Portrait Artist Forum    

Go Back   Portrait Artist Forum > Color & Color Theory


Reply
 
Topic Tools Search this Topic Display Modes
Old 01-11-2003, 05:18 PM   #1
Michael Georges Michael Georges is offline
PAINTING PORTRAITS
FROM LIFE MODERATOR

FT Professional
 
Michael Georges's Avatar
 
Joined: Nov 2001
Location: Loveland, CO
Posts: 846



Quote:
Chris Saper: Could you desribe your chroma scale, please?
Chroma is the relative purity or grayness of a color - tan for instance is a fairly low chroma where as cad orange is a very high chroma. As chroma of a color increases, the color comes closer to its pure hue.

Munsell ascribes a 14 step chroma scale which I use, but I have found it even more useful to group chroma into three categories of High, Medium, and Low. I even created some color charts with each hue expressed in nine values and each value expressed in high, medium, and low chroma. I mixed each value of the hue with 25% gray, 50% gray, and 75% gray - the grays each corresponding in value with the value of the hue - i.e., I mixed a value 6 gray into the value 6 hue to express the muted chroma of the hue at that value.

Does that help?

Michele: Burnt Sienna is about a value 3 to 4. Value 6 will be lighter. I made this color by starting with pure cad orange (value 6-7) and decreasing its chroma with a value 6 gray and tinting it with just a bit of yellow ochre (value 7) to hit the right color. Perhaps I should have described the hue as closer to Yellow-Yellow-Red.

It may be a bit hard for folks to get the exact color, but everyone who understands hue, value, and chroma will come quite close. The important thing is that we now have a grammar or language we can use to talk about color that we can all understand. Further, I can look at a color and say - "hey, that is a purple-blue hue, about a value 8, and pretty pure in chroma" when I look at a blue sky out my window, or the sky from an old master painting, or a photo I took. It takes a lot of the guessing about color out of the equation and gives the artist a solid spot to begin.
__________________
Michael Georges
www.fineportraitsinoil.com
Michael's Life Drawing & Painting Blog

Regular and consistent work from life will improve your portraits.
Drawing skills are the foundation of all an artist does.
  Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing this Topic: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Topic Tools Search this Topic
Search this Topic:

Advanced Search
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

 

Make a Donation



Support the Forum by making a donation or ordering on Amazon through our search or book links..







All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:17 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.6
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.