Color contrast refers to the coordination of two elements with different quality or quantity, that is, an emphasized phenomenon. Color relations can enhance or weaken colors by contrast. The following is the color contrast rule I shared. Let's have a look.
(a) tone contrast
Refers to the phenomenon of color contrast caused by different tones when two or more colors are juxtaposed or alternately changed. Generally, there are primary color contrast, intermediate color contrast, compound color contrast, complementary color contrast, similar color contrast, cold and warm color contrast and so on.
The three primary colors of red, yellow and blue are the extreme color contrast among the twelve color rings, and the contrast is extremely strong. What is exciting is that many masters of modern painting use pure color contrast, and the pictures are loud, vivid and enthusiastic.
The contrast of orange, green and purple is slightly weaker than the three primary colors, while the contrast of many colors is more blurred, but they can all achieve a harmonious and unified visual effect.
Red and green, yellow and purple, orange and blue belong to complementary color contrast, and their respective color personalities will become more distinct and prominent. The juxtaposition of these two complementary tones is the strongest. The use of hue contrast can highlight the subject, and the use of strong hue contrast in painting will produce bright and strong color effects.
(2) brightness contrast
Refers to the contrast between light and shade of various colors in the sketch relationship and the contrast between different light and shade levels of the same color. China ink painting is called "five-color ink", which is also a visual effect produced by contrast of lightness. The same two tones can change from dark to bright due to different lightness, resulting in lightness contrast. People in painting are often confused by the hue of color, but ignore the expression of color brightness.
Only when red is used as a dark color will it appear full and bright. Adding white to red will gradually improve the brightness, and red will gradually look pale and lose its luster. Saturated blue is also dark. The blue of the sea is mostly ultramarine, pure blue and even a little black, which can show the heaviness and depth of the sea. Yellow itself is a bright color with a narrow brightness range, so there are fewer levels of light and shade, and the contrast between light and shade is also weak.
The intensity of light and the brightness of inherent color have the law of elimination:
Under strong light, the inherent color is heavy and the contrast between light and shade is large;
Under strong light, the inherent color is light, and the contrast between light and shade is small;
In weak light, the inherent color is heavy and the contrast between light and dark is small;
In weak light, the inherent color is light, and the contrast between light and shade is large.
(3) purity comparison
Also known as gray-bright contrast, usually high-purity color and low-purity color are juxtaposed to produce contrast, and the bright color is brighter and the gray is grayer.
(4) Cold and warm contrast
Refers to the opposition of cold and warm colors and the contrast of cold and warm colors.
The cold and warm feeling of color is relative. The juxtaposition of cool color and warm color promotes the polarization of the two colors. The colder the cool color, the warmer the warm color. In painting, every work contains the contrast factors of cold and warm colors, but some are strong and some are weak. If the color of a work is only brightness contrast, and there is no contrast between cold and warm colors, the picture will appear monotonous and dull.
The color of a painting often has different degrees of cold and warm contrast in the light and dark parts of the picture, things and things, things and backgrounds, foreground and backgrounds, and every part of the picture. Even on a plane, there will be temperature changes up and down, left and right. In the process of painting, we should be good at mastering the law of cold and warm colors, and our works will have more vitality of color art.
Explore the law of color changing with temperature from the following aspects:
(1) The bright color of an object is mainly the combination of light source color and intrinsic color, the light receiving part is cold color, and the backlight part is necessarily warm color.
(2) The temperature of the light and dark part of an object depends on the temperature of the light source color and the environmental color where the object is located.
(3) For objects with the same color, the color contrast of the front object is strong, and the color contrast of the back object is weak.
(4) The object is warm, and the surrounding color must be cold; When an object is cold, the surrounding color must be warm.
(5) The color of the object is bright, so it is necessary to reduce the purity of the surrounding colors in order to achieve the effect of gray-bright contrast.
(6) The inherent color of an object usually appears in the bright gray area at the boundary of light and shade. When the gray area of the bright part is warm, bright light is cold.
(7) The color of the dark part of an object is mainly a mixture of environmental color and inherent color, and the dark part and projection color must be the complementary color relationship of the bright part. The reflective part is most influenced by the color of the environment, and changes with the color change of the reflective environment.
;