Colors have always been so much an
integral part of the culture that people oftentimes neglect its relevance.
Colors are used in many symbols and visual cues as well as cultural events. For
example:
·
Traffic lights
that tell when to stop, take caution, and go.
·
The colors of
the flag in different countries symbolize different things that reflect their
history, culture, and values.
· Colors are
also associated with different holidays; red and green for Christmas, black and
orange for Halloween, pastel colors for Easter, orange, brown, yellow and red
are associated with Autumn
· Religions and
cultures have different colors that are associated with them as well. Hindus
have saffron, Islam has green and Tibetan Buddhists have blue, to name a few.
Color harmony
is a technique for choosing color palettes used by many artists
for throughout history. While many would say that art is about expression and artists
should be as free as possible to do what they want, having a little background
on color harmony is quite useful.
Color harmony
is about knowing the following:
·
Which pairs of
colors do not share common elements are “complimentary colors”
·
The balance of
opposites or otherwise called the “yin/yang”
approach
·
Each color has
an opposite on the color wheel, which are their complimentary colors
(red-green, yellow-purple, blue-orange)
·
When mixed
together, the opposite colors create chromatic neutral gray
Color harmony
can be used in many expressions and fields of art.
- In web design, there are color tools such as ColoRotate, Color Scheme Designer, Copaso, Toucan, Color Blender, and Color Explorer, which help in palette generation, but are all made under the premise of color harmony.
- In interiordesign, color harmony is used to modify the appearance and feel of spaces—to make them look bigger, warmer, more relaxing, etc.
- Painters look at the use of color harmony to create a new palette to play with whenever they feel uninspired.
- In photography, color harmony is very useful too, especially when doing photos of landscapes and festival scenes.
- The use of color harmony is particularly obvious in pop culture such as the works of Andy Warhol.
- Artisans and crafters such as those who make jewelry make use of color harmony in design and color blocking that can also go well with trends in color and fashion.
- Color harmony can be seen in many animated movies and television shows, too.
- Color harmony is also used by many illustrators of comic books and children’s books.
- In art installation, color harmony can also play a role in arranging the different elements or knowing, which artwork goes well together in a gallery.
In communicating your art, color harmony
can indicate the artist’s emotions and inspirations at the time of the
creation. Color harmony is also a great tool in putting together a
collection for an exhibit or show. Ultimately, the uses of color harmony
in an artist’s life are limited only by the artist’s imagination.
