{"id":2029,"date":"2011-06-18T12:31:50","date_gmt":"2011-06-18T05:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/?page_id=2029"},"modified":"2019-03-05T18:02:17","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T02:02:17","slug":"color-inspirations-12-contrast-twists","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/workshops\/tutorials\/color-inspirations-exercises\/color-inspirations-12-contrast-twists\/","title":{"rendered":"Contrast Swirls (p.80)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"checkerboardTo contrast\u00a0two\u00a0colors you need to compare them. If\u00a0their properties\u00a0are very different, then the contrast is high. If\u00a0 not, then the contrast is low.<\/p>\n

Since color has three properties –\u00a0hue, value and saturation – you\u00a0need to\u00a0compare\u00a0 colors in each of these\u00a0areas.\u00a0 Let’s compare two checkerboards.<\/p>\n

Hue – Both the checkerboards are made out of two colors of blue, so the\u00a0hue\u00a0contrast is low.<\/p>\n

Value – The left checkerboard has a\u00a0light and dark blue so the\u00a0value\u00a0contrast is high, while the right checkerboard has similar\u00a0dark value blues, which makes the value contrast low.<\/p>\n

Saturation – The checkerboard\u00a0 on the left also has a\u00a0higher\u00a0saturation\u00a0contrast\u00a0since one blue is bright and\u00a0one is\u00a0dull.<\/p>\n

Value Contrast<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many color books the emphasis is placed on hue contrast\u00a0(we will cover that next week)\u00a0 but Lindly and I both believe it is more important to\u00a0\u00a0understand value contrasts.<\/p>\n

Why is value\u00a0contrast so\u00a0important?<\/p>\n

Without value contrast,\u00a0separate parts of a design will not be distinct. This is especially\u00a0critical when reducing a polymer clay cane. Look at the difference in the reduced versions of the checkerboards. Even in the\u00a0reduced version the left checkerboard’s pattern can still be seen but the top\u00a0right checkerboard’s pattern has almost disappeared.<\/p>\n

I learned this lesson the hard way when I first started to make canes. I was getting ready for a Christmas show and made a checkerboard red and green cane for turning into earrings. I reduced it, cut it into hundreds of slices and baked them. They darkened a little bit in the oven and by\u00a0the time I pulled them out, the\u00a0 pattern was gone. From about two feet away they looked just like mud. At that small scale, the red and green were not different enough in value and the two colors pulled together visually to make a brown color.\u00a0 Now I love browns – but not for Christmas earrings!<\/p>\n

In this case, the colors I chose\u00a0were contrasting in\u00a0hue – red and green – but not\u00a0contrasting enough in\u00a0value. If you want individual colors to stand out,\u00a0 value contrast always\u00a0trumps hue contrast for legibility.<\/p>\n

\"swirls\"<\/a> Swirls – Simple Contrast Studies<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the easiest ways to check for contrast between two colors is to make swirls.\u00a0 We\u00a0borrowed this quick and\u00a0easy technique from\u00a0 fiber artists who twist yarns together to check\u00a0the result.<\/p>\n

In Chapter 6, we show a collection of contrast tests using variations of orange and blue. Evaluate these swirls. Which have a high level of contrast and which do not?<\/p>\n

Why?<\/p>\n

Weekend Extra Exercise<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0 Select four of your palette colors – one light color, one dark color and two\u00a0\u00a0middle value colors.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Make 1\/8″ diameter snakes, 12 inches long, from each color.<\/p>\n

3. Cut the snakes into three pieces each and combine them so you have six combinations of two colors.\"TwistTest\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Twist each of the two color combinations together.<\/p>\n

5. Reduce the snake – twisting one end to a point.<\/p>\n

6. Swirl the snake into a button shape and bake following manufacture’s instructions.<\/p>\n

7. Analyse the contrasts.<\/p>\n

This is a simple exercise that you can do anytime you want to check for contrast between two colors of clay. It doesn’t take much material, or time, and it trains your eye to\u00a0see contrast.<\/p>\n

Here’s a twist on the swirls: Make each of the colored snakes a little bit thicker in diameter.\u00a0\u00a0After twisting two colors together, roll them into a\u00a0smooth snake and \u00a0follow the instructions for turning\u00a0them into a\u00a0split ring.\u00a0\u00a0If you\u00a0do\u00a0this with all your package colors as well as your palette colors, you will have a very fun reference chain to hang in your studio. The reality is that\u00a0you may never look at it again, but just doing it teaches you so much that its worth it!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To contrast\u00a0two\u00a0colors you need to compare them. If\u00a0their properties\u00a0are very different, then the contrast is high. If\u00a0 not, then the contrast is low. Since color has three properties –\u00a0hue, value and saturation – you\u00a0need to\u00a0compare\u00a0 colors in each of these\u00a0areas.\u00a0 Let’s compare two checkerboards. Hue – Both the checkerboards are made out of two colors […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":7061,"parent":1728,"menu_order":22,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2029","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2029\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7061"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maggiemaggio.com\/color\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}