Category Archives: Lecture

Class 29 | Free-Study & Critique ONLINE

Vocabulary Review

  • Review Design & Color Vocabulary and Concepts
  • As you go through the review, add each vocabulary word to your Creative Process Book and include a small drawing or example that represents each Principle and Element.

Lab

  • Finish Illustrated Harmonious Moment Freestudy
  • Be sure to take a photograph of your finished Illustrated Harmonious Moment Freestudy to post to the OpenLab.
  • Turn in all parts of Assignment #6 at the end of class, any reworked assignments and your Creative Process Book.

Online Critique

  • Upload on image of your completed Illustrated Harmonious Moment Freestudy to the OpenLab forum “Final Critique” sometime between now and Dec. 21st.
  • Comment on at least 3 of your colleague’s work. Remember to note IN DETAIL what works and what doesn’t. Be constructive.
  • If your replies do not contain the following, they will not count toward your grade:
    1. Clear identification of the student whose work you are critiquing.
    2.  A clear statement about what is successful about the work AND WHY IT IS SUCCESSFUL
    3. A clear statement about what is not successful AND WHY IT IS NOT SUCCESSFUL
    4. Clear and logical use of the course vocabulary. Review the vocabulary list, before posting.

Homework

  • After class stop by the End of Year Portfolio Reviews to see the graduating senior’s final portfolios.

Thank you for a great class and keep in touch!

Class 28 | Color Inventory + Freestudy

Critique (15 min)

  • Color Harmony Palettes: Analogous & Split Complementary
  • Color References for Proportional Inventory.

Discussion

Freestudy Introduction / Illustrated Harmonious Moment:

To honor the lives cut short in the recent shooting in Connecticut, I’d like to you recall one moment in your elementary school years that represents a feeling of hope, joy, inspiration.

For the last freestudy of the class we will be creating a proportional inventory (see below) and using this palette to illustrate a moment from your childhood.

Size:

  • 9×12″ or larger composition

Medium:

  • Inking pens or brush & ink
  • Colored pencils, gouache, or acrylic

Graphic Style:

Layout:

  • LESS is MORE. In order to illustrate a moment in time, only represent the most important elements in order to communicate the message.
  • Thoughtful, well-considered figure-ground relationship. When capturing a moment, the figure-ground relationship must be strong and stable.
  • Clearly orientate the viewer. If your experience is informed by looking up, looking down, etc. make sure the viewer clearly understands that point of view.
  • Create at LEAST 10 thumbnails BEFORE starting. Students who turn in work without evidence of research and iterations will receive a failing grade.

Color:

  • Your composition should use the exact proportion of hues in your color inventory from your color reference. Create a simple proportional inventory that clearly demonstrates visual hierarchy through color.
  • Dominant color, Sub-Dominant color, and the Accent color. At least one of your Sub-Dominant colors should include a tint or shade of the dominant color.

Important things to focus on:

  • As with previous free-studies, research, thumbnails, color tests, consideration of overall compositional balance between figure and ground, and unity is important! Because this is your LAST class project, see if you can utilize other aspects of the Basic Tenets of DESIGN that we have covered in this class.
  • The Practice:  Concept + Form are ingredients that a designer uses to produce a composition that communicates meaning. The relationship between the Concept (idea) and the Form (process/result) produces the Content (meaning).
    • Concept = WHAT? What do you want to communicate?
    • Form = HOW? How will you do it?
    • Content/Meaning = WHY? Why is it important?

Lab

STEP 1 : Proportional Inventory

  • Guidelines:
    • You may use paint, colored pencil or photoshop/illustrator* to create your Proportional Inventory.
      (*do not use preset palettes or automated shortcuts)
    • The finished inventory should include the color reference (or a photograph of it) and a series of proportional color swatches.
    • It should be properly presented, mounted on bristol.
  • Find a color reference (your favorite sweater, household object, advertisement, photograph, book cover, etc.) that works with the childhood moment you want to represent. Remember you are representing a moment, specifically a feeling of either joy, hope, or inspiration. Your palette should reflect that. Research the Psychology of colors.
  • Create a color inventory palette that proportionally represents your color reference and clearly demonstrates visual hierarchy through color with Dominant color, Sub-Dominant color, and the Accent color. At least one of your Sub-Dominant colors should include a tint or shade of the dominant color. If your recipe is too complicated, economize and simplify the ingredients (or choose a different reference). See worqx.com for more info on dominance.
  • Here are few examples of proportional inventories created from color references:
  • Look at these two website and see if you can see the color scheme in terms of proportions and how it’s used to create visual hierarchy on the site:

STEP 2: Illustrated Harmonious Moment RESEARCH

  • In your CPB, write the story of one moment in your elementary school years that represents a feeling of hope, joy, inspiration.
  • Think about how you can clearly represent this moment with a limited number of elements and through the color palette you have chosen.
  • Review the graphic novels and online resources presented in class.
  • Make 10 thumbnail sketches to “thinkout” the variety of ways you can express this one moment.
  • Remember you only have a few days to complete this work, so economize. LESS is MORE.

Homework

Bring to class:

  1. Completed Proportional Inventory
  2. Illustrated Harmonious Moment Freestudy, finished or nearly finished.
  3. A sturdy portfolio to collect your past work.
  4. Your Creative Process Book; review the section in Understanding Your Grade.

All work from Assignment #6 and any other extra-credit or reworked assignments are due at the end of class.

Class 27 | Color Harmony

Critique

  • Review Tonal Progression Studies: Digital Progressions (Tints, Shades, Complements), Painted Progression Freestudy
  • Examine examples of harmonious color combination (your favorite sweater or household object, an advertisement, photograph, book, etc.)

Discussion

Color Harmony: Color Relationships

  • Analogous: colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel (example: violet, blue-violet, red-violet). They have the shortest interval and the most harmonious relationship because three or four neighboring hues always contain a common color that dominates the group.
  • Complements: using colors opposite on the color wheel. This relationship often produces visual tension, shock, or electricity (as we observed in our color interaction studies). This is often the least harmonious color relationship. A palette using complements should be “harmonized” with variations in value and saturation. (example: red and green when reduced to chromatic grays soften the effect of simultaneous contrast).
  • Near-Complements: using a color and the color adjacent to its complement. This relationship softens the visual tension produced by using straight complements. (example: red and yellow-green)
  • Split-Complements: based on the triad system, using one color plus two colors on either side of its complement. (example: orange and blue-violet & blue-green). This color scheme adds more variety and an opportunity for a specific accent or focus, if used in unequal proportions.
  • Tetrads: based on a square, this relationship is formed when four colors equally spaced on the color wheel are used (example: green, blue, orange, red). This color relationship is more varied and can easily become un-harmonious without variation in value or saturation.
  • Triads: based on a triangle, three colors are equally spaced from each other. These color formulas create a strong visual contrast.
    • Primary Triad: primary colors, yellow, blue and red, form an equilateral triangle with yellow at the top
    • Secondary Triad: secondary colors, orange, green and violet, evenly spaced between the primaries are mixed from adjacent hues (example: red + yellow = orange)
    • Intermediate Triad: intermediate colors, yellow-green, blue-green, red-violet, etc. are mixtures of a primary color with a neighboring secondary color.

Proportion/Hierarchy/Dominance

In a composition you may wish to have certain colors that are harmonious and share visual qualities (similar value, hue, saturation), and others may need to assert their independence and stand out. These would have less in common with the other colors in the palette (different in hue, saturation and/or value) and would create an accent or focal point. It’s important, when choosing a color scheme, to resist the temptation to use all colors in equal volume. Unequal proportions are more interesting and aesthetically pleasing.

  • Dominant color: color with the largest proportional area – often the ground.
  • Sub-Dominant color(s): colors with less proportional area- they are often analogous colors or variants in tint or shade of the dominant color.
  • Accent color: colors with a small proportional area, but offer contrast due to variation in saturation, value or hue.

References:

LAB

Color Harmony Palettes (to be completed in class)

  1. Analogous Palette
    • Choose three colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel.
    • On a piece of bristol, create 3 interlocking forms using your chosen analogous colors.
    • Create color dominance in your palette by varying the saturation or value of one or more of your chosen hues by adding complement, white, or black. Vary the size of your shapes to reinforce the color hierarchy too.
    • Experiment with the Color Theory Simulation – Interactive Tool > Color Schemes > Working with Color Schemes.
  2. Split Complementary Palette
    • Choose three colors: one color plus two colors on either side of its complement on the color wheel.
    • On a piece of bristol, create 3 interlocking forms using your chosen split complementary colors.
    • Create color dominance in your palette by varying the saturation or value of one or more of your chosen hues by adding complement, white, or black. Vary the size of your shapes to reinforce the color hierarchy too.
    • Experiment with the Color Theory Simulation – Interactive Tool > Color Schemes > Working with Color Schemes.

 

Homework

Bring to class:

  • Finished Color Harmony Palettes: Analogous & Split Complementary
  • Finished Tonal Progression Studies: Digital Progressions (Tints, Shades, Complements) and Painted Progression Free-study
  • An example of a harmonious color combination (your favorite sweater or household object, an advertisement, photograph, book, movie, etc.)
  • Your full set of paints or any other color materials you’d like to use

Class 26 | Tonal Progression

Critique (30 min)

Discussion (15 min)

Understanding Color Systems

Additive Model: The RGB model is used to reproduce the spectrum of visible light. A monitor transmits light in this way. It’s called the additive primary model because the absence of all light is black. To create different colors you must add levels of the primary colors (Red, Green and Blue).

Subtractive Model: The CMY model represents reflected light or the colors you see in printed inks, photographic dyes, and colored toner. CMY is called the subtractive primary model because full values of the primary colors (pure Cyan, Magenta and Yellow) produce black and in order to produce different colors you must reduce the levels of the primaries. The inks filter out certain colors of light while reflecting others. If the ink pigments were perfect, combining cyan, magenta and yellow would produce a pure black. However, the inks are not perfect so black ink (K) is also added in the printing process.

Color Gamut: Because CMYK represents a much smaller range of color than RGB it is impossible to reproduce all the colors that appear on your monitor. When you convert RGB to CMYK in order to reproduce the colors in print, many of the values will change.

Color Harmony:

A palette of hues, shades, and/or tints used to produce pleasing color relationships to engage the viewer and it create a sense of order in the visual experience. Successful, harmonious use of color creates dynamic equilibrium: a balance between monotony and variety.

We will look at formulas for creating harmonious color palettes, but first we need to understand Tonal Progressions.

Tonal Progression

  • Grayscale: progression from black to white in the absence of hue
  • Shade: progression of a hue produced by the addition of black
  • Tint: progression of a hue produced by the addition of white
  • Complements: progression of a hue produced by the addition of its complement

References:

  • Color Harmonies– Interactive Tool
    Experiment with the Monochromatic and Complements buttons.
  • Color Theory Simulation – Interactive Tool
    Experiment with the Learn the Basics > Color Relations and Color Schemes

LAB 1 (15 min)

Digital Progressions Experiments:

Using the files provided, complete the following Progression Studies. You do not need to turn these in, but rather experiment with the progression relationships and use them for inspiration for your Painted Progressions.

* NOTE: It might be helpful to turn on Guides. View > Show > Guides

Shades (shades_progression.psd):

  1. In the PHOTOSHOP Layers Palette, turn down the arrow next to the Shades folder.
  2. Select the layer name Shade Step 1.
  3. Choose the Paint Bucket tool from the Tool Palette and double click on the Foreground Color Square (also in the Tool Palette).
  4. In the Color Picker, choose the Radio Button [B] and select a hue along the top edge of the color ramp. Click OK.
  5. Then apply the color with the Paint Bucket tool to the Shade Step 1 object.
  6. Repeat this process with each Shade Step layer, adding more black at each step.
  7. Your goal is to create 7 evenly graduated steps, based on your visual perception, not the computer’s measurement.

Tints (tints_progression.psd):

  1. In the PHOTOSHOP Layers Palette, hide the Shades Folder by clicking on the eye. Then turn down the arrow next to the Tints folder.
  2. Select the layer name Tint Step 1.
  3. Choose the Paint Bucket tool from the Tool Palette and double click on the Foreground Color Square (also in the Tool Palette).
  4. In the Color Picker, choose the Radio Button [S] and select a hue along the top edge of the color ramp. Click OK.
  5. Then apply the color with the Paint Bucket tool to the Tint Step 1 object.
  6. Repeat this process with each Tint Step layer, adding more white at each step.
  7. Your goal is to create 7 graduated steps.

Complements (complements_progression.ai):

  1. In ILLUSTRATOR choose the Selection Tool from the Tools Palette and Color Guide from the Window Menu.
  2. Click on one of the rectangles with the Selection Tool.
  3. In the Color Guide Palette, select Complementary from the pull-down menu and Show Tints/Shades from the little arrow in the upper right corner.
  4. Click on the Color Wheel icon in the lower right-hand corner to open the Live Color Palette.
  5. Click on the Edit button and then on the Segmented Color Wheel icon.
  6. Drag the circles around the color wheel, making sure you keep them equidistant from each other.
  7. Experiment with increasing and decreasing the percentage of black and white.
  8. Repeat this process for all three progression blends.

** Right-click/Control-click on link to download files and save.

LAB 2 (1 hr 30 min)

Painted Progressions in gouache (or acrylic, colored pencil, cut paper, or digital*):

* Note: if you use a digital application you must have access a quality printer that can accurately reproduce your file.

Complements

  • Based on the digital studies above, create a progression from 1 color to its complement, for example: Yellow to Violet.
  • Create a series of shapes of varying sizes on bristol. You will use scissors to cut out each shape, so don’t worry about making perfect edges in paint.
  • Mix the two colors in varying amounts, increasing and decreasing the saturation of the original color by adding more or less of the complement, until you have created at least equal 7 steps.
  • Note: Consult your color wheel to make sure you working with accurate complements (red-violet complements yellow-green, but not green).

Tints and Shades

  • Create a Tint Progression with your chosen color (same color used for your complement progression above)
  • Starting with the fully saturated hue, create at least 7 steps to white.
  • Then create a Shade Progression with the complement color.
  • Starting with the fully saturated hue, create at least 7 steps to black. You may use black paint for this exercise.

Final Composition (created from the two exercises above)

  • Once you have a full 9×12″ page of shapes, cut out each, assemble and glue a new composition on a fresh piece of bristol.
  • Your composition should demonstrate an obvious tonal progression from one color to its complement, as well as tint and shade progressions from the hue to white and the complement to black, respectively.
  • Experiment with creating a progression of proportions as well– such as a progression of shape (small to large) and interval (variety of space between shapes from broad and tight).

Homework

We WILL be meeting this Thursday, December 13 as a make up for the days missed because of Storm Sandy!

Bring to class:

  • Finished Painted Progressions (Tints, Shades and Complements). We will work on the Final Composition in class.
  • An example of harmonious color combination (your favorite sweater or household object, an advertisement, photograph, book, etc.)
  • Your full set of paints (or color media), and related materials
  • Flashdrive

Class 25 – Free Study Continued

Caution! I might bring one of these home to Brooklyn, if anyone is slacking off.

Critique

  • Present your Paired Color Identities Free-Study (in-progress) with your partner.
  • Present your 10 thumbnails, 2 of which should be further developed. See class 24 homework requirements for details.

Project NOTE:

Prof. Rosenblatt indicated that there was some confusion about the personal icon silhouette.

Clarification: You are each creating an unique icon that represents your partner’s personality. Please refer to the project guidelines for details.

  • This personal icon should be in silhouette >> Silhouettes from black card became popular in the mid-18th century. They are used in many mediums to give immediate identification or meaning. You may create a silhouette using any graphic, object, or icon.
  • Take a look at the artwork of Kara Walker to see how she uses this method to convey meaning in her work.
  • Also look at Indonesian Wayang Kulite – Shadow puppetry.
  • Research all the different ways silhouette is used in graphic design, theater and art.

Here are a few examples of silhouettes from contemporary artworks at the Pulse Miami 2012 art fair:

LAB

Paired Color Identities Free-Study

  • Continue work on Free-Study in class
  • Practice good time management. You will present your final work next week. Make this one count!

Homework

Bring to class:

  • Finished Paired Color Identities Freestudy.
  • ALL PARTS OF ASSIGNMENT #5 ARE DUE!
  • Review the Assignment #5 guidelines to be sure you have completed everything.
  • SUPPLIES FOR NEXT CLASS: Bring your choice of color study materials: gouache or acrylic paints, colored pencils, cut paper, or a laptop with Photoshop installed.