Basic Color Theory in Procreate

1. Introduction: Hi, friends, teacher, self-taught, artist and entrepreneur. This class, I would like to teach you the basics of color theory. So you want to feel confident when you are working with color, whether it's in your home, your garden, your wardrobe, or your own art. Glad you're here. Welcome to Francis Simone presents basic color theory in procreate. In this beginning class, you will learn the history of color, the properties of color in the color wheel, how color is organized, color harmony, and the psychology behind color. We will complete some practice pages together and you will be creating an abstract design for your project. By the end of this class, you will be using color like a parole. For this class, you will need an iPad and Apple Pencil and the procreate app. Your journey begins and less than one, the history of color. Let's get started. 2. Basic Color Theory: Welcome to Lesson one, introduction to color theory. In this lesson, I will go over the color spectrum, how we see color, colorblindness, and a few fun facts. The color spectrum appears when light passes through a prism. A beam of white light is bent and separate it into bands of color. The hue is always appear in the same order. And easy way to remember the order is the acronym Roy G Biv, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. Hues are what we call the colors of the spectrum. When light waves reflect off an object into your eye, you see a color. This leaf appears green because it reflects the green waves to your eye and absorbs the other colors. In the rainbow, You see the full spectrum of shoes because rain drops in the air act as tiny prisons reflecting the hues to your eyes. When you see white, all of the colors in the spectrum are being reflected to your eyes. And when you see black, none of the colors are reflected. Colorblindness means that your eye doesn't see color the way it should. Colorblindness makes it hard for some people to tell the difference between certain colors. Fun fact, Sir Isaac Newton discovered the color spectrum in 1665. Isaac Newton was grinding lenses for a telescope when he found out that one of the lenses made blurred rooms of color around the edge. You stopped working on the lenses and began his study of color. This was the beginning of the color wheel is we know it. In the next lesson you will understand how the color wheel is organized and learn about mixing colors. See you there. 3. The Color Wheel: Welcome to lesson two. In this lesson, you will learn how the color wheel is organized. Let's start at the beginning with primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. Primary means first, these are the base colors that all other colors are made from. You can not make primary colors by mixing other hues together. Secondary colors, green, orange, and purple. The secondary colors are made by mixing two primary colors together. Yellow plus blue, green, red plus yellow gives you an orange. And blue plus red is purple. Next are the intermediate or tertiary colors. Tertiary means third in order, there's yellow, orange, red, orange, red, violet, blue, violet, blue green, and yellow green. The intermediate or tertiary colors are made by mixing one Primary Hue with one secondary hue. For example, yellow and orange mix yellow, orange, red plus orange makes red orange and blue plus green makes blue-green. Color wheel is also organized into two other groups. Warm and cool colors. Warm colors consist of orange, red, yellow, and combinations of these and similar colors. As the name indicates, they tend to make you think of warm things such as sunlight and heat. Usually warm colors look as though they come closer or advanced towards you. The cool colors are typified by blue, green, and light purple, and combinations of these and similar colors they can call them and soup. Where warm colors remind you of heat and sunshine. Cool colors remind you of water and sky, even ice and snow. Unlike the warm colors, cool colors look as though they received or move away from you. Here's a fun fact. Artist johann Itten created this color wheel, also known as the 12th park color circle. It is a great representation of the hues around a circle. It shows the relationships between the primary, secondary and tertiary colors, as well as the results you get when mixing those hues. This chart is in your downloads. In the next lesson, you will learn about color value, color harmony in the psychology of color. See you there. 4. Harmony and the Psychology of Color: Welcome to lesson three. In this lesson, you will learn about color value, color harmony, and the psychology of color. A tint is the mixture of a color with white. This increases the lightness of the color. A shade is the mixture of a color with black, which reduces the lightness. A tone is produced either by mixing with gray, are both tinting and shading the color. Understanding, shade, tone and tint helps you to create designs that are pleasing to the eye and draw people in. Light. Values were used in this painting by America sought. It helps to convey an upbeat, happy mood, a sense of playfulness or innocence. And the painting. Conversely, the painting Picture of Dorian Gray by Ivan Albright, uses dark values to convey a sense of mystery, seriousness, or injustice. That dark colors create a dramatic, ominous feeling. Color harmonies, the relationship between colors that we can use to convey our messages. The easiest way to establish relationships between colors is to pay attention to the difference between warm and cool colors. In this section, we'll be covering the four basic color harmonies. Monochromatic color harmony is a color scheme based on a single color cube. It only uses different tints and shades of the same color. Monochromatic scheme is simple. The lack of other colors prevents the eye from being distracted. Analogous colors are located next to each other on the color wheel. They usually represent harmonies that you find in nature. This image is a good example. It works well because of the contrast and the harmony of the colors used. Yellow is a warm color in green is a cool one. Putting them together creates a balanced composition. Complimentary colors are directly opposite of each other on the wheel. They are visually striking cues when combined. In Van Gogh's self-portrait, the complimentary colors of orange and blue. Triads like primary colors, are spaced equal distance around the color wheel. This color scheme can be quite elegant if you choose one color that dominates and use the others is Exxon's. Claude Monet used green, orange, and purple when painting the poplars. When planning a color scheme, you also need to keep in mind the mood you want to create. And that's where color psychology comes in. Color can dramatically affect moods, feelings, and emotions. Read can symbolize aggression or affection. Color is a powerful communication tool and can be used to signal action, influence mood, and even create psychological reactions. Orange is a good example of energy and extravagance. I've included a handout in the downloads about color psychology. Purple shows creativity and relaxation. Colors like features follow the changes of the emotions the artist Pablo Picasso has said. And now that you have a foundational understanding of color theory, let's put it to use. But first, our fun facts. Did you know that men and women see the color red differently? Worldwide? Blue is the most common favorite color. And yellow and red together can make you hungry. In the next lesson, you will apply what you've learned about color theory. See you there. 5. Practicing Harmonies: Welcome to lesson four, practicing harmonies. We will practice creating a simplified version of the harmonies we've discussed. Be sure that you have downloaded the practice page and corresponding color palettes before we begin it downloaded practice page has four cactus plants that we will color in the floor harmonies, monochromatic, analogous, complimentary and triadic. The downloaded color palette named cactus practice has two colors we will use for this exercise. You can drive the palette out by touching on this line and dragging. Now I need to zoom in using the two-fingered motion on the monochromatic plant. I will be using the top row of green colors. You may follow along using the same colors as me, or put the five greens wherever you want them. I'm going to start out with one of these middle greens on the pot. And then I'm going to use the darker color to create some depth and dimension. On the inner side, I'm going to zoom in really close for these small bits. Because sometimes the color doesn't go exactly where you want it to. Monochromatic schemes are usually made up of three to seven variance in your one color palette. For this first cactus, I'm going to use the lightest green color. Hopes. That's why I zoom in the two finger tap to undo using different tints and shades and tones of color helps to create the illusion of depth and space between objects, as well as creating three-dimensional form. By adding white to the base color, we get the tint, and by adding black, you get shades, tones, or how dull or saturated dequeue is. It is created by adding gray. With all of these options for color mixing, there's almost an infinite number of colors you could create for a monochromatic color scheme. Now I'm going to use the light. I'm sorry, I'm going to use the dark with the light and vice verse to create a high contrast for the flower bud. You will notice in our pictures today that there's a black outline which helps the scheme from becoming boring. By adding a strong neutral like white or black to a monochromatic scheme. It helps to keep things interesting. Next, we will move along to the analogous scheme. For this exercise. We'll be using green, yellow, green, and yellow. The third row of our color palette. Remember, analogous colors are accused that are next to each other on the color wheel. Follow along with me or color as you wish. Analogous colors are pleasing to the eye and found abundantly in nature. Using analogous colors when decorating, designing, or even picking out announce, it will create a balanced and serene look. Usually, you will choose one of your analogous colors to be the dominant color, a primary or secondary color. I have chosen yellow for this example. Next is a supporting color, which is a secondary or tertiary green in this exercise. And a third color that is the mix of the two. We're using, yellow, green. This way the colors aren't trying to compete with each other. Many artists use the 603010 rule to achieve a calm, visually pleasing harmony. 60% of the dominant color, 30% of a supporting color, and ten per cent of a third color. Choosing analogous colors is one of the easiest and most eye-catching ways to work color into a design. Since I have chosen yellow is my dominant color, I'm going to add it to the center cactus. I will add greens to the side cactus. Mike analogous example seems to be more of a 404010. I like to think of our roles as tips, experiment, see, and do what works for you and your art. Coming up next, the complimentary color scheme. For this color scheme, I'll use various shades and tints of red and green located in the fourth row of our color palette, complementary colors or any two hues positioned exactly opposite of each other on the color wheel, There are made up of a primary color and a secondary color that is created by mixing the other two primaries in this example are complimentary color to red is green, which is made by mixing blue and yellow together. Pair of complementary colors is made up of one cool color in one warm color, you can mix complimentary colors together. For example, if you start with red and add green, the color becomes less intense. And if you add enough green, then you will end up with a neutral color. One place side-by-side. Complimentary colors have high contrast. And as a result, the colors intensify. In color theory, this phenomenon is called simultaneous contrast, or how two different colors affect each other. Some examples up for a dark color put next to a light one makes them both brighter. Warm colors will look warmer when next to cool colors, and the opposite is true. Now, moving on to our triadic scheme. For this color harmony, I have chosen to practice with orange, purple, and green, the colors and the second row of our color palette, tri means three and color trimer. Try and select the primary colors are three equally spaced Hughes around the color wheel. This color scheme can be quite elegant if we choose one color that dominates and use the others as accents. Triad color combinations tend to be vibrant, even when toned down tinted are shaded, the colors can come across as playful or, or, or adolescent. So we want to be careful with the balance of these colors. Otherwise, combination can be too much in chaotic and hectic. The main or dominant color you use will be the color that sets the scene or mood, while the other two colors are the supporting players. As discussed in lesson three, colors can create mood depending on how they are used, as well as combinations of color. In our example, we ever using purple is the main color with green and the orange is her accent colors to create a calm and peaceful mood. Whereas if we had used oranges, the main color, it would have created a mode of energy and excitement. I hope that this practice lesson has given you more knowledge about color harmonies and the results of the different combinations. In the next lesson, we'll put this knowledge to use in creating an abstract landscape. See you there. 6. Project: To the project lesson. In Procreate, you'll create a new document by tapping the Plus sign and the top right corner and the plus sign again, you will make your page 2550 by 3 thousand pixels, which is about 8.5 by 11. So you can print and frame if you want. Then set the DPI to 300. On the left, I'll tap color profile and make sure it's CMYK is on because I want to print out my final project. Then tap Create. Cmyk is for printing and RGB is for digital work. Good color palette. I've provided three for your use. Complimentary triadic, monochromatic or analogous, or use one of the ones supplied by blue procreate. I'm using the complimentary triad color palette from the Dell mode. By tapping the disk at the bottom, it isolates that palette. I've also added some neutrals to this palette brush library by tapping on the brush, choose inking, and then the syrup brush on the left, adjust the slider to about 6%. Tap on layers. Palettes, choose the beige color and drag and drop to fill the layer. Now we're going to add a layer and switch the color to the medium orange in the second row. Starting on the left, a little over halfway of the page, draw Hill, drag and drop the color. When drawing your kills, be sure to begin an end off of the art board. Your color will feel inside that area. Add a layer, switch to a darker orange. And at about the same place I'm aware I create a hill going in the opposite direction. Drag and drop the color to fill. We're going to repeat this process for the next four colors. Add a layer, switch the color, starting on the left, draw Hill. Drag and drop the color. Add a layer, switch the color, start the hill on the right, and drag and drop the color. Continue alternating for the rest of the colors. Making your Hills is steep or as flat as you want. I'm going to speed up the video. The hills are finished for now. Let's add the sun. We're going to add another layer. Choose the lightest orange and draw a circle. As you complete it. Hold the pen where the lines meet. This will help to create a circle. Then you can tap, Edit Shape, tap circle, and it will create a perfectly round circle. You can then tap the selection tool to adjust the size and the location of the sun. When you find the perfect spot, fill it with color. We'll come back to the song and a little bit, tap anywhere on the page to undo the selection. Let's add the shadows to the mountains to create some depth. To do that, tap on the top mountain layer than swipe, left. Tap, duplicate. Move down to the next mountain layer. Tap, swipe and duplicate. Repeat for all the rest of the mountain layers. Next, on the bottom layer of each mountain color, you will double tap the thumbnail and then tap Alpha Lock for each layer. When you put the alpha lock on a layer, you will only be able to paint inside of what already exists on that layer. Now, go into the color palette and choose the gray color. And we're going to fill each alpha, lock the layer by tapping the thumbnail and then tapping Fill layer. Next, turn off alpha lock and all the layers, you will have to go into each one to turn it off. Just like we turned it on. The shadows to our mountains will be using the gray layer. So tap on the top 1 first, and then on the left will tap on the Adjustments tool or magic wand in the drop-down, choose Gaussian Blur. You will notice that the top of the screen there's percentage indicator. By dragging your pen across the page, we can adjust our shadow to be at about seven per cent. Then go back to the layer and tap on the end, open the blend modes, and drag down to Linear Burn going. This creates a soft out-of-focus appearance and decreases the brightness, creating the Shadow. Tap the next gray layer. Tap the Adjustments tool, choose Gaussian blur, adjust to 7%. Go back to the layer, tap on n, and scroll to linear burn. We're going to repeat this on all of the gray layers. Be sure to follow me on Skillshare, to be notified when my new class on blurs and blends becomes available. Now that the shadows are all in place, let's go back to the sun. The layers panel at a layer over the sun. Then tap the sun layer, click on the thumbnail and tap Select at the bottom tab, invert. Make sure where that color fill is off. You should see stripes on the Sun. Now go to the layer that you added above the sun and fill it with gray. And then click on the thumbnail and tap clipping mask. Tap the selection tool and adjust to move that shadow out from behind the sun. Might have to play around with it to get it just where you want it. Once you have it in the position you like. Then you're going to tap on the Blend Mode, make it linear burn. And we're going to turn down the opacity to about 20%. And there you have it. An abstract landscape in a complimentary color scheme. Because I wanted to print this out. I will tap on the wrench, tap Share PNG. So we will share with my Mac. 7. Final Thoughts: Congratulations on completing basic color theory and procreate. I hope that you enjoyed the class and that you've learned about the properties of color, how it is organized on the color wheel, the benefits of color harmony and psychology when using color. I would love to see your abstract landscape project. Please be sure to upload your completed project in the class gallery. The class gallery can be found under projects and resources tab. Click on the green button that says Create, project, and upload your photo. You can also follow me here on Skillshare by clicking the follow button. That way you'll receive an e-mail when I launched my next class. Is there something that you'd like to learn about in Procreate? If you have an idea for our class, please let me know in the class discussion. I would love to create classes for you. I hope if you'd like to share your project on Instagram, please tag me at Francis's own design so I can comment and like your post, I hope you will continue to grow and learn about color and to create a wonderfully colorful life. Thank you for joining me. I'm glad you're here.