ART M20 / 2-D Design / Erika Lize / Spring 2013

Exercise #5: COLOR

Due: April 11th

Part A: Nature Based Mandala Color Wheel

Project Outline We will begin this project by looking at the work of artist, Andy Goldsworthy, noting the way he uses color in his ephemeral work with nature. For this project you will design a color wheel in the style of a Mandala with the intention of depicting some aspect of nature or the environment. The Mandala must have 12 radiations in order to incorporate the 12 colors of the color wheel. The design can be open or closed and can have a border or not. Your color wheel must contain the following elements: 1.) The 12 colors of the color wheel. You should know the 12 colors of the color wheel and know that it is made up of the 3 primaries, 3 secondary and 6 tertiary colors. We are creating a radial design with our Mandalas which means that your colors need to create an accurate color wheel (you need to keep them in order). 2.) Elements from nature of the environment. You can incorporate nature/environment into your design in two ways: Utilize a natural form as the unifying design element for the Mandala (i.e. a rose, where petals are different colors of the color wheel). Combine natural forms and decorative elements into the larger design of the Mandala (i.e. have an open design where trees are reaching out on every other point). If you choose to have a single natural element as the unifying structure for your Mandala, you can look to the following areas for source material Geologic forms like crystals Meteorological forms like snowflakes Biological formsplant life (flowers or pine cones) or animals (jellyfish or spider web) The design can be a combination of elements representing nature with purely decorative elements. This will depend on your personal taste and design. You can think of the design in terms of concentric circles, a spiral or other geometric shapes. 3.) The illusion of transparency/translucency. You must create the illusion of transparency somewhere in your image. This can be done by using the: Tint color plus white Tone color plus gray Shade color plus black These changes in value make it appear as though a veil or filter has been placed over your color, making it consistently lighter (tint), muted (tone), or in shadow (shade). If you are using acrylic paint, you must actually mix white, gray or black in with the color you are creating the illusion over, not just paint white, gray or black over the top of that color. Objectives To create a complex and interesting radial design. To base the design on the idea of the Mandala using elements from nature or the environment. To design the Mandala with 12 distinct segments, where each segment is rendered with an accurate, definable color of the color wheel. To create the illusion of transparency/translucency by using the tint, tone or shade of a color.

Process Before you begin to work on the design of your Mandala, you will want to make sure that you are able to create the 12 variations in color with whatever medium you have chosen. Make sure the colors are correct and distinctly different, and that you will be able to recreate them on your final piece. The medium you choose will effect your design, so make sure you figure this out first. Next, start thinking about what aspect of nature or the environment you would like to include in your Mandala. Research and find source material that you can use in your design. Think about the shapes and patterning you might incorporate as well. Begin with some rough sketches, making sure you have 12 radiations in your Mandala. Use a protractor to break up the circle every 30 degrees to create 12 segments. Think about the color wheel and how you can incorporate color variations within your design in relation to foreground/background. Remember that you have to create the illusion of a transparent/translucent layer. This will require overlapping, and will be easy to achieve within the Mandala structure. Consider the format of your surface and if you want the design to be open or closed. Also consider if you want there to be a border around the Mandala. The Mandala is in the shape of a circle, which easily fits into a square. The format of the project is up to you, but your surface should be no smaller than 8 x 8. You can go larger and you also dont have to use a square. Once you finalize the design, recreate it on your surface in pencil. When you are ready to begin to add color, lightly erase pencil marks of the design first, so they dont show through once the piece is completed. Make sure color is saturated and that we can see a difference from segment to segment. Your goal is to create 12 distinct colors on the color wheel, and then to use the tint, tone or shade to create the illusion of a transparent layer. Supplies 1, minimum 8 x 8 illustration board, canvas board, watercolor or drawing paper (can be larger if you wish) Your choice: Acrylic paint, watercolor paint, colored pencils, high-quality markers Sketch pad, graph paper, transfer paper, pencil, eraser Compass, protractor and ruler Reference/source material Reference Need some inspiration? Visit this website as it has a ton of links to Mandala websites: www.abgoodwin.com/mandala/links/contemporary.html Some of the good ones listed are www.mandalavisions.com www.starwheels.com www.sacredcircleart.com/gallery

Part B: Four Panels

Project Outline Part B of the project will be influenced by artist, Andy Warhol, and the way he uses color in his multiple panel pieces. You will be selecting at least one of the elements from your color wheel and recreating it within a new design that will be copied into 4 small panels. Each panel will be drawn in pencil or ink, copied to maintain the same composition and then colored in using one of the following color schemes: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Monochromatic: using any shade, tint or tone of the same color. Analogous: using any shade, tint or tone of colors that are next to each other on the wheel. Complementary: using colors that are on opposite sides of the color wheel. Split Complementary: using one color in conjunction with the two colors that are on each side of the original colors complement. Triad: using three colors that are equally spaced apart on the color wheel. Tetrad: using two sets of complementary colors, can be selected by placing a square or rectangle in the center of the wheel. The corners will point to the four colors that make up a tetrad.

Objectives To pull at least one element from your mandala to influence a new design. To design a multi-panel work of art, determining the relationship between the large and small panels. To learn various color schemes through their application. Process You should have the design for your Mandala completed before you begin this part of the project. Start with considering the overall layout for the design, as you will be mounting the Mandala and the four panels together. The shape of your four panels is up to you, they should be no smaller than 4 x 4. Think about how these smaller panels will fit together with the large Mandala image. Once you determine the format for your design, look at the elements in your Mandala and pull at least one of them into your new image. How will these smaller panels relate to the larger Mandala? After this design is set, you can either photocopy it or trace it onto the 4 surfaces. Each panel will have the same composition so that you can play with how they will look using a different color scheme. There are 6 color schemes listed above and you are allowed to select which 4 of them you will be using in your design. Again consider how the panels will relate to the color in the Mandala design. Be aware that Monochromatic uses 1 color, Complementary uses 2, Analogous could use 2-3, Split-Complementary and Triad use 3, and Tetrad uses 4. Test out your color combinations on photocopies of your design or on another sheet of paper. You want your design and use of color to flow well and carry the viewers eye around the entire design. Once you have finalized this portion of the project, you will be mounting all 5 panels onto a black matboard for the critique. Supplies 4, minimum 4 x 4 illustration board, canvas board, watercolor or drawing paper Your choice: Acrylic paint, watercolor paint, colored pencils, high-quality markers Sketch pad, graph paper, transfer paper, pencil, eraser Black matboard for mounting your work to Vocabulary Additive color: color that is created by light. Subtractive color: color that is created by pigment and seen when light bounces off a surface. Primary colors: colors that cannot be mixed by any other colors; red, blue, yellow. Secondary colors: colors that are created when primary colors are mixed; violet, green, orange. Tertiary colors: colors that are created when a primary color is mixed with a secondary color; red-orange, redviolet, blue-green, blue-violet, yellow-green, yellow-orange. Hue: the name of a color in the spectrum. Value: the lightness or darkness of a color. Tint: a color plus white. Tone: a color plus gray. Shade: a color plus black. Saturation: (also called Intensity or Chroma) the amount of pure hue in a color, its vividness. Warm colors: reds, oranges, yellows. Cool colors: greens, blues, violets. Monochromatic color: any shade, tine or tone of the same color. Analogous colors: any shade, tint or tones of colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. Complementary colors: colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. Split-complementary colors: using one color in conjunction with the two colors that are next to the original colors complement. Triad: using three colors that are equally spaced apart on the color wheel. Achromatic color: also called the value scale, using a range of color from black to white. Contrast: the degree of difference between compositional parts or between one image and another. Color Key: a color that dominates an image creating an overall emotional or visual effect.

Emotional color: a subjective use of color that is meant to elicit an emotional response from viewers. Symbolic color: the symbolic meaning attached to colors in particular societies. Simultaneous contrast: the optical alteration of a color by a surrounding color. Visual color mixing: the optical mixture of small units of color, so the eye perceives the mixture rather than the individual units. Mandala: Sanskrit word meaning circle. Historically, Mandalas have been created by series of radial or concentric elements. They have symbolically and visually represented everything from the entire cosmos, to cosmic forces/truths, to a feeling of wholeness with the intricacy of their design. Radial symmetry: Symmetry in which something can be divided into two identical halves by a line or plane passing through a central point of axis at any angle. Radiations: the number of segments the circle is broken into in a Mandala. Ephemeral: lasting for only a short period of time. Optical Illusion: An image that deceives the viewer, often leading to the misinterpretation of its meaning. Transparent: If something is transparent, it means that you can see through it. It allows enough light to pass though it that you can see what is behind it. Translucent: If something is translucent, it means that the material is dense enough that you can see through it, but the image behind it is greatly obscured. It is the quality that is in between transparent and opaque. Opaque: If something is opaque, it cannot be seen through.