Intro: Lighting and Color
Light and Color effect rooms in different
ways; however they work together to
produce something that would be pleasing
to the eye. Without light, color would not
exist. Light reflects through green, yellow,
and red pigments to show different shades,
tones, and variations of color.
Light can
also lighten or darken colors depending on
the source of your lighting and which angle
it is coming from. These are shown in the
image by reflections off of the seating, floor
and counter space. The color also varies
from point to point depending on the light
source, for example the windows or the
overhead lighting. Without light or color a
room would not have as much character.
A Stowe
Additive/Subtractive Coloring
This harmonious blend of light and paint
demonstrates both additive and subtractive
use of colors in a reception area. The
backlit wall is covered in frosted glass
panels. The small colored spot lights
beyond reflect and blend, creating the effect
of multiple colors including spots of white
light, also known as additive coloring. In
addition to the featured lighting the alcove is
a complex, display of primary hues blended
together called subtractive coloring.
J Glew
Value
There are three attributes or dimensions of
color: hue, value and chroma also known as
saturation. Value or lightness is the second
attribute.
Value refers to the lightness or
darkness of a color.
The terms tint and
shade are used to illustrate the value of a
color. Tint is used to describe a color that
has had white mixed in with it. While the
term shade is used to express a color that
has been mixed with black. In the rendering
value is illustrated by tints and shades
added to the colors of the surfaces.
Tints
appear where there is a light source near
and shades where there is less light on the
surface.
M Day
Chroma/ Saturation
Chroma or Saturation is one of the three
attributes of color. It is the relative purity or
intensity of a color, which is shown by how
much or how little gray is added to it. In my
rendering you can see this in the vibrant
pink wall and the sculptural bench. The wall
is very intense and has very little gray in it
while the bench has more gray added to it.
The value on a chroma scale does not
change, only the intensity of the hue varies.
Source: Interior Color By Design
by Jonathan Poore
A Miles
Local Tone
Local Tone, a term created by artist and
teacher Nathan Goldstein in 1977, refers to
the natural lightness or darkness of every
object. When exposed to light, the object
will
reflect
its
own
local
tone
onto
surrounding surfaces. The lights located in
the ceiling and alcove of the reception area
cast light down onto the plant as well as
onto the seating area, table and figure. This
down-lighting creates local tone for each
object resulting in a unique shadow for each
object.
L Clark
CHIAROSCURO
Chiaroscuro, Italian for light-dark, is a
term for a contrast between light and
dark. As shown in my illustration, the
shadows placed on the curved wall, the
bench seat, the floor, and the ottoman
furniture piece display chiaroscuro. On
all of these objects there are parts that
remain lighter and parts that appear
darker due to shadows.
Chiaroscuro
helps the objects to have a sense of
volume and appear three dimensional.
S Baker
Color of shadow and shade
The definition of shadow is the darkness on a
surface that is casted by an object of
intercepting light.
Shade is the degree of
darkness of color caused by the sun. Shade is
depicted in this rendering from the wall of
windows. You can see the shade that is casted
from the semicircular wall and coffee table.
Where there is shade the colors are a deeper
more intense color. The ground is visibly darker
only where the objects block the sun. Shadow
is shown in this drawing on the semicircular wall
caused by the three hanging lights. Wherever a
shadow is casted, the color of the shadow adds
a gray tint to the color. Where the lights hang
down there is no shadow at all, but as the wall
begins to curve and the lighting fades the color
of the wall appears darker.
M Daughtery
Gradation
Gradation is the gradual change in color,
tone or hue within a drawing or design. The
changes in color, tone or hue are barely
perceptible.
The colors are blended
together to either accomplish a change from
a color’s tone gradually darker or gradually
lighter.
The color itself can be changed
from warmer to cooler or cooler to warmer.
Gradation helps to move the viewer’s eye
along a line in a particular work or to help
create a perception of depth.
M Bunch
Multiplicity of Color
Throughout the years, people have always
known that grass is green,, the ocean is
blue, and apples are red. Multiplicity of color
can be used as an advantage to give an
image or a space character and details that
capture the eye. In this rendering, a lobby of
a hotel was designed to impose multiplicity
of colors. For example, the floor and reed
material on the cabinets, rug, and sofa are
not plain brown wood. They are a variety of
different shades and tones of brown to
create the appearance of a wood grain floor
and a reed material. Another example would
be the accents of blue-green, such as in the
rug, lamp and accessories around the room.
From a distance, these objects would
appear as blue green, however while people
are waiting in the lobby, they may look a
little closer and find that the different
threads and brushstrokes of blues and
greens can create one individual color, bluegreen/turquoise. Finally take a look at the
plants in the room, one on the counter to the
right and the tree standing next to the
cylindrical sofa chair. The leaves of plants
are not just plain green, but make up a
variety of yellow-green, dark green and
many different tints and shades of the color
to create depth and a more realistic
appearance.
S Rickloff
Atmospheric Perspective
A technique of rendering depth or distance
by
modifying
distinctness
the
of
tone
objects
or
hue
perceived
and
as
receding from the picture plane, by reducing
distinctive local colors and contrasts of light
and dark to a uniform light bluish-gray color.
The hills seen further away in the landscape
are grayed out to represent this technique.
This is used to produce a sense of depth in
the painting or drawing by imitating the
effect of atmosphere that makes objects
look paler, bluer, and hazier.
As the
distance between an object and a viewer
increases, the contrast between the object
and its background decreases, and the
contrast of any markings or details within
the object also decreases. This is illustrated
with contrast in the drawing, showing there
is perspective. From the way the hills start
to decrease in size the further the distance
gets, helps the viewer to understand
atmospheric perspective.
A Koger
Reflection
Reflection simply means the return of light,
heat, and sound after striking a surface.
Everywhere we go and look we see
reflections, but we might not realize it. In my
rendering I showed reflection everywhere
you would normally see it like on shiny
surfaces or heavily lighted areas. On the
ceiling where it almost meets the walls you
can see the yellow and green reflecting, and
on the shiny marble countertop you can see
where the flower vase and the wall paint are
reflected down onto the counter.
J Naessens