Project: Colours and how they affect you

[Iliada]

Dear CA

I'm currently working a project about colours and how they affect people.
I'm very interested in how colours is used in art, and how artists use colours and the relation between an artist and the colours she/he uses.
Therefore I have a few questions to ask you artists, and it would help me a great deal if some of you would answer them =)

(And a good way to use the time waiting for LMS)


1. How do you use colours in your work?

2. What does colours mean to you? Why?

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?


6. What's you're favourite colour? Why?


Again, this would help me a lot.
Thank you

Lise

[Digital_Blacksmith]

Well, I guess ill give this a go if it will help someone out with a project.

1. How do you use colours in your work?
I find colors that fit the particular piece. For example, I dont want to make a sleek aerodynamic car, and cover it in rusted rivets and metal falling off. Then again, I dont want to make a old sword thats seen hundreds of battles, and give it a clean new sharp look.

2. What does colours mean to you? Why?
It gives art life. Without color, everything in this world would be bland and boring.

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?
I find them very important. As I said, without them, everything is bland and boring.

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?
Colors actually make me feel different emotions and temperaments. And it also helps in daily lives, fashion, and entertainment. B&W movies bored me. I like my bright exuberant movies.

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?
No, I havent. Though i plan on it since everyone says it helps.

6. What's you're favourite colour? Why?
Blue. I like it for my nickname is Frost, and I like the cold and water. its also very calming to me.

Hope that helps a tiny bit.

[Jabo]

1. How do you use colours in your work?
Intuitively, unrealistically. But still goal-driven.

2. What does colours mean to you? Why?
In general: They are the most emotional visual principle.
In art: When added onto a good base, they are able to push the image enormously.

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?
In general: My favourite color is my mood indicator.
In art: Very important. I don't like greyscale images and would always prefer a colored one.

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?
Color affects a person's mood in the first place. A certain color can make you feel happy, while another might make your feel sad, depressed, or even angry. As an artist, it's a catalyst that can be used to trigger emotion in people.

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?
It was the first thing I learned about design and I think it is the single most important aspect of design. Without knowing about color, my works would look even more amateurish. I can make good for my bad understanding of form by playing with colors. This, of course, will not be a permanent solution.

6. What's you're favourite colour? Why?
Red. It's divinity and the elemental base of the world in one color. It can be used to create anything and nothing. I love to use opposition in my works and red is the weapon to do so.

[Iliada]

Thank you a lot Raverunner and Jabo.

*This is a really sly bump*

All answers will be appreciated =)

[Iliada]

I'm sorry to bump this yet another time. This will be the last time, I swear.

I'd just like to add that the project won't be written entirely in the papyrus font, and will only have few lensflares.

[Grief]

1. How do you use colours in your work?
in the last month ive steadily decreased my color palette. currently i use no color. i'm mostly exploring contrast and balance at the moment, color would too easily let me deviate from those explorations.

2. What does colours mean to you? Why?
color is the emotional vibrancy, whether sullen or joyous.

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?
its a fundamental element for design, its just as profound to have a lack of color as it is to have a full spectrum of color. how it is utilized (or not) says quite a bit about the work. the artist should have a keen understanding of the ramifications of color before delving into arbitrary use of it for the sake of adding color.

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?
thats really subjective. i may have a red color field painting, one viewer may see it as angry and violent, whereas another may interpret it as lustful and passionate. the voice of color is not universal across all cultures, so i feel its important to manipulate color affectively to represent the expression of the artist (ambiguity is fine so long as its intentional). colors to me represent life. in my current state i would rather discover all i can from art through bleak primal, almost visceral, exploits of just black and white. color would really add another layer of concept which i feel would detract from my intended idea for now. i'll implement color later once i feel i can handle it in a more mature fashion.

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?
yes. yes.

6. What's you're favourite colour? Why?
excluding black or white (since you could argue that they are values and not 'color') i'd have to say a high-key light pink hue with a touch of orange. sorry i don't have a formal word to describe it. its a really pastel and wussy color. why? well it represents innocence to me and has its own stylish poise that can hold its own in a composition. its a contemporary gimmicky color admittedly.

hope this helps

[HunterKiller_]

1. How do you use colours in your work?
When using colour in my work, I try to make it the medium of atmosphere and mood, more than anything else.

2. What does colours mean to you? Why?
In terms of everyday life, colours add infinite interest in anything.
In terms of art, I'm not sure. I enjoy coloured and colourless artwork equally.

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?
In the process of an artwork, I believe that colours are only as important as the message in the picture. It should be used according to the situation.

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?
Colour brings joy to our lives, more richness. Just try imagine living in a black and white world.

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?
I've touched on colours theory, and there's no doubt it's improved my work and way of thinking.

6. What's you're favourite colour? Why?
Don't have one.

[Hyoscine]

1. How do you use colours in your work?
I'm colour blind, so I try and keep it simple. Usually images I make are practically monochromatic with tonal variations. Stuff like this.

2. What does colours mean to you? Why?
For me, colour is emotional shorthand, and a way of bringing togather different elements of an image. A dull blue chair in a dull blue room is a chair that is not out of place in it's surroundings; an object that reinforces the mood exuded by the scene.

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?
What Grief said.

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?
What I find really interesting about how colours affect people is that it's a combination of hard-wired physiological response, and reactions based on personal connotations. Put an aggressive person in a Baker-Miller pink room and they'll calm down, but the room will evoke different memories for a prisoner than it would an incarcerated schizophrenic. Sorry, I'm not phrasing any of this very well. I guess what I'm saying is that people will have similar, but individual reaction to colours. For an artist, this is a positive thing; varied associations means varied interpretations. That images aren't tied down to one absolute meaning is what allows artworks to be both universally apreciated and personally relevant.

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?
No. My understanding of colour is never going to be that precise, so I'm happy to focus on improving other aspects of my stuff. There's no shortage of areas I could get better at.

6. What's you're favourite colour? Why?
I like pale, indistinct colours, with shades of pink and maroon just seeping through.

[tatiana]

1. How do you use colours in your work?
For the day job (product designer/concept artist/illustrator for toys, novelty items, seasonal decor) I'll use colors to help convey a character's personality. This is initially in the original concept art but goes on to the selections I make with the factory for sample or mass production for materials for plush, costume design, etc. For larger products, particularly for seasonal design (Christmas vs Halloween for example) this can be used to stage the character and/or the environment (materials, lighting, etc.) to help set a mood and push the required theme. For my personal work or for freelance illustration, I'll still use color to help set mood and convey a story.

2. What do colours mean to you? Why?
Without colors I wouldn't have had as much variablity and interesting possibilities to create and help define design and art for my various creative jobs over the years (from portrait artist to graphic designer to software and web UI designer to illustrator to concept artist and product designer), each with their own palette of challenges (restricted color usage to open wide millions of color choices).

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?
Very. Having been "legally blind" for almost half my life before eye surgery, being able to see and recognize many colors now instead of a mishmash of impressionistic views of the world around me, makes colors and the ability to recognize individual colors and their nuances important to me. Also, as a commercial artist, the more I can affect or connect with the client/consumers/markets my products are sold to, the more likely I'll still have a job, heh.

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?
Colors affect people in a variety of ways. Some reactions to specific colors seem to be related to culture or what people have been taught (and communication artists for all varieties of commercial or other product designs take advantage of that); some responses appear or seem to be instinctual. Colors affect me in many ways, too: it can influence my mood, can determine what I wear, can make my pupils react when I really like or react to a color (that's always fun to play with).

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?
I'm sure I had some overviews and such while I was at university, but not a semester of study or class just for that. I have however done a bit of occasional research on my own as well and do have reference books on color theory in my home and work libraries. Improve my works - yes.

6. What's your favourite colour? Why?
Green. It has many different layers of meaning for me, internal and external: from how I feel about myself, and the hope for growth and renewal (all that philisophical stuff)...to how nice some green colors look on me since I have blonde hair (with a bit of pink streaks now and then) and green eyes.

t

[Digital_Blacksmith]

Damn, everyones seems so deep and interesting compared to mine....Maybe its cause im fairly new to using colors? Either way, this has actually been informative, and shows me what colors truly mean to everyone.

[stef88]

1. How do you use colours in your work?
Brightly, I love rich or saturated colours, I just have to fit them in together better! Mostly I'll use the colours bases on the mood of the piece.

2. What does colours mean to you? Why?
I love colours!! They can change my mood instantly. I think they set the mood of a piece better than anything else.

3. How important do you think colours are? Why?
Very important, they can be used to bring out a striking item/object/feature in a monotone picture, or they can be used to bring so much more depth to a character, also the colours chosen by a character can describe their personality so well.

4. How do you think colours affect people? How do colours affect you?
Colours can be threatening to people - stark black or inviting - warm colours. Also different cultures have special meanings to them. ie try not to wear white or black around an old person in china, both represent death.

5. Have you studied colour theory? Did this improve your works?
I have a small bit. I plan to, if anyone has any good books to reccomend

6. What's you're favourite colour? Why?
Purple, it goes with almost anything, and tends to be rich in colour.