Art Fundamentals: Theory and Practice- 12th Edition: Color

High-key color

Any color that has a value level of middle gray.

Low-key color

Any color that has a value level of middle gray or darker.

Academic

art that conforms to established traditions and approved convention as practiced in formal art schools; academic art stresses standards, set procedures, and rule

Achromatic

1. concerning difference of lightness and darkness, without regard for hue and intensity; 2. color perceived only in terms of neutral grays from light to dark

Additive Color

color crated by superimposing light rays; adding together (or superimposing) the three primary colors of light—red, blue, and green—will produce with; the secondaries are cyan, yellow, and magenta

Analogus Colors

colors that are closely related in hue; they are usually adjacent to each other on the color wheel

Croma

1. the purity of a hue, or its freedom from white, black, or gray (and wavelengths of other color); 2. the intensity of a hue; 3. computer programs often refer to chroma as saturation

Chromatic

pertaining to the presence of color

Chromatic Value

the relative degree of lightness or darkness (value) demonstrated by a given color

Color

the visual response to different wavelengths of sunlight identified as red, green, blue, and so on; having the physical properties of hue, intensity, and value

Color Tetrad

four colors, equally spaced on the color wheel, containing a primary and its complements and a complementary pair of intermediates; this has also come to mean any organization of color on the wheel forming a rectangle that could include a double split-complement

Complementary Color

two colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel; a primary color is complementary to a secondary color, which is a mixture of the two remaining primaries

Hue

the generic name of a color (red, blue, green, etc.); also designates a color's position in the spectrum or on the color wheel; hue is determined by the specific wavelength of the color in a ray of light

Intensity

the saturation strength, or purity of a hue; a vivid color is of high intensity; a dull color is of low intensity

Intermediate Color

a color produced by a mixture of a primary color and a secondary color

Local Objective Color

the color as seen in the objective world (e.g. green grass, blue sky, red barn, etc.)

Monchromatic

having only one hue; may include the complete range of value (of one hue) from white to black

Neutral

1. the inclusion of all color wavelengths will produced white, and the absence of any wavelengths will be perceived as black; with neutrals, no single color is notice-only a sense of light and dark or the range from white through gray to black; 2. a color altered by the addition of its complement so that the original sensation of hue is lost or grayed

Neutralized Color

color that has been grayed or reduced in intensity by being mixed with any of the neutrals or with a complementary color (so that the mixture contains all three primaries, in equal or unequal amounts)

Patina

1. a natural film, usually greenish, that results from the oxidation of bronze or other metallic material; 2. Colored pigments and/or chemicals applied to a sculptural surface

Pigment

a color substance that gives its color property to another material by being mixed with it or covering it; pigments, usually insoluble, are added to liquid vehicles to produce paint and ink; they are different from dyes, which are dissolved in liquids and give their coloring effects by staining or being absorbed by a material

Primary Color

a preliminary hue that cannot be broken down or reduced into component colors; primary colors are the basic hues of any color system that in theory may be used to mix all other colors

Primary Triad

the three primary colors on the color wheel (red, yellow, and blue), which are equally spaced and form and equilateral triangle

Secondary Color

a color produced by a mixture of two primary colors

Secondary Triad

the three secondary colors on the color wheel (orange, green, and violet), which are equally spaced and form an equilateral triangle

Shade

a color produced by mixing black with a hue, which lowers the value level and decreases the quantity of light reflected

Simultaneous Contrast

when two different colors come into direct contact, the contrast intensifies the difference between them

Spectrum

the band of individual colors that results when a beam of white light is broken into its component wavelengths, identifiable as hues

Split-Complements

a color and the two colors on either side of its complement

Subjective Color

1. that which is derived from the mind, rather than physical reality; reflects a personal bias, emotion, or innovative interpretation

2. color tends to be inventive or creative.

SubtractiveColor

the sensation of color that is produced when wavelengths of light are reflected back to the viewer after all other wavelengths have been subtracted and/or absorbed

Tertiary

color resulting from the mixture of all three primaries, two secondary colors, or complementary intermediates; tertiary colors are characterized by the neutralization of intensity and hue; a great variety of tertiary colors, created by mixing differing amounts of the parent colors, are found in the inner rings of the color wheel, which lead to complete neutralization

Tint

a color produced by mixing white with a hue, which raises the value level and increases the quantity of light reflected

Tonality, Tone

1. A generic term for the quality of a color, often indicating a slight modification in hue, value, or intensity—for example, yellow with a greenish tone; 2. The dominating hue, value, or intensity; for example, artwork containing mostly red and red-orange will have an overall tonality of red (the dominant hue), and areas of color might have a dark tonality (indicating the dominant value) or a muted tonality (indicating the dominant intensity level)

Value

1. the relative degree of lightness or darkness; 2. the characteristic of color determined by the degree of lightness or darkness or the quantity of light reflected by the color

Value Pattern

the arrangement or organization of value that control compositional movement and create a unifying effect throughout a work of art