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COLOR. The Next Dimension. Why use color?. Color adds information that is often difficult to describe with words Color adds a sense of beauty and excitement otherwise hard to capture. But. Color illustrations require time, talent, and planning
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COLOR The Next Dimension
Why use color? • Color adds information that is often difficult to describe with words • Color adds a sense of beauty and excitement otherwise hard to capture
But. . . • Color illustrations require time, talent, and planning • Color is more difficult to reproduce accurately in print, but more easily in digital media • Color is expensive to print, except in large press runs; cost often borne by scientist
Natural color • Symbolic color • Design color
Natural color • Captures the true color of the specimen • Most common use of color • Watercolor, gouache, acrylic paints, colored pencil, mixed media/computer
Symbolic color • Use of standard colors to portray different structures (e.g., red arteries, blue veins, yellow nerves) • Often used in medical and/or instructional illustrations http://catalog.nucleusinc.com/nucleusindex.php?
Design color • Color is used as part of the overall design to communicate information quickly, precisely, and noticeably http://www.komengreaterlansing.com
Color Theory http://www.diycalculator.com/sp-cvision.shtml
Primary colors • Irreducible components of color • Combinations of the 3 primaries produce entire (infinite) spectrum of color OPAQUE PIGMENTS TRANSPARENT PIGMENTS/INKS LIGHT
ADDITIVE primary colors of LIGHT RGB color of computer monitors, television, and (approximately) human vision Green Yellow Cyan Red Blue Magenta
A computer monitor pixel is composed of 3 subpixels (each a tiny transistor) with red, green, and blue filters. Through the careful control and variation of the voltage applied, the intensity of each subpixel can range over 256 levels (black =0, white=255). Combining the subpixels produces a possible palette of 16.8 million colors (256 shades of red x 256 shades of green x 256 shades of blue).
SUBTRACTIVE primary colors of OPAQUE PIGMENTS Yellow Orange Green Red Blue Violet
CMYK color of printing SUBTRACTIVE primary colors of TRANSPARENT PIGMENTS/INKS Yellow Red Green Magenta Cyan Blue
ADDITIVE mixture involves the addition of spectral components (light) SUBTRACTIVE mixture involves the absorption (or subtraction) of spectral components (pigments and dyes)
Additive and subtractive colors are COMPLEMENTARY G Y C R B M
Yellow Primary Red Blue Subtractive primary colors (pigments)
Yellow Secondary Orange Green Red Blue Violet
Yellow Tertiary Yellow-orange Yellow-green Orange Green Red-orange Blue-green Red Blue Red-violet Blue-violet Violet
Yellow Yellow-orange Yellow-green Orange Green Red-orange Blue-green Color Wheel Red Blue Red-violet Blue-violet Violet
http://www.malanenewman.com/browser_safe_color_wheel.html http://www.realcolorwheel.com/rcwplotter.htm http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Section/Display&sid=1047024315119&gid=1047024331836&cid=1047023275319 http://www.businesscreatorpro.com/articles/graphic_design_article.php
Rules of Harmony
Split complementary
Analogous complementary
Double complementary tetradic
See the “Color Guide,” “Color Picker,” “Edit Colors” in Adobe Creative Suites
Qualities of color • Hue (the named color) • Saturation (chroma or tone) • Brightness (intensity or value) • Temperature • Transparency & opacity
Yellow Hue Orange Green Red Blue Violet
Saturation white
Brightness black
Hue, saturation, brightness spectrum http://livedocs.adobe.com/en_US/Photoshop/10.0/WSAAFD9CC8-831E-4593-8694-B39919F72A26.html
The “Color Picker” in Adobe Creative Suites Saturation Hue Brightness
Temperature Warm Cool
Transparency Opacity
Color Modes in AdobeCS Applications Illustrator Photoshop Grayscale RGB HSB CMYK Web Safe RGB Bitmap Grayscale RGB HSB CMYK Lab Web Color
Color Spaces and Gamuts L*a*b L*a*b Device-independent (L*a*b) and device-dependent (everything else) http://photo.net/digital-darkroom-forum/00QNAo http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Acrobat/9.0/Standard/WSFC77A86E-F68E-4906-A42D-6EAF5AB4F675.html http://www.tasi.ac.uk/advice/creating/colour2.html http://forums.adobe.com/message/2997551
RGB vs CMYK RGB: colors of computer monitors; larger color gamut than CMYK; colors appear brighter, more vibrant CMYK: colors of transparent inks in 4 process printing; smaller gamut; many RGB colors “out of gamut”, cannot be printed in CMYK inks. CMYK RGB
RGB vs CMYK Orthodoxy: RGB images must be converted to CMYK prior to 4-process printing. Work in CMYK for printing. NO!: Work in RGB! Larger gamut, more flexibility. Consumer inkjet printers convert to CMYK automatically and do an excellent job (use as reference). Otherwise, use Adobe CS software to convert a copy or let the commercial press do it for you. Adobe CS software gives “out of gamut” warnings when working in RGB.
Color Management (advanced users!) Calibrate your monitor —Use Displays > Color utility in Mac OS System Preferences (for more precision use calibration hardware, e.g., Datacolor’s Spyder3 series or Spyder3express) Choose a color space in your Adobe CS application — Under the Edit > Color Settings menu. Choose North America Prepress 2 and its default settings, including Preserve Embedded Profiles. Synchronize these settings among your CS applications. Acquire printer profiles — visit your printer company’s website and download the current printer drivers and/or ICC profiles for your printer/paper combination. Set a Custom Proof Condition for your printer and paper — View > Proof Setup > Custom and under Device to Simulate select the printer/paper profile you downloaded earlier; now you can View > Proof Colors to see what your document will look like (approximately) in print. See the CS application Help Guides and the references listed at the end of this presentation for complete directions on calibration, profiles, proofing, etc.
Techniques • Colored pencil • Watercolor • Gouache • Acrylics
Colored Pencil • Can give excellent textural detail and rich color effects • Minimal materials needed • Inexpensive • Fast • Excellent with mixed media
Surfaces: • Illustration board-any surface with good “tooth” and random texture, such as cold-press, 100% rag mat board, cold-press Bristol board, or Kid-finish Strathmore • Drafting film-acetate or polyester, matte 1- or 2 sides, e.g. Herculene (K&E)
Media: • Pencils-At least a basic set of 12 pencils representing the primaries through tertiaries: • Sanford Prismacolor • Sanford Prismacolor Verithin • Sanford Prismacolor Watercolor • Derwent Studio • Faber Castell Polychromos • White gouache or acrylic paint
Tools: • Small sable watercolor brush for dry-brushing highlights • Eraser-Pink Pearl, etc. • X-Acto knife • Workable fixative
Technique: • Transfer pencil sketch using light-hued colored pencil (e.g., non-photo blue), not graphite • For brilliant or light colored areas, lay down a base of white. On film, back-paint with white acrylic afterwards • Use sharpened pencils to apply tiny, closely placed strokes in any pattern. Do not use stump to blend strokes • Begin with middle tones, working towards darks and lights; light colors over darker; lighten with white pencil • Combine colors for brilliant effects • Avoid overworking or the surface will become saturated (surface becomes shiny) • For very bright primary highlights, dry-brush with white acrylic paint • Spray finished drawing with workable fixable