Colors are shifty buggers. The way we process visual information causes colors to change in relationship to what they’re next to, giving us a constant source of optical illusions. This makes mixing accurate color rather complicated. Below are a few optical quandaries to illustrate how complicated this “accurate seeing” stuff can be.
“A thing is never seen as it really is.” – Albers
These illusions are excellent illustrations of why color mixing is so danged difficult. The grey bar in the gradient is the same color across. Both the orange bars are the same color, and on the next it looks like one bar is blue and the other is green, but again, they are the same. Below are some more optical illusion reveals.
[nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3565″ image_2_url=”3575[nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3566″ image_2_url=”3576 The “blue” tiles on the left are the same color as the “yellow” tiles on the right. They are both grey. [nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3586″ image_2_url=”3587
The right eye appears to be cyan in the left image, yellow in the middle one, and red in the right one, though in each image the right eye is the same color as the left eye. Color constancy is supposed to be perfect when in each image the right eye appears to be the same color as the bead on the hair.
Color contrast using the same color combinations as the faces above. The small square in each image is the same color as the “eye” in of the face, respectively. The surround in each image is the same color as the “skin” of the face, respectively.
[image_with_animation image_url=”3579″ alignment=”” animation=”None Images from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/228490244_fig1_Fig-1-Colour-illusion-by-colour-constancy-The-right-eye-appears-to-be-cyan-in-the-left These optical tricks are happening all the time, in everything we look at. Color changes according to what it’s next to. This means everywhere there is a color, this is happening in some small or dramatic measure. It’s happening in our subject matter, on our palettes, and on our canvas. I believe this is a big part of why the seemingly simple goal of “applying color where it goes” in a painting is so danged complicated.
The most interesting thing about these puzzles is that once they’re “solved” they still fool the eye. Must be some strong mechanisms in the mind to fight the proof before us. I’m educated and experienced with color theory, but that doesn’t stop my eyes from being fooled. Because of this, I’ve changed my painting strategies from “I’m going to learn to see better” to “I’m going to have a lot of my own tricks to make sure I don’t get fooled by my own paintings.”
You’re reading a V. Note, written by Ruthie V, the director of the Seattle Artist League. The League is an art school for the busy nurse, tech geek, and mom with a long lost art degree. We offer engaging online classes in drawing and painting. Join us! Find your class:https://www.seattleartistleague.com/product-category/d-online-classes/
If you followed the 30SAL challenge last year, you may remember a series of posts about perspective. These perspectives include much more than the dominant Western standard of 1 point, …
[image_with_animation image_url=”9734″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] I was sitting here, as one does, thinking “you know, I don’t actually remember what my own fingerprints look like. They’re right here in …
Writing process Dr Martin Luther King Jr wrote about 450 speeches a year, and delivered somewhere around 2,000 speeches in his lifetime. His most famous works took form over countless …
You are now in the second half of our 30 day creative challenge. Did you see the post with some of my favorites from the first 2 weeks? Don’t miss them! …
Color Illusions
Colors are shifty buggers. The way we process visual information causes colors to change in relationship to what they’re next to, giving us a constant source of optical illusions. This makes mixing accurate color rather complicated. Below are a few optical quandaries to illustrate how complicated this “accurate seeing” stuff can be.
These illusions are excellent illustrations of why color mixing is so danged difficult. The grey bar in the gradient is the same color across. Both the orange bars are the same color, and on the next it looks like one bar is blue and the other is green, but again, they are the same. Below are some more optical illusion reveals.
[nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3565″ image_2_url=”3575[nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3566″ image_2_url=”3576 The “blue” tiles on the left are the same color as the “yellow” tiles on the right. They are both grey. [nectar_image_comparison image_url=”3586″ image_2_url=”3587
More Color Illusions
[image_with_animation image_url=”3577″ alignment=”” animation=”None
The right eye appears to be cyan in the left image, yellow in the middle one, and red in the right one, though in each image the right eye is the same color as the left eye. Color constancy is supposed to be perfect when in each image the right eye appears to be the same color as the bead on the hair.
[image_with_animation image_url=”3578″ alignment=”” animation=”None
Color contrast using the same color combinations as the faces above. The small square in each image is the same color as the “eye” in of the face, respectively. The surround in each image is the same color as the “skin” of the face, respectively.
[image_with_animation image_url=”3579″ alignment=”” animation=”None Images from https://www.researchgate.net/figure/228490244_fig1_Fig-1-Colour-illusion-by-colour-constancy-The-right-eye-appears-to-be-cyan-in-the-left These optical tricks are happening all the time, in everything we look at. Color changes according to what it’s next to. This means everywhere there is a color, this is happening in some small or dramatic measure. It’s happening in our subject matter, on our palettes, and on our canvas. I believe this is a big part of why the seemingly simple goal of “applying color where it goes” in a painting is so danged complicated.
The most interesting thing about these puzzles is that once they’re “solved” they still fool the eye. Must be some strong mechanisms in the mind to fight the proof before us. I’m educated and experienced with color theory, but that doesn’t stop my eyes from being fooled. Because of this, I’ve changed my painting strategies from “I’m going to learn to see better” to “I’m going to have a lot of my own tricks to make sure I don’t get fooled by my own paintings.”
You’re reading a V. Note, written by Ruthie V, the director of the Seattle Artist League. The League is an art school for the busy nurse, tech geek, and mom with a long lost art degree. We offer engaging online classes in drawing and painting. Join us! Find your class: https://www.seattleartistleague.com/product-category/d-online-classes/
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