Upon reading the three articles given on color, I had knowledge of the different types of colors on the color wheel, but I have learned why and when these colors are used. What interested me the most is how graphic design started as only being black and white, and that in fact, color was seen as an ‘unstable’ tool. However, through time, graphic design cannot be seen without the many different hues, shades, and more of colors. When looking at a piece of artwork, our eyes are drawn to many colors for reasons many may never think of. For instance, yellow expands towards your eye, while blue recedes from your eye. This is why artists are told to think of the colors of their piece before they start their piece. The brighter colors, are placed where they want people to be drawn to, a focal point. Bright colors show happiness, and productivity, like when windows are light, the lights are turned on or it is nice out. The way eyes work when being shown colors is the most interesting information I have gathered about art. The surface of a color is absorbed by light waves, then reflected back to other receptors in your eyes. This is how we can pick up highlights and shadows which are examples of depth. Depth is percieved through different shades of color. When looking at an image of the corner of a wall, when one wall is darker, you can imply there is no light access, so maybe it is a hallway. The same goes for brighter colors, the brighter wall could be facing an open room with a lot of light. Lastly, I found differences between graphic design and art such as painting. Two color theories that compare the two are additive and subtractive color. Additive is used on computers in graphic design where the colors go from black to white. While on the computer you can mix millions of colors like paint in real life, when printed out, you will only have thousands of colors accessible. Subtractive color is the opposite of this, used in painting, the colors go from white to black and can be mixed millions of ways. Once the painting is done and on a canvas, none of the millions of colors are affected, unlike with additive on the printers.
