1.  Colour Behavior in Relation to Different Shapes Contrast and
Dominance.

2. In This Chapter, you’ll learn on:
 Describe how each colour behaves in relation to:
 • Other colours
 • Different shapes
 • Colour proportions and intensity
 • Contrast and dominance.
 Apply colours in a composition to create different
moods

3.  Describe how each colour behaves in relation to:

 Other Colours
 Colour the rectangles according to the colour
stated below the rectangles.
 Colour the all the circles red.

4.  After colouring, take a good look at the four boxes
above. Notice that the red circle against the black
background appears to be brighter as compared to
the red circle in the white background.

 Red circle against the orange background appear
to be dull as the contrast of the colours is not
obvious.

 On the other hand, red circle on the blue
background appear to be brighter and livelier.
Notice that the red circle appears larger on black
than on the other background colours.

5.  Have a good look at the 2 vases above. The white
vase seems to be bigger than the black one. In
actual fact, both the vases are of the same size.
Colour behaves differently when placed on a
different background.

6.  Different shapes
 How colours behave in relation to different shapes is
a profound area in colour theory. Bright colours tend
to make a shape appear bigger as compared to
darker colours. For example, a circle colored light
yellow will appear larger than an equal size circle
which is colored dark blue.


7.  Colour Proportions and Intensity
 When we add equal amount of yellow to blue, we
get green. If we add double the amount of yellow to
blue, we will get yellow-green. If we add more
yellow to yellow-green, we will get yellow-yellow-
green (i.e. 90% yellow, 10% blue). However if we add
more blue than yellow, we will get blue-green.


8.  Colour Proportions and Intensity
 Both blue-green and yellow-green falls in the
“green” family, but they have different properties.
Blue-green is a cool colour while yellow-green is a
warm colour. Blue-green is often used to portray
worries, doubts, uncertainty, and passive while
yellow-green is often seen as a bright, cheerful,
encouraging colour. These colours represent
different characteristics just by varying the amount
of yellow. Different proportion and intensity of
colours will give the output colour a different
characteristic and property.


9.  Colour Proportions and Intensity
 Similarly for tone and shades, adding different
amount of white and black will have a significant
effect on the characteristics of colour. Compare a
saturated yellow with a shaded yellow. Shaded
yellow appears to be less appealing to you as it is
duller. Compare a girl who is wearing tinted red
(pink) dress to her twin sister who is wearing shaded
red (maroon) dress. The girl in pink will look more
cheerful, bubbly and younger than the other.


10.  Contrast and Dominance
When everything is equal in value and intensity,
nothing stands out. Everything is fighting for our
attention. When nothing stands out, our eyes don't
know where to look at, because each area of the
painting demands equal attention.


11.  Contrast and Dominance
Fig 6a is made of several light grey
blocks. All the blocks share a similar
value. Every block demands equal
attention. Hence our eyes are unable
to focus on a particular spot in Fig 6a.
 Similarly for Fig 6b, all the rectangular
block are made up of similar values.
Despite they are made up of a lower
value, they are still unable to catch the
viewer’s attention to a particular spot.
Fig 6b
When everything is equal in value and intensity, nothing stands out.
Everything is fighting for our attention. When nothing stands out, our eyes
don't know where to look at, because each area of the painting
demands equal attention.

12.  Contrast and Dominance
Unlike Fig 6a ad Fig 6b, Fig 6c (left) has a
majority of low value blocks with a smaller
area of high value blocks. It creates a
contrasting effect and it captures the
attention of the viewers to look at the lighter
block first, followed by the rest. The lighter
area is more dominating in Fig 6c.

 Varying the contrast, values and saturation
can help in capturing the viewer’s attention
to a particular spot in an area. This
approach is often found in painting and
advertisement posters where they want the
audience to focus on the product or subject
they are selling. We called the area that
stands out from the rest as a focal point.
Similarly for Fig 6d, our
eyes tend to focus on
the darker area first. The
darker area becomes
the focal point while
the rest acts as a
background.

13.  Apply colours in a composition to create different
moods
 Colours can affect our moods, our thinking, and even our appetite.
Colour can have a positive or negative impact on us.
 Take for instance, when a person see red colour. There may be a few
things that will come in mind. Red can be associated with danger, fire,
blood, anger. On the other hand red can be seen as cheerful, active,
warm, and approachable. It sometimes depends on the application of
the colour.
 We have to be careful using colours as it may convey a different
message to different people. Hence there are some pointers we should
consider before using a colour.
 For example:
 Why are we using the colour?
 When are we using the colour?
 What do we want the viewer to see or feel?

14.  Brief the meaning and properties of each colour
 Personal attraction to a certain colour may signal areas where you are
imbalanced. Some psychiatrists use colours to understand and treat
the patients. They study and understand how certain colours affect us
favourably while others bring about negative feelings.
Colour Means Too much of
RED
energy, power, strong, sweet Increases anger, stress
ORANGE
Lively, close, dry, warm Increases anger
YELLOW
sour, cheering, clear, free, very light
Causes exhaustion, too much
mental activity
GREEN Balance, jealous, relax, balanced,
passive
Creates negative energy
BLUE peaceful, harmony, loyal, sincere, far,
young
Depressing and sorrowful
PURPLE
Gloomy, unhappy Negative thoughts
WHITE
purity, innocent empty
BLACK
silence, elegant, powerful, dark Dull, boring