First Sketchbook Assignmnets

Sketchbook Assignment #1: Good/Bad Color Mixing

• Experiment with mixing colors.
• So you don't overuse your gouache, mix using the technique we went over in class.
• No more than four colors can be mixed into each color you create.
• When you have a finished color, look at it and determine if it is a "good" color or a "bad" color.
• How you define these terms is up to you.
• You will occasionally come across colors you don't feel strongly about either way.  In those cases, classify it as "good" or "bad" arbitrarily.
• Create two charts in your sketchbook, one for "good" colors and one for "bad" colors.
• In each chart, create a column of squares, no less that 1"x1", on the left side of the page, leaving space between squares.
• Use as many sheets in the sketchbook as it takes to complete the assignment.
• Fill each square with a color that you have mixed and designated as "good" or "bad"
• To the right of each square, write down your "recipe" for that color.
• Include the names of each color used and the proportions of each.
• Continue until you have TWELVE GOOD COLORS and TWELVE BAD COLORS and their "recipes" entered into the sketchbook.
• 24 colors total.
• Materials:
• Gouache, all colors
• Sketchbook
• Water
• Round & flat brushes

Sketchbook Assignment #2: Color Mixing 1st Attempt

• Attempt to mix a color to match each of the colors I have on the sheet of watercolor paper I have given you.
• So you don't overuse your gouache, mix using the technique we went over in class.
• No more than four colors can be mixed into each color you create.
• Fill each empty circle next to a colored circle with what you mixed.

Due March 1 when you turn in your sketchbooks for midterm.

Color Terminology for January 23

• Hue – The name given to a color to describe its location on the color spectrum based upon its wavelength.
• Value – Th relative quality of lightness or darkness in a color.  The only structural aspect of color visible in a black and white photograph.
• Saturation – The relative purity of hue present in a color.  A highly saturated color vividly shows a strong presence of hue; conversely, low saturation refers to a weak hue presence.
• Luminosity – The amount of light reflected form the surface of a color.  Value is a measure of luminosity.
• Chromatic Gray – Subtle colors that result from considerably lowering the saturation level of prismatic colors.  Chromatic grays weakly exhibit the distinguishing quality of the hue family to which they belong.
• Achromatic Gray – Grays that are created by mixing black and white.  Achromatic grays have no evident coloration when seen against a white background.  Black and white are also achromatic.
• Muted Color – Rich but softened colors that reside on our color wheel between prismatic color and chromatic gray.
• Monochromatic – A color scheme based on one hue.  Monochromatic schemes can include a range of values and saturation levels and may also stretch the definition of one hue to include several different versions of it.
• Analogous Hues – Hues that lie adjacent to each other on the color wheel.
• Complementary Hues – Hues that lie directly opposite each other on the color  wheel.
• Grayscale – A graduated representation of the value continuum broken down into a finite number of steps, usually teen, eleven, or twelve achromatic grays.
• Saturation Continuum – A graphic representation of the infinite gradations of saturation that exist between any two complementary colors.

Color Terminology from January 19

• Spectrum – Colors as cast upon a wall by a prism, or as seen in a rainbow in the form of pure colored light.
• Hue – The name given to a color to describe its location on the color spectrum based upon its wavelength.
• Overtones – A term borrowed from music to describe the secondary hue “bias” of a primary color.  An awareness of overtones is particularly helpful when mixing color.
• Triadic Hues – Color relationships based on any three equidistant hues as shown on the color wheel.
• Primary Triad – The primary triad is so called because, theoretically, all other colors can be mixed from it.  In subtractive color the primary triad is composed of red, yellow, and blue, which are equidistant from each other on the color wheel.
• Secondary Triad – In subtractive color, orange, green, and violet.  They are called secondary because each can be made by combining two primaries.
• Earth Tone Primary Triad – A primary triad of chromatic grays (so called because of their resemblance to pigments found in nature).

Co-Primaries & Neutrals

Remember when you shop for your gouache, that you are looking for particular colors that will operate as "co-primaries" and specific neutrals.  Below is the image I displayed in class.  If you need the link to the BlickU order page, you can find it HERE.

Terms for January 12

• Subtractive Color – Color seen in pigment as the result of reflected light.  Subtractive color primaries are red, yellow, and blue, and, when they are combined, they produce a dark tone that approaches black.
• Additive Color – Color as seen in light.  Additive color primaries are red, green, and blue (blue violet), and, when they are combined, the result is white light.
• Co-Primaries – The result of the subdivision of the (subtractive) primary triad into three pairs consisting of cool and warm versions of each hue.  The use of co-primaries greatly extends the potential range of mixed colors.

Course Syllabus

Click below for the full text of the course syllabus: