Color Theory

CAD In Garment Design

For Garment 3rd Year Student

2014
4 By Melak M
 Basic terms &
concepts:
• Color as light
• The visible spectrum
• wavelengths
• White light
• Reflection, Absorption,
• Additive Color vs. Subtractive Color
• Light Primaries vs. Pigment Primaries
 Color
• in the beginning, as the Earth formed 4.5 billion years ago from
the condensation of a cloud of primordial cosmic dust and gas, its
surface was initially bitterly cold and dark. As the dust slowly
settled and swirling gases began to form a primitive atmosphere,
the first glimmer of light broke through the gloom to illuminate a
landscape torn by earthquakes and volcanoes and ravaged by
fierce electrical storms. And then there was light, as the Bible
says. Since then, the Earth has been illuminated by light from the
Sun by day, when it reaches the Earth’s surface directly, and by
night when it arrives courtesy of reflection from the surface
 What is Color ?

Colors are made when light emitted from light source .

Light is made of electromagnetic waves produced by a light
source, such as a candle, an electric light bulb, or the sun.
The colors that we see when light strikes an object are the result
of certain wavelengths (individual colors) being absorbed by the
object while other wavelengths are being reflected back to us.
Those reflected back to us are the colors that we see.
They are focused by the lens of our eye and projected onto our
retina.
Visible light spectrum
 Con…

• The retina consists of approximately 130

million light-sensitive cells, which are
either cone shaped or rod shaped.
• The cone-shaped cells respond to color, and
it is believed that the cones are distributed
evenly to react to one of the red, green, or
blue light primaries.
 History About Color
• the first person to present this idea was sir
Isaac newton (1642-1727) in the late 1600s.
• He conducted and published a series of
experiments involving prisms, light, and color,
which form the basis of our current
understanding of color.
• These experiments involved refracting white
light through a prism—a simple triangular
glass object that separated light waves into
individual colors.
 Con…

when an object is red, it is reflecting

red wavelengths and absorbing all
other colors.
At the back of our eye are
photosensors – they respond to light.
As result all perceived color are
generated through mixing of this three
color.
 White-Light to Colored objects/surfaces:
• Absorption is the main way that materials become
“colored” —subtracting some colors from white
light, and either reflecting or transmitting
“colored” light.
 Three dimensions of color

– Just as a point is space can be defined by is position in

the three special dimensions (height, width, depth) ,
color also has its own three dimensions. Any single
color can be described by its three dimensions.
• Hue
• Saturation
• Value
 Primary color
• There are two types of primary color additive and
subtractive color .
• As noted our eyes have red, green and blue color receptor
• RGB are the primary color of pure light and are referred
to as additive primary color.
• The subtractive primary color made from reflected light
fall in to two types the printer primary(CMYK) and
artistic primary color(RYB)
 Light/Additive
Primary Colors
• The primaries for
light- color mixing
and pigment-color
mixing are NOT the
same.
• Red
• Green
• Blue
 The Additive
• Red Primaries RGB
• Green
• Blue

• Colors of the phosphors on a television or

computer monitor (RGB).
• When combined (all are shining) these light primaries
produce white - even though they don’t overlap
(optical mixing).
• The absence of light is black – darkness.
 Subtracting Colors by Adding
Pigments
• When we mix two pigments together, the colors absorbed
(subtracted) by each color continue to be absorbed – and so,
less light reflects and a new hue results.
• So, the resulting color is a bit darker in value than might
be expected.
Pigment Secondaries

• Orange
• Violet
• Green
• As color/pigment is
added, we get closer to
black
 The
traditional
primaries

• Red
• Yellow
• Blue
 Secondary Color
• In theory, a hue that is mixed by equal
proportions of two (adjacent) primary
colors.
• In traditional color mixing, there are three
secondary colors – however, there will be as
many secondary colors in a color model as
there are primary colors.
 Subtractive Tertiaries

• Primaries
• Secondaries (3)
• G, O, V
• Tertiaries
 Tertiary Color
• In theory, a hue that is mixed by equal
proportions of a primary color and an
adjacent secondary color.
• In traditional color mixing, there are six
tertiary colors – however, there will be as
many tertiary colors in a color model as
there are primary AND secondary colors,
combined.
 Subtractive Tertiaries

• Tertiaries (6)
• YO, RO, RV,
• BV, BG, YG
 Color wheel

 The easiest way to view color relationships is through a circular

diagram called the “color wheel”
 To pick the best colors every time, designers use a color wheel
and refer to extensive collected knowledge about human optical
ability, psychology, culture.
 The first color wheel was designed by sir Isaac newton in 1666.
 The color wheel helps us see relationships between primary,
secondary, and tertiary colors.
 Color scheme

There is 6 color scheme in color wheel

 Complementary color scheme
 Split complementary color scheme
 Analogous color scheme
 Triadic color scheme
 Monochromatic color scheme
 Tetradic color scheme
 Complementary color scheme

• These are color pair that are

directly opposite to each
other on the color wheel .
• They represent the most
contrasting relationship
 Neutral Color
• A neutral is a color that has no chroma
– so it has no visible hue at all.
• True neutrals are black, white and the
grays.
• In practice, we refer to many colors as
neutrals when their chroma is quite low
– browns, along with warm and cool
grays are usually called neutrals though,
strictly speaking, they are near-
neutrals.
 Tint

• A high-value form of a hue.

+
• In practice, a tint is a color that
has had white added to it.
• For instance, pink is a tint of
red. A pure, primary red might
be mixed with white.
The result is a “light
red” —a tint of red.
 Shade
• A low-value form of a hue.
• In practice, a color that has +
had black added to it.
• Maroon is a shade of red
—a pure, primary red might
be mixed with black (or
dark brown, or dark gray).
The result is a “dark red”
—a shade of red.
 Warm and Cool
Colors
• Warms: reds, yellows,
oranges -- fire colors.
• Cool: blues, violets, some
greens.
• Note that every color is warm
compared to some colors and
cool compared to others.
• Temperature is relative to
surroundings.
 Color as Pigment
• A pigment is any material used to provide the actual color
to a paint, a dye, an ink or other colored medium.
• Pigment is the colored matter within the substance we color
with.
• Each pigment absorbs certain colors of light and reflects
other colors.
• The characteristics of selective absorption and reflection

determine the color of the pigment.

 Color as pigment
• The media we apply color with have three basic
ingredients.
• Pigment

• Binder

• Solvent
 Color as pigment
• Pigment
– The coloring agent – the actual colored substance.
Note that there are many kinds of pigments with
unique characteristics.
– Pigments vary in coloring power, opacity, light-fastness,
and permanence.
 Color as pigment
• Binder

– Binder is the “glue” that enables pigments to adhere and stay

where you put them.
– Each medium has is own binder. (flax seed oil, glcyerine, acrylic
polymer, etc.)
– In general, the various media are distinguised primarily by their
binder.
– Note that not all pigments are use with all binders/media -- the
binder and solvent can chemically react with some pigments.
 Color as pigment
• Solvent
– The solvent keeps the paint moist and fluid until it dries.
In watercolors, tempera and acrylics, water is the
solvent.
– In oil paint, turpentine provides liquidity.

– The pigment must be able to suspend or float in the

solvent and binder.