Review: Understanding Color: Color Theory Made Easy

Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.  ~Claude Monet

As a creative, I have always been drawn to color. I love the way my Crayons were always lined up with their pointy hats ready for me to turn that coloring book into a masterpiece. It was there that I started experimenting with my favorite colors and how they worked together without really knowing the science or theory behind it.

I really have absolutely no training whatsoever in art. I just know what I like. I seem to have a knack for colors, but I have no idea why. I wasn't even sure that I was doing it right, or that there was even a method to my madness. So a few years ago when I first discovered our editor Miss Brandi Hussey, I was intrigued by her masterful use of color, first in her Catie's Blue jewelry and then in her amazing photography. She sucked me right into her color-filled world and I have to read her blog every chance I get. I know that color is her obsession, and I am so glad that she shares that with us. I personally find Miss Brandi fascinating, down-to-earth, and totally my go-to color guru. She has taught me so much.

{Color Palette #171: Crepe Myrtle}

 And then I found her custom made color palettes. I was hooked.

Miss Brandi doesn't make jewelry anymore (and the pieces I have from her are some of my very favorite), but her love of color, and more importantly, her winning way with explaining it in terms that I can easily grasp, gets me excited every time. It is like I opened up that box of Crayons again for the first time excited by the relationships of all those colors just waiting to party with me!

I don't know about you, but Miss Brandi's color theory posts on Art Bead Scene are some of my very favorite. I look forward to them every month, especially the ones where she shares her take on the artwork that has been selected and shares multiple palettes that can inspire us. It's not as if I don't see those colors in the art, but to understand the relationships they have to each other really makes the art come alive for me.

When I heard that she was compiling a book of all her color theory posts, I knew that I had to be the first to sign up! Just last month, Miss Brandi released her book Understanding Color: Color Theory Made Easy. I signed up for a pre-order and got both the instant download and a copy of the print version.

I got my print copy of the book Understanding Color this past weekend. I LOVE IT! I also have the digital version (which I have on my computer at work so that when things are slow I can have a bit of inspired reading), but there is nothing quite like holding a book in your hands. This one is so soft and silky, the colors are so vibrant and it is laid out so well. Blurb.com does a wonderful job with self-published titles and I am very impressed with this one.

Brandi's stated goal is to "make color theory approachable." She has done just that. Without a degree in art, I have felt stymied by some of the way that color is explained in that world, almost to the point of tuning out. But with Brandi's new book, I know that it finally makes sense to me.

 
My favorite part of this book is the chapter on Color Relationships. Let's face it: the thing that sets our designs apart, or whatever art that we are called to create, is the relationships of the colors that we have chosen to use. I didn't know why I liked the combination of red, yellow-green and blue-green, I just knew that it worked. Now I understand that it is a Split-Complementary color relationship. 

I also like that she goes into depth on Value & Saturation, especially focusing on the role that black, white and the quasi-neutrals like brown and beige play in design. I am fond of saying that black is my favorite color. Now, I know that it is not a color in the true sense of the word, but it is to me. And now I know why. These supporting cast members can really play a pivotal role in a design, or as Brandi puts it, "They add a lot of depth to a song without taking away from the lead singer." I love to sing, so I love that analogy! Descriptions like this are what makes this book very accessible for those not steeped in the science of color.

From how a color is made, to how you see a color, to how you use a color, Miss Brandi's step-by-step workbook really stands out to me as a go-to reference for creatives of any type. So if you are ready to take your art to the next level - it doesn't matter if your chosen medium is jewelry, paintings, interior design or fashion - this book should be on your shelf!

Click the images below to get your copy:

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To celebrate the launch of this book, Miss Brandi is hosting a Color Challenge.

Your challenge, should you choose to accept it, is this: grab a color palette, make a piece of art using those colors as inspiration, then enter to win a prize pack.

Once you’ve made your piece, take a photo of it, then fill out this form to submit your entry. Don't delay! You have until 12pm Central Standard Time on Wednesday, July 10th, 2013 to enter. Join me, won't you?

Hop on over to her blog and read all the details. 

And for more color inspiration from contemporary artwork, be sure to check out her new blog that I am crushing about: Oh, The Color.

The Color of Metal

This post was inspired by a comment left on my blog a few months ago. In it, the reader said that as a jewelry designer, she sometimes struggles with matching metals to the color palettes she works up. Some work, some don't, and she wanted another way to think about using metals when designing.

My advice is to start thinking of metal as a color.

This is tricky, because you might be tempted to think of metals in terms of metallic colors. Fight the urge! Instead, go basic and try to look past the sheen. If I reference a couple color theory tools - value and saturation scales, to be specific - I can then match up the general tones of the metals I'm using with familiar colors.

For example, copper becomes a shade of rosy orange, while bronze and Vintaj natural brass a medium to dark brown.

Bright golds and brass becomes a bright yellow or yellow-orange, while darker shades of those become brown or even green.

Bright silver and nickel can read as either white or a light gray, both of which are neutral colors. Gunmetal and oxidized silver becomes a dark gray, another neutral.

The neutrals - white, black, and grays - aren't "colors" because they don't have a hue. Using silver, nickel, or gunmetal in a jewelry design can help lighten or ground a piece, but won't add or conflict with whatever color palette you've put together because they don't have any color properties. If I had to classify these metals as warm or cool, they'd generally be on the cool side of things (Did you know metals can be warm or cool, too, just like beads? It's true).

Gold, brass, copper, and bronze, though, all match to a shade or hue you can find on the color wheel, usually a shade of orange or yellow (which would place these metals on the warm side of the color spectrum). Because of this, using one of these metals in a design will add a new color to the mix, which may or may not work with the other colors you've chosen. If you've ever tried to work with gold or copper before and couldn't get the design to look the way you wanted it to, this could be why. There's another color at work here that you may not have accounted for.

So, if you're starting a design with a particular set of beads you want to work with, the metal findings you choose can be part of the overall color scheme and blend in, or contrast against the beads to make everything pop. How much contrast do you want between the metals and the beads?

Let's say I want to use a set of light pink beads, like rose quartz. If I use bright silver, the beads and the metal will blend together, since one is light pink and the other is light gray. There will be very little contrast here because of the value of the pink and the gray are similar.

If I use gold, there will be more contrast, because the bright yellow of gold has a different saturation and value than the pale pink. If I go with Vintaj natural brass, gunmetal, oxidized silver, or bronze, the pink will really pop and become more obvious, because the metal is so much darker. See what's happening here?

That's part of why some finished jewelry pieces pop where others don't - there's a dialog going on between the color of the beads and the metal. And if I want to take it even further, I can look at where that metal color fits into a color relationship with the other design colors. Does it fit well or is competing with a harmonious scheme?

Generally speaking, if you want minimal contrast in a design, use light beads with lighter toned metals, dark beads with darker metals, or beads and metals that are the same general hue (like yellow beads with gold metal). If you want more contrast, use opposites - dark beads with light metals, and vice versa.

Ultimately, though, I don't think there's really, truly any right or wrong decision here about the choice of metals you use. For me, that's part of a design choice; choose what will get your vision across. But if you're struggling with pairing metals with specific beads, ask yourself a few questions: What color is the metals I'm thinking of? Does it work with the color palette I have? What kind of contrast do I want?

If it feels like a lot to think about, just know that the more you do it, the more instinctual it will be. Chances are, you already know what you like or don't, as far as colors go. So, if you're struggling with certain metals, take a minute to figure out what colors those metals translate to - are they colors you like or not?

And since we're talking about metal colors, what about patinas or colored wire? If they feel tricky or intimidating to you, use the same approach we've talked about here. What general color is the patina or wire? How does it work with the beads you've chosen? Break it down to simple colors and analyze how it works with your overall piece.

It's not necessary to match up your metals to swatches on a value or saturation scale every single time you design. So long as you have a general idea of what the color is of the metal you're working with, the effects of it in a color scheme, and a little bit of understanding about color theory, you'll be able to make intentional design choices. And you can apply this to any finding or component, really, like string or cords.

So, if you've been struggling with using different colored metals in your work, I hope that this post helps give you a new way to look at the metals you use. If you have any specific questions, feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer them!

And if you're looking for more color theory, I've got a three part introduction on my blog, if you'd like to dig deeper, with more to come: Part 1: The Color Wheel + Color Relationships, Part 2: Value + Saturation, and Part 3: Color Interactions.

Happy creating!

Many thanks goes to the following ABS contributors for lending me use of their photos for this post! Heather Powers, Gaea Cannaday, Erin Prais-Hintz, and Kerry Bogert.