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3.4: Triad Color Assignment

  • Page ID
    177187

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    Materials

    • One half 12 x 17 inch Bristol board sheet, taped edges to board – trim your 14 inch wide paper to 12 inches wide before cutting in half. You will have two 8½ x 12 inch compositions
    • Tape
    • Non-photo blue pencil
    • Painting supplies
    • Earth tone primary colors: yellow ochre, burnt sienna, Payne’s gray (black + small amount of ultramarine blue)
    • Primary triad colors: cadmium yellow, cadmium red, ultramarine blue
    • White to lighten

    Guidelines

    1. Read about earth-tone primary colors on page 17, fig1.11 in Color : A workshop for artists and designers (Hornung, 2012).
    2. Draw a contour drawing of a zoomed in view of tree branches with intricate spaces.
      1. Choose the earth-tone primary triad found on page 17, fig1.11: yellow ochre, burnt sienna and Payne’s gray. (Mix Payne’s gray by adding a slight amount of ultramarine blue to black). You may add white to lighten the colors.
      2. Experiment with getting as many colors as you can out of the three limited earth tones.
      3. Colors may be stand alone or mixed from the three main colors. You will not have a large amount of blue, only a small amount in the Payne’s gray mixture.
    3. Use a different view of the zoomed in branches to create a second composition on the other half of your paper.
      1. This time, use the primary triad: cadmium red, cadmium yellow, and ultramarine blue.
      2. Colors may not be mixed with each other this time, only white to lighten.
      3. Your darkest colors will be the pure hue of the primary color.
    4. Both compositions must contain:
      1. The fullest value range possible given the color limitations.
      2. Use the value scanner (value strip with holes punched) to match value to color to make sure you have variety in value.
      3. Interesting compositions, variety in branch placements and sizes.
      4. Effective color interactions.

    This page titled 3.4: Triad Color Assignment is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Marcelle Wiggins.

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