Create four images that express emotions through the use of color

Color Theory

Study color and learn the terminology
Colors are all around us and often people can actually perceive color in different ways. In order to communicate about color we need to know and understand the terminology. Research the Science of Color and view the second and third videos about color terminology and interaction.
Generate ideas
Go through a quick mind mapping exercise, as demonstrated in the second video, to help you generate ideas and then select the emotions you want to represent. Select 2-3 solid ideas to create sketches for.

Here’s a sample of a mind map I made recently for a direct mail promotion, totally unrelated to this course, but you can see the stream of consciousness and how I pull ideas out of it:
Find references and inspiration
One of the best parts of the project! Dig up things that you find inspiring. A particular artists’ work, advertisements from your favorite magazine, that killer new poster you saw the other day, anything at all that strikes your fancy. Don’t overthink it. Sites like Designspiration, Pinterest, FFFOUND and Dribbble are good resources, but the best place to look is in real life. Look through books, magazines, outdoors in nature, wherever you can find colors that you like. Using online and offline sources gather at least 25 images you find inspiring. I like to collect things in Pinterest boards.
Choose your emotions
The final visuals for your project are totally open-ended, however each one must represent a specific emotion in a series of at least four visuals (feel free to do more if it makes sense with your concept). Emoticons or Character Illustrations are good choices, but you might challenge yourself and do something more specific (The Emotions of Wes Anderson Films) or personal (The Emotions of My Marriage).

There are List of Emotions out there, but feel free to just choose them from this list:

Anger
Calm
Confident
Confused
Despair
Envy
Excitement
Fear
Happy
Hate
Hope
Jealousy
Joy
Lonely
Love
Mad
Shy
Surprise
Terror
Tired
Worried

The Context of Color

Learn what colors mean
I’ve always found it interesting that Red can mean both Love and Hate. Two emotions on totally opposite ends of the spectrum but on the same end of the color spectrum. Did you know that purple stands for both royalty and penitence? Colors can also mean different things depending on their culture and context. Spend some time on Google and Wikipedia researching the meaning of colors, write down how it applies to the emotions you’re trying to convey. Also, look up some colors you might have never heard of (quick, what color is Harlequin?).

I came across this photo of a vintage color chart two days before class starts, a perfect reference. But keep in mind there are other meanings of color out there:

Photo lovingly stolen from the Instagram feed of Aaron Draplin.
Sketch ideas
Take the best ideas from your mind map and start to do some sketching for them. It’s okay to be loose and non-professional. Just get the ideas out on paper. Sketching is an idea generation process too so keep building on your sketches. Post them to your project for feedback.

Here’s a sample of a quick sketch I did for some holiday themed graphics, I normally sketch in pencil or pen and then add color in the computer, but don’t be afraid to get out those crayons!
Build your color palette
Time to crack open the computer. For this step I’ll be showing you how I build palettes in Illustrator and some tests that you can use to see how your palette will hold up as you start to create your images. Identify what kind of color palette you want to use and about how many colors you want to use overall in each image.
Explore two emotions
Start applying your color palette to your sketches and ideas in the computer. See how the colors start to come together and how they react when in use. Explore a few different color treatments to see how your reaction and emotions might change or be enhanced through the application of color. Make sure you view the video too see some quick ways to edit, change and build your palette.

Expanding Color Possibilities

Expanding a color palette
Depending on how you are crafting your visual representations of your selected emotions you may or may not need to add more variation to your color palette. But the likelihood is that to keep things consistent yet have enough variety to maintain interest you’ll probably want to expand your palette just a little bit moving forward. Explore adding neutrals or grays. Try adding a few extra shades or tints of your current colors or explore adding 1-3 additional colors.

Here’s a sample of an initial palette and an expanded version that I used in this project.
Create all four of your emotions
Now that you have an expanded color palette, your ideas settled on and your first few initial emotions drafts go ahead and finish out the rest of the emotions in your series of images. Make sure you’re taking into account feedback from other users and proactively thinking about how to continue tightening the screws of your visuals. Where is there room for improvement? How do you maintain consistency? How do you add variety to keep it interesting? Keep pushing.
Build Consistency and Add Depth
In the final stages of your project you should look at adding depth to your color palettes by adding things like texture or shading to polish your emotion visuals. This may or may not apply to your specific project, but it’s always worth exploring. Watch the video on color in Photoshop and explore adding the next level of visual information to your images.

You can download my AI and Photoshop files that I use in the final video at this Dropbox link:
http://www.dropbox.com/s/vozhgjfdkqe2jaa/WagonArtwork.zip

Additional Resources

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

The Book - Amazon
For iPad - http://yupnet.org/interactionofcolor/
Video Links

Video 1
Narnia Posters
Target Canada Campaign

Video 5
Color Inspiration Pinterest Board
Learn Photoshop and Illustrator

There are some great classes on Skillshare for learning about Photoshop and Illustrator if you're not familiar with the programs already:

Learn the Ins and Out of Illustrator

Introduction to Photoshop

Photoshop Yourself
Color Terminology

A straightforward look at some of the very basic terms –
www.uwgb.edu/heuerc/2d/colorterms.html

A thorough document of color terminology –
http://www.color-tec.com/1gloss.htm
Light and Colour with Bill Nye –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtgBHsSzCPE

Super cheesy, but good info nonetheless. ;-)
My Pantone iPhone App –
itunes.apple.com/app/mypantone/id329515634

A pretty cool tool for browsing, saving and exploring Pantone colors. They give you nice options to view different color harmonies too.
Book - Color Messages and Meaning –
http://www.amazon.com/Color-Messages-Meanings-PANTONE-Resource/dp/0971401063/
Color and Emotion –
http://tympanus.net/codrops/2012/04/03/color-and-emotion-what-does-each-hue-mean/
Working with Color in Illustrator –
http://designshack.net/articles/graphics/build-awesome-color-palettes-effortlessly-in-illustrator/
Color Psychology – http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm
Creative Mornings with Rick Valicenti – http://vimeo.com/46125867
One of the most creative people I've ever met. Rick is amazing at crafting new and unique approaches to everything he does. Definitely an inspiration of how to think outside of the box.
Photoshop Tutorials

These are some tutorials that cover more in-depth looks at the brushing and texturing techniques I used to illustrate adding depth to an image in the last video.

How to Use the Brush Tool

Photoshop Blend Modes Explained

A Beginner's Guide to Textures
Photoshop Color Settings –
http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/tutorials/photoshop-color-settings/

Some technical information for different color settings in Photoshop.
Color in 3D –
http://petapixel.com/2013/03/23/exploring-the-world-of-color-theory-with-a-3d-modeling-program/
Convert to Pantone Colors –
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5gnRqz1TB0

Nicole Rusk

Environment artist, lover of cats and food

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