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Free Guidelines to Qualities of Color

Tips on Oil Paintings - The Qualities of Color

Any color in existence has three qualities that completely determine the color:

1) Hue

2) Value

3) Intensity

We will now precisely explain what each quality means.

Hue - The hue of a color is simply the name of the color. For example, yellow, red, green-yellow, etc.

Temperature is really an element of hue. The warms colors are the yellows and the reds while the cool colors are the greens and the blues.

However, temperature is a relative term. For example although two different blues are both cool colors, one blue can be warmer than another blue.

For example French Ultramarine Blue leans towards the violet while Phthalo Blue leans towards green. Therefore French Ultramarine Blue is a warmer blue than Phthalo Blue although both blues are cool.

Value - Value refers to the lightness or darkness of the color. If you squint you will see that, for example, that yellow is lighter than blue. The value of a color is actually the most important property of a color in relation to painting.

Intensity - Intensity of a color refers to its brightness or dullness. The more saturated or the purer a color is the more intense it is. A color coming straight out of the tube is in its most intense state. Any mixture will dull the tube color and therefore make it less intense. It is however possible to make most mixtures more intense by adding a touch of one color or another.

Now, if you can nail down the hue, the value, and the intensity of a color you will have reproduced that color. Based on this observation we can outline a mental procedure to guide us with the mixing of colors.

Observe - First you observe the color. For example, is it a certain blue or is it red?

Select - Then you select the color on your palette that resembles the observed color the best.

Analyze - Of course, as you would expect, the pure tube color on your palette will rarely match the color you observed. Therefore, we now must identify how the two colors differ from each other. In this, we need to concentrate on three things: hue, value, and intensity. Does the color need to be adjusted in terms of hue? Does the value need to be adjusted? For example, does this blue need to be darkened or lightened?

Finally, does the intensity of the color need to be adjusted? For example, does the blue need to be brighter or duller? One, two, or all three of these qualities may need adjustment.

So, in this article we have looked at the three important qualities of color: hue, value, and intensity. We defined what they are and were able to extract a procedure that we can follow every time we wish to transfer an observed color to our canvas.

In the beginning you will make many mistakes and the going will be slow. It is generally hard to judge the three qualities of a color and it takes practice. This is particularly the case with judging values and intensities. Nevertheless, you need to practice this procedure every day and over and over again. However, one day it will become second nature just like riding a bicycle. Also, in the beginning don’t be too fussy but try over time to become better and better at it.

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