Required Research: Interaction of Color. Josef Albers. Due Wed. April 4th

Hi Class, please click here to see a video demonstration of Albers' Interaction of Color with some explanations that will help you complete your next series of assignments.

Next, watch this Introduction Video to the Josef Albers text and app. If you have an iPad, you can download the app. Check it out here. The text is readily available on-line.

Remember. Due Wed is exercise #2- I will post it in next.

Assignment: Hue, Value, Chroma Charts. Color Gouache Exercises.

Schedule

Due Monday, March 19th- 
1" swatches for the following:
- Color wheel (you will need a swatch to match each color on the color wheel I gave you)
-Achromatic grays that correspond to each color on the color wheel. (greyscale)
- Colors for psychological, historical, and subtractive primaries
-achromatic greys for new value scale (11 steps)
-Please cut out all your swatches into 1" strips. We will put these together in class. 

 
Here is the schedule for the rest of these exercises. 


Due Wednesday, March 21st- 
1" swatches rough-cut for the following:

• 10-step chromatic scale in yellow (only chroma shifts, no shift in value or hue)
• 10- step chromatic scale in violet (only chroma shifts, no shift in value or hue)

Note: cut your swatches to 1" height, but leave the other sides longer. 

Due Monday, March 26th-
All of the following must be completed for start of class. Please bring rubber cement, xacto, blades, and ruler to class. You will be mounting in class. Must have the following 1" swatches COMPLETELY CUT AND READY TO MOUNT at the beginning of class:

Chromatic Scale swatches (all cut into 1" squares- we will mount in class)

• 10-step chromatic scale in Primary Yellow (from tube)
• 10-step chromatic scale in Violet (to match your color wheel)
• 10-step chromatic scale in Primary Blue (from the tube)
• 10-step chromatic scale in Green (to match your color wheel)
• 10-step chromatic scale in Primary Red (from the tube)
• 11-step Achromatic Gray Scale (if you had an A on the first one, you can use it)
• 12 colors for color wheel

12 Achromatic grays that correspond to color wheel (1inch squares)

Primary Color Charts (mounted flush to edge of paper (8.5 in x 8.5 in)

• 4 colors for psychological primaries (Red, Green, Yellow, Blue)
• 3 colors for historical primaries (Red, Yellow, Blue)
• 3 colors for subtractive primaries (Magenta, Yellow, Cyan)

Due Wednesday, March 28th- 

FINAL CRITIQUE- Everything Mounted and ready for presentation.

Color Mixing Tip: 

Mixing with grey will commonly cause your Hue to shift (an unwanted color change) These shifts are accentuated if the grey is somewhat bluish, as results from mixing most black paints with white. Understand- the black paint you have is not pure black. It is a very, very dark violet or blue. 

You can fix this unwanted shift of hue by adding a tiny amount of paint to your mix so that it brings it back the other direction on the color wheel. 

Example: If your yellow starts shifts toward green, add a tiny amount of strong orange or scarlet to it to send it back the other direction on the color wheel.

Required Research: Intro to Color Theory. Due Monday, March 19th.

After our in-class lecture today, I am assigning you the following three readings to do before class on Monday,  March 19th. They are all available on this website. 

I recommend reading this BEFORE attempting to do your painting assignments. 

Reading 1- Intro to Color Theory

Please start by reading the prologue. It's a great resource for understanding color theory and it's development. Don't worry if you don't understand it all- there is a lot of information here. Also, you can listen to the writer reading it in the video below

Reading 2- The Dimensions of Color

Read the section titled, The Dimensions of Color. We will use the terminology presented in the reading to discuss the three attributes of color. These attributes are applied to both additive and subtractive color. The author uses the terms Colors of Objects (ex. paint or ink), and Colors of Lights (ex. a computer screen). The three Dimensions of color are: 

1. Hue
2. Chroma/Saturation
3. Value/Brightness

Reading 3- Paint Mixing Principles

The last reading for Monday will be the part on mixing paint. Please read the sections on white, grey, black and hues. Again, don't worry about not understanding everything. Just be sure to understand the basic ideas. 

For Class on Monday, March 19th

Please bring your bristol board pads to class along with your gauche and painting supplies. We will be painting in class. 

Other resources on Color Theory

http://www.powershow.com/view/3659a-ZGJjY/Color_Vision_powerpoint_ppt_presentation

http://www.handprint.com/LS/CVS/color.html

Primary Colors. Swatches due Monday, March 12th.

Hi Class,
Here is the information on the three sets of Primary Colors. You will need to research David Briggs website to be sure you understand the concepts and differences between the three types of Primaries. 


Due Monday, March 12- Good painted gouache swatches for each of the Primary Color sets. 


Here is a breakdown of the perfect swatches you will need to paint and how many:

• Yellow- 3 swatches total.
• Red- 2 swatches total.
• Blue - 2 swatches total.
• Cyan (Green-Blue)- 1 swatch total.
• Magenta (Blue-Red)- 1 swatch total.
• Green - 1 swatch total. 

For Monday- Please bring in all your painting supplies and cutting supplies. 

From David Briggs website:

"Ideal yellow, magenta and cyan colorants would be the optimal primaries for paint mixing, if such pigments existed. However, even today our best magenta and cyan pigments are well towards red and blue respectively, compared to the ideal magenta and cyan subtractive primaries. No high-chroma pigments are very close to an ideal magenta hue.

The closest high-chroma oil painting pigment is quinacridone magenta (PV 19), which is distinctly redder than ideal magenta. 

The closest popular oil painting pigment to an ideal cyan is the green shade variant of phthalocyanine blue (PB 15.3), which similarly is distinctly bluer than an ideal cyan. 

Note: Cobalt green is closer to ideal cyan in hue, and does mix some blue-green colors not obtained using phthalocyanine blue alone as the primary, but yields fewer colors in the bluish range. It is also more expensive, and being opaque is less suited to mixing dark colors. 

Yellow pigments are available in an essentially continuous range of hues, and a pale or lemon yellow seems to provide the optimal gamut of colors."

Assignment: Gouache Value Scale.

Project Description

In gouache, create a value scale in 11 steps total starting with white (from the tube) and ending with black (from the tube). For the value scale, you will need 11 tiles total. Each tile will be painted a different value from black to white. The value must shift evenly between tiles. 100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 50%, 40%, etc. Use the provided color wheel I gave you for reference. 

Part One- Drawing Tiles for Value Scale. Due February 21st.

1. Draw two pages of pattern/tiles.

Lay out your pattern on bristol board, leaving a ½" gap between each tile. The gap will give you space to paint beyond the lines and will make it easier to cut your tiles in the next step. 

Take advantage of drawing triangles and a straight edge if you will be making tiles based in triangles, such as rhombus, equilateral triangle, hexagon. All of these are based in the equilateral triangle and can be drawn simply with a 30/60/90 drafting triangle. 

2. In class

I will email a pdf file with the grid drawn out in Illustrator. We will print 4 sheets out for each of you in class. Here is an example of what your grid should look like:

Lines drawn at 90 degree angles with ½" spacing

Part Two- Painting Swatches. Due Monday, Feb. 26th.

1. Paint swatches on five sheets of 8.5in x 11in Bristol. Due Monday, Feb. 26th.

You will need more than 150 tiles to get the 11 for your value scale. This is because not all of them will be acceptable in terms of correct value, or painting technique. Remember, your goal is to make these tiles look like they were painted in a factory (no brush strokes, no streaking). 

When painting your tiles, be sure to watch some videos on how to mix gouache. When I gave the demo in class, I told you to watch out for a few things. I have listed them here:

• Don't waste paint- Start with white, add black. 
• Use a wash brush (¾" or 1") 
• Mix paints on a white surface (you may use a large ceramic dinner plate, plastic disposable plate, or disposable palette. 
• Have two cups of water for cleaning your brushes. Keep them clean. 
• Minimize Streaking- Clean brush thoroughly between painting different values.
• Minimize Streaking- Mix paints thoroughly on palette- adding small amounts of black to the white.
• Minimize dry brush or water color effect- Maintain proper consistency of paint (not too much water, or too dry)
• Minimize Streaks- Load brush evenly (both sides of bristles). 
• Minimize Brush strokes- Lay paint down evenly (not too thick or thin). Paint in only one direction. 
• Don't stack paint tiles while drying. 

Here's a person that documented a similar project and posted her process. Your's will be the same with the exception that you may choose a different shape for your tiles. This is the tessellation part of our project. She did her's with squares. 

The painted tiles are due Wed, Feb 26th. You will need to bring all 100+ tiles to class, uncut.

Part Three- Cut Tiles for Value Scale. In-Class. Monday, Feb 26th

Please bring ALL your tiles into class on Feb. 26th. We will have a work day to beging cutting your swatches and finding the 11 steps in the value scale. Bring an xacto, fresh blades and a cutting mat. 

Part Four- Assemble Tessellating Value Scale. Due Monday, Feb 28th

Please bring ALL your tiles into class on Feb. 28th. We will have a work day to begin assembling your value scale. Bring an xacto, fresh blades and a cutting mat.  

Here is the layout for the value scale. Please use the black mat board provided in class. Your mat board will be cut to 5 inches x 15 inches. 

Process

1. Cut swatches in long 1" wide strips

2. Compare the swatches to the value scale I gave you.

3. Mark the closest value (ex. 30%, 40%) on the back of the swatch.

4. Cut the swatches from the 1" wide strips. Be sure to leave extra room beyond 1". 

5. Choose the best swatches to accurately represent the 11 steps in value.

6. Lay them out and double check (before gluing)

7. Draw two parallel lines 1" apart on a clean sheet of bristol board.

8. Glue the bristol board and the back of your swatches.

9. Carefully attach the swatches to your pre-glued bristol board.

10. Cut the newly glued 11" tall value scale down to 1" width. 

11. Using pencil, lightly mark your mat board where the value scale will go.

12. Glue the mat board.

13. Glue the back of the value scale.

14. Attach the value scale to the mat board using a ruler as a guide. 

15. Clean ALL excess rubber cement from mat board and value scale. 

16. Write name on back.

Exercise 2: Figure/Ground Relationship Studies.

Description

Using basic shapes (rectangle, circle, letter form) create three sets of studies showing the three figure/ground relationships (stable, reversible, ambiguous). You will end up with nine (9) compositions total:

Rectangle- Stable
Rectangle- Reversible
Rectangle- Ambiguous

Circle- Stable
Circle- Reversible
Circle- Ambiguous

Letter Form- Stable
Letter Form- Reversible
Letter Form- Ambiguous

Materials

Nine 5" x 5" bristol board squares (preferably not smooth texture)
Black Cason Paper (for cutting out your shapes)
X-axto knife and blades
Cutting Mat
Metal Ruler
Rubber Cement

Process

1. Start by laying out multiple compositions using only the selected element (rectangles, circles, letter forms). Do this enough times (at least 10 attempts for each composition) to come up with a good composition. You may overlap the shapes, and may use both black and white shapes of any size. In each composition, the shapes need to be of the same family, ie. only rectangles, only circles, only letter forms. 

The goal for your compositions it that they illustrate each of the figure/ground relationships, and that they have good working formal qualities with visual interest. Please pay attention to details. 

2. Pick the best examples from each series (ex. square- stable) and apply that design to the 5 inch x 5 inch Bristol board. Use the Canson paper to cut out your final complex shapes (the result of overlapping the simple shapes from step 1). 

3. Rubber cement (gluing both surfaces) all black paper to the white Bristol board. Again, pay attention to craftsmanship. These should look like they were printed out. Super clean. 

4. Bring your final nine (9) compositions to class for critique. In addition, please post all 9 to your blog under "Assignment 4: Figure Ground Studies". These are due according the the schedule below.

Schedule/ Due Dates

Due Wednesday, Jan 24th- Rectangle Thumbnails

30 Rectangular composition thumbnails (4" x 4" each) on heavy white paper. Includes 10 thumbnails for each F/G relationship: 10 Stable, 10 Reversible, and 10 Ambiguous. Try as many interesting compositions as you can using the basic elements and principles of design. Your compositions must be made using only rectangles.

Notes: You can do these with cut paper, sharpie, or on a computer. If done on a computer, they need to be printed out. Either way, the compositions need to be exactly 4" x 4" each. 30 total. Due at start of class.  In addition to F/G relationship, play with balance and be sure to have some examples of each type of balance (symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, and crystallographic).

Due Monday, Jan. 29th- In Process Review (Rectangles must be done)

The Set of F/G studies using rectangles must be completely finished. There will be one example showing each of the following F/G relationships: Stable, Reversible, Ambiguous.

In addition, you need 30 thumbnails each for F/G relationship studies using circles and also using letter forms. That's 60 thumbnails total (same process as with the rectangle studies above).

Rectangular studies must be mounted on mat board ready for review at start of class. 
Circle studies (30 thumbnails) and Letter Form studies (30 thumbnails) must be printed or drawn on paper and hung on wall. 

• Quick Peer Critique will begin at 10:45am. 
• Rectangle studies mounted on matboard with 2" boarders. 
• In-Class work time on other two sets of compositions. 

Due Wednesday, Jan 31th-  Rectangle, and Circle studies complete. 

All three sets of F/G Studies- Rectangular, Circular, and Letter Form compositions, each with an example of (Stable, Reversible, Ambiguous F/G relationship). 9 total. All mounted on matboard with 2" boarders.

• Critique will begin at 10:45am. 
• You will have 15 mins to pin your work up on the walls. 
• Please pin them straight and evenly spaced. 

 Due Wednesday, Jan 31th-  Rectangle, Circle and Letter-form studies all complete.  

• Critique will begin at 10:45am. 
• You will have 15 mins to pin your work up on the walls. 
• Please pin them straight and evenly spaced.

 

Flippped Classroom: Wed, January 17th.

On Wed, January 17th,  we will be flipping the classroom- this means that we will not be physically meeting, but instead we will be meeting "virtually". 

Here is how this works:

Magazine Assignment: Due before class starts (10:30am tomorrow). 

Post both the original image and modified image to your blog. Include the two paragraph analysis under each image.

Note: Use the formal language (Elements and Principles of Design) you are learning from this past week's required research to break the images down. Be sure to qualify your statements. 

Title this blog post- Exercise 1: Magazine Page Modification and Interpretation

Virtual Lecture (3 attachments)

This week you will work through an introduction to Semiotics and a re-cap of the Elements and Principles of Design. There are three pdfs attached in an email I sent you- you may have to download them from Google Docs if your email doesn't like big attachments. 

1. Elements and Principles of Design- slideshare
2. Language of Design- slideshare
3. Semiotics for Beginners- slideshare

A reading response will be sent via Google Forms this Thur. and will be due next Sunday, Jan 21st,  at 11:59pm (midnight). We will discuss in class next week.

Questions?

Feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions or concerns. I will be on an all-day recruiting trip up north tomorrow with Aramis and Alisa, so I won't be checking messages till tomorrow evening. I will be back on campus on Thursday.