colors with Confidence
For artists and designers looking for new strategies for choosing color combinations.
In my experience, I’ve found that the traditional color schemes (complementary colors, triads, split complements, analogous colors, and so on) were very limiting, and often resulted in color combinations I wasn’t happy with. I know a lot of you have experienced this too. It messes with your head - it makes you think that maybe you’re just not good at choosing colors.
So, after some research I’ve done into color, I put together this lesson to help others find a better way. In April 2022, I went live for over an hour and a half to teach a course in choosing colors.
Due to recent interest, I decided to edit and upload this condensed version. The original is filled with Q&A and interacting with participants (some of which is valuable), but also lots of stumbling around and “umms” and pauses… This version distills all the most important information into 35 minutes.
Topics include:
- conceptualizing a colorspace based in color opponency
- how hue is defined
- the reasoning behind traditional color schemes
- the limitations of traditional color schemes
- the flawed nature of planning hue contrasts in RYB colorspace
- how to explore new color combinations
- Frank Morley Fletcher’s hue interval contrast approach
- Amy Sawyer’s chroma contrast approach
- How to harmonize any colors through proportion
If you’d still like to view the original, full-length stream, it’s here:
ua-cam.com/users/liveh8Bi7EgxrAs
In my experience, I’ve found that the traditional color schemes (complementary colors, triads, split complements, analogous colors, and so on) were very limiting, and often resulted in color combinations I wasn’t happy with. I know a lot of you have experienced this too. It messes with your head - it makes you think that maybe you’re just not good at choosing colors.
So, after some research I’ve done into color, I put together this lesson to help others find a better way. In April 2022, I went live for over an hour and a half to teach a course in choosing colors.
Due to recent interest, I decided to edit and upload this condensed version. The original is filled with Q&A and interacting with participants (some of which is valuable), but also lots of stumbling around and “umms” and pauses… This version distills all the most important information into 35 minutes.
Topics include:
- conceptualizing a colorspace based in color opponency
- how hue is defined
- the reasoning behind traditional color schemes
- the limitations of traditional color schemes
- the flawed nature of planning hue contrasts in RYB colorspace
- how to explore new color combinations
- Frank Morley Fletcher’s hue interval contrast approach
- Amy Sawyer’s chroma contrast approach
- How to harmonize any colors through proportion
If you’d still like to view the original, full-length stream, it’s here:
ua-cam.com/users/liveh8Bi7EgxrAs
Переглядів: 546
Відео
Color Theory You Never Learned: Hue Planes
Переглядів 5 тис.12 годин тому
Everyone knows the hue circle - but what about the hue plane? On my previous video about color harmony (ua-cam.com/video/lXDCQjeM8Hk/v-deo.html), a user commented that I never fully explained hue planes - so here we go! In this video, you’ll learn about how color is more than just a wheel - it can be organized as a three dimensional space. And a vertical slice of that space, showing all variati...
This Influencer's Iridescent Lip Gloss sent me down a color theory rabbit hole
Переглядів 2,6 тис.День тому
Why does a violet-green iridescent lip gloss, layered over a purple lipstick, create a silvery sheen? Is there a color theory explanation? You bet! Influencer Monica Ravichandran is well-known for her viral videos about lip gloss. A while ago, she shared a puzzle: why was a violet-green shimmer showing up as silver over her purple lipstick? Many viewers on TikTok and Instagram asked me to weigh...
You're Wrong about Color Harmony
Переглядів 41 тис.14 днів тому
What if I told you that all the standard stuff you learn about color harmony is useless? Well, that’s what I told a bunch of college kids studying graphic design. In the spring of 2024, Professor Bernie Dickson of Chapman University invited me to lecture on Color Harmony in her second-year design course. She was kind enough to record the session and release it to me. And now I’ve edited down th...
I Blame this 1769 Color Wheel for Centuries of Bad Color Theory!
Переглядів 1,5 тис.14 днів тому
The Moses Harris Color Wheel pops up all over the internet. While the theory that all hues could be mixed from red, yellow and blue had been around since about 1600, Harris's 1769 wheel is likely the first to smush RYB together with Newton's concept of a hue circle. Two and a half centuries later, teachers are still using this erroneous wheel with red, yellow and blue equally spaced. And, as I ...
on Wojciech Fangor, Color-Aid, and the legacy of Josef Albers.
Переглядів 2,2 тис.4 місяці тому
Color-aid paper is still a staple of university-level art and design courses after a half century. I've read about it, and its role in Albers-based color theory education, but until now, I've never held it in my hands. (This is not an ad - I paid for the paper set with my own money!) Special thanks to @virginiawagnergalfo For the gift and for inspiring this new line of research and creative exp...
ONE CRAYON, TWO COLORS? - a demonstration of the Munker-White Illusion
Переглядів 1,5 тис.4 місяці тому
ONE CRAYON, TWO COLORS? - a demonstration of the Munker-White Illusion
Where did the Warm/Cool Thing Come From? (Color Theory History)
Переглядів 3,3 тис.5 місяців тому
Where did the Warm/Cool Thing Come From? (Color Theory History)
Fun with filters and equal-value paints.
Переглядів 6935 місяців тому
Fun with filters and equal-value paints.
An Experiment in Equal-Value Colors
Переглядів 1,4 тис.6 місяців тому
An Experiment in Equal-Value Colors
Forgotten Color Theorist, Martha Bernstein
Переглядів 6636 місяців тому
Forgotten Color Theorist, Martha Bernstein
THE BOOK OF COLOUR CONCEPTS (a review)
Переглядів 4,4 тис.7 місяців тому
THE BOOK OF COLOUR CONCEPTS (a review)
HOW TO PREDICT PAINT MIXTURE RESULTS!
Переглядів 24 тис.8 місяців тому
HOW TO PREDICT PAINT MIXTURE RESULTS!
Why You Can't Mix Dark Skin Tones with Youthforia's Shade 600
Переглядів 3 тис.8 місяців тому
Why You Can't Mix Dark Skin Tones with Youthforia's Shade 600
OKLCH vs. Ostwald color standards - will they match up?
Переглядів 1,2 тис.10 місяців тому
OKLCH vs. Ostwald color standards - will they match up?
WHAT HUE IS RAW UMBER? BURNT UMBER? Don't let your eyes be fooled!
Переглядів 1,3 тис.10 місяців тому
WHAT HUE IS RAW UMBER? BURNT UMBER? Don't let your eyes be fooled!
Four Ways to Shade Red! Paint Mixing Experiment
Переглядів 1,4 тис.10 місяців тому
Four Ways to Shade Red! Paint Mixing Experiment
Colors don't run in a circle - they ride a rollercoaster!
Переглядів 1,6 тис.10 місяців тому
Colors don't run in a circle - they ride a rollercoaster!
The Most Honest Color Wheel I've Seen
Переглядів 3,3 тис.10 місяців тому
The Most Honest Color Wheel I've Seen
The opponent process model #colortheory #colorscience
Переглядів 1 тис.11 місяців тому
The opponent process model #colortheory #colorscience
BOB ROSS'S PALETTE HAD SOME QUESTIONABLE CHOICES!
Переглядів 2 тис.Рік тому
BOB ROSS'S PALETTE HAD SOME QUESTIONABLE CHOICES!
Understanding RGB Curves in Adobe Premiere - a crash course
Переглядів 1,6 тис.Рік тому
Understanding RGB Curves in Adobe Premiere - a crash course
This is Why Traditional Color Wheels Don't Work! - featuring oil painter Qiang Huang
Переглядів 3,3 тис.Рік тому
This is Why Traditional Color Wheels Don't Work! - featuring oil painter Qiang Huang
A Deep Dive into Color Theory with Erika Mulvenna
Переглядів 1,8 тис.Рік тому
A Deep Dive into Color Theory with Erika Mulvenna
OPPONENT PROCESS THEORY, COOL PIGMENTS, AND MORE
Переглядів 1,2 тис.2 роки тому
OPPONENT PROCESS THEORY, COOL PIGMENTS, AND MORE
COLOR THEORY SLIDE RULE? - how to build and use the Gamu
Переглядів 2,3 тис.2 роки тому
COLOR THEORY SLIDE RULE? - how to build and use the Gamu
Have you seen @msfrizzleart color mixing of CMY2? I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on whether that method is an effective way to mix color. Also I wish color science classes in all detail were online because I'm so passionate about it. Thank you for sharing this. I went to art school and didn't learn this either!
Wow. I’ve been looking for this information for YEARS. Thank you. Makes so much more sense than what I’ve been taught.
a little bit of healful analysis... it would have been easier to understand IMHO, if your diagram was the same way around as your App demo wheel :)
It’s nice to know that this is sort of how my brain works with color. I did a landscape where I used I used washed out, almost soapy yellow and blueish-greens for the sky, to blur/highlight a white moon and a more chromatic blue for the river shadows, the ground had dull yellows, oranges and pinks with specks of blue and more chromatic yellow-greens for contrast. It made earth look otherworldly but intentionally also vivid and balanced.
Mindblowing
Thank you, Peter 🧡 I'll have to let some interim rewiring happen before revisiting this a couple more times Edit: btw orange doesn't exist. Is just a brighter brown, you see
Dear Color Nerd, isn't the research about the color opponent theory (ab axis) outdated and proven wrong ? As a mathematician, it appears to me that the choice of the Lightness axis is based on measurable experiments and not debated, but the choice of the representation of the colour space via the a & b axis seems ad hoc to me.
Sure, CIELab isn't perceptually uniform, but I sometimes find the a and b axes a useful (if not technically correct) shorthand. I recorded this in 2022; in more recent color theory workshops I don't bother to label the axes. I keep it to a crosshair and use the notion of spacing hues around magenta/yellow/green/ultramarine. Works well.
Can you point me to some material on what's wrong with opponent theory?
What's a teetor tottor?
teeter-totter is another name for a see-saw.
Thank you!
WOW! This is definitely the moment of realization for me where I say " If I'm following all the rules, why doesn't it look right? And why does that thing that doesn't follow the rules look better to me? Am I just weird? Apparently not!".
where can I find this color wheel to print? I am interested to read this book also
Unfortunately, there's no book on Amy Sawyer that discusses her color theory. The only biography ("Amy Sawyer of Ditchling") doesn't talk about it at all. I found her patent application in the Google Patents database.
I placed my pigments comparing with digital RGB/CMY. I placed similar to you. Except I placed quinacridone magenta slightly lower & ultramarine blue on the other side (violet side) of the "blue". Just how I perceived it. Also, I think pthalo green is a bit cooler than screen green. Something I find interesting is that magenta is our perception from the absence of green. I only use colour wheels as a rough guide ie knowing relative hue placement is useful plus appropriate complementaries. I base much of my decisions with painting with pigments from the results of my mixing charts. Not any theoretical formulae.
I have to agree, phthalo green is bluer than screen green -- if I were to remake this I'd definitely pick a bluer green to represent it :)
@ColorNerd1 as a painter, it's useful to know where hues are relative to each other. But I don't think the exact angle matters so much. What matters more is what you get when mix them. To me anyway.
Awesome! I am writing this after the first part of the video. I have a question about your first diagram. If I extend the line from the orange through the black to the other side, what I would expect to be some kind of turquoise, and if I mix those two colors as in your teeter totter example (the orange and that presume turquoise) will be able I get that same brown?
Integratively mixing an orange pigment and a complementary cerulean-ish pigment will sometimes give you desaturated orange, then gray, then desaturated cerulean -- essentially a straight line through the center -- if the pigments are opaque. If the pigments are transparent or semi-transparent, all bets are off.
@ thanks for your answer and your time!!
Coordinate and ratio systems is something I'm really interested. Great Info!
You're the man. It's always a pleasure to listen and learn from you.
Thanks, appreciate the support!
Of course! It's funny because Pthalo green and Quinacridone Magenta became staples of my palette, and I didn't realize I was recreating what you talked about with the long and short cone axis. I feel vindicated.
It's an awesome video when you are discussing proportion in hue contrasts and the Fletcher wheel. How would you go about finding different hue contrasts if you are constrained by physical paint pigments? I can see how you use a digital color wheel, but i am not sure if there are different color wheels that are best to preform the measurement with. Thanks
Hi! So you have to consult charts that show the position of different pigments in a perceptual colorspace - Artistpigments.org is a great resource for this.
@@ColorNerd1had a quick look at that link. The pigment charts are handy. I note the Munsell chart places quinacridone magenta where I would place it. Slightly lower than the horizontal axis Also, CIELAB & Munsell place ultramarine blue slightly to the right of the vertical axis, into the violet quadrant. Whereas you placed to the left, in the cyan quadrant.
I think it's more useful to mix your own wheels with your pigments.
I just found this channel and have been going through it, and omg... I've finally found somewhere that matches EXACTLY one of my biggest autism special interests.
What a great video! Can you explain more about "character"? I feel like I haven't truly grasped that concept yet. Oh and I've been using your color wheel! I turned it into swatches on photoshop and it's super useful ☺️
Awesome. Yes, I have follow-up videos on color character planned :)
Again, thank you for explaining it with a demonstration.
OMG, I got the chills listening to you delineate history of, with development of, warm/cold colors. I wish I had found you first! Thank you for your amazing comprehensive delve into the "bottom line". I will be reviewing all videos. Thank you Thank you Thank you. - a life long learner and budding artist.
What about the double primary primarie which solves some of the problems you are trying to explain.
Hang tight, I have a video on the split primary palette in the works. But my quick answer is, its an over-engineered solution to a manufactured problem.
Лайк, подписка! Всю жизнь не могу привести к гармонии цвета. Обучение проходило стандартно, по старинке. Подбор к красному цвету зеленого всегда злил. Интуитивно к красному старалась выбрать бирюзу, а к зеленому - пурпурный, так как эти цвета, если удерживать на них взгляд, а потом резко перевести взгляд на белую поверхность давали более реальный оттенок противоположного контраста. Это из раздела физики - оптика. И всегда возникали сложности в сочетании яркости тонов (хроматика) со светом (свет-тень), не понимала, как можно не учитывать разность света цветов в наивысшей хроматической точке
Absolutely the best lesson I've learned about choosing colours! Thank you so much!
As someone who is only very slightly color blind and does a lot of design and art(as far as I can tell/tested myself many times to find the areas of weakness) Your knowledge gives me increased confidence.
thank you for figuring it out so I don't have to but still understand it by the end 😂 I love this!
I love this thing. I've been looking at iridescence papers describing the effect in bugs shells, butterfly wings, peacock spider scales, bird's feathers and everywhere in nature that we can see structural coloration, which works thanks to this interference offsetting instead of actual pigmentation. Endlessly fascinating subject. As someone who works in 3D animation industry besides painting, it's very cool to see how we can make mathematical approximations to and model these phenomena to a high enough degree. Great video!
YT just recommended me your channel. Really glad that I clicked on it. This is a great demonstration.
Might explain formally what I do by instinct. I like to pick a key colour of a specific hexcode, and throw it into various Colour Rules to harvest possible colour options that I think look good. Then I choose the one that works the best. For example, I input a suggested hexcode for Prussian Blue, and then I muck around with Harmonies until various oranges are spewed out, and I choose the orange that looks the best to me with the chosen blue.
3:50 Was it intentional that you gave the rold of discord to purple? Huge missed opportunity if no.
ua-cam.com/users/shortsq6l2-l9e50o?si=vG7tBCc8O_MReQPD Hi I want to make this experiment to my school. Can you talk me how you made and what I need to do this. Can you send me a link to buy this type of flashlight. Thank you so much for your help. You make amazing work about light.
You can find them here - maggiemaggio.com/color/product/rgbw-flashlights/
Aula fantástica! Obrigada por compartilhar com a gente ❤
I need this app
I need this app
Thank you very much for this clear and helpful presentation. It was quite thought provoking about the problems about the different mental colour models I have tried to incorporate into my work both with digital and physical painting. Brilliant tutorial! 😊❤
i love the water tower painting in the background!
I saw your channel only today and i love it, to see someone who know what they are saying when they are talking about colors is not easy. I would love to see a video about color spaces, how they work and the terminology. It is a pretty confusing topic
Pausing at 4:30 to say I could never get along with colour or design because the harmony wheel is patently horse crap! red advances, blue is what you get when things are far away, green is nature... Are we just going to rotate them and declare they have the same relationships?
Bouncing electromagnetic waves off of both outer-near and inner-far surfaces of semi-transparent materials is the same principle behind x-ray crystallography. By carefully measuring the "color" of reflected photons, we're able to discover the 3D arrangement of microscopic structures such as the double-helix of DNA 🧬.
I love how Goethe was just some dude. he’s an example of someone who was a brilliant writer and scientist whose authority lent him credence in areas his work was less refined. Recently, I went through a colour course by Marco Bucci and while it was rooted in the notions of the equal hues system, he focuses primarily on context of the hues in relation to how we perceive them relative to one another. He specifically spends time pointing to the full chroma at different values quirk which requires us to spend time studying colour in context. His thesis is that we should learn how they move relative to each other within a palette and not focus on the “rules” as much as their ability to serve the painting. He makes the claim that harmony is more about this than some fixed relationship on a wheel and this helped me understand more clearly the way to think about choosing colour.
You have put words to my (beginner) intuitions regarding color. It is great!
I have been working as a graphic designer for 6 years, and I have continued to read and study during all these years, even though school is long over, but every video of yours that I see I discover new relevant information. I hate Google for encouraging the visibility of articles and videos with a superficial and many times wrong level of information, keep making videos like these!!!
I'm weirdly disappointed that the orange one was actually the orange one😅
Here is where I stop understanding: Around 11:18, you said that to make it readable you would need to make value contrast, but I thought one of the elements of harmony was lighting setup too. Once you changed the lighting at 11:18, sure it was more readable and much bettet because of that, but instantly I thought that the color palette representing it was NOT really muted anymore... Shouldnt this ruin the harmony that was taking in account darkness? How do we achieve harmony while handling lightness as well?
Every character has a range of possible values within it: You can distinguish values within a range that still feels consistent in terms of character.
@@ColorNerd1 I see, thank you I will experiment with this idea
I was going to comment that I'd love a crash course on choosing colours in the digital realm and lo and behold, it's already here. I can't wait to watch this!!
I've been using Photoshop for 20 years and only now do I understand RGB curves, wow. Thank you 😭
Awesome video! Very valuable information. Have you heard of Harald Kueppers "The Basic Law of Color Theory"? Also, where can I get a hooded sweatshirt like that?
Haha. Yes, I love Kueppers' book - lots of great teaching ideas in it.
Interesting roundup! Thank you! 🙏 OKLCH I use for web design by default. Björn Ottosson for president 😉
Great video!!!
Thank you for this video