Take The Guesswork Out Of Choosing Colours!!!

Hi lovely ladies!!

It is time for another super informative post from our very talented Saumya!! When it comes to writing blogposts , she always chooses some non treaded path and hits the destination skillfully!!

It is always difficult to choose colors for a project!! Sometimes the colors are too bright or dull, they dont coordinate, or too busy for eyes..etc. We all work with the inner instinct , when it comes to choosing colors! All of us have faced this problem while crafting. Saumya has come up with a fail proof method of choosing colors for your project!! Believe me, I was reading this post with awe for the first time!! Such an enlightening post with very simple ways to choose the colors. Brilliant how she brought her instincts out to a method!! Over to Saumya

I love colours. It imparts richness, texture and beauty to everything I see. Without colour, the world would lose much of its subtlety, intimacy and power. Colour enriches my life and enhances my understanding of the world. (Ask me about the politics of colours and other elements that the course of Mass Communication teaches you). But there are times when colours grate on my nerves, jar me from complacency and make me want to hide my eyes. How can it be that I love every colour yet I may be disappointed, disturbed or disillusioned when I see certain colours?

It's because sometimes:

1. I see a colour outside my zone of cultural understanding

2. I see colours combined in a way that makes me queasy.

3. I see colours that seem to vibrate in front of my eyes.

That's when I want to say, " I hate that colour", but I tell myself, "Don't blame the colour. Blame the way it was used."

Let's first understand a few things about colours and their family!!! Yes, they do have families if you didn't know that yet.

Categories of Colours:

1. Primary colours- are red, yellow and blue. They are called primary colours because they cannot be obtained by mixing other colours. When primary colours are mixed together, a wide range of colours may be created. There are many different natural and manufactured sources for the basic red-yellow-blue colorants. Consequently, there is an almost endless array of colour possibilities in fabrics, yarn, ink, paint and other materials.

2. Secondary colours- are when two primary colours are mixed together. Blue and Red make violet, yellow and blue make green, and red and yellow make orange.

3. Tertiary colours- are when the first six colours are mixed further (one primary colour with each adjacent secondary colour), the result is the six tertiary colours: blue/violet, red/violet, yellow/green, blue/green, yellow/orange and red/orange.

Classic colours, Shades, Tints and Tones:

1. Classic colours are fully saturated hues that have no black or white added.

2. When black is added to a classic colour, it's value is deepened. Colours with black added are called SHADES.

3. When White is added to a classic colour, the colours value is lightened. These colours are called TINTS.

4. Finally, to add further distinction, all classic colours can also be mixed with gray. Colours with gray added are called TONES.

There is more to the category and definition of colours for which you can get yourself a colour wheel but I shall save that for sometime later and come to how to understand the proportion is which we need to use a colour.

Proportion: Projects are usually most pleasing when colour and space are not divided equally. Changes in proportion help the viewer focus on the most important elements.

Space and colour are most pleasing when they are divided into proportions of one-thirds and two-thirds. Therefore, if you are working with a three colour combination, mentally divide your project into three parts. The smallest part, representing only about 5% of the total, is for your accent colour. The remainder is then divided into one-third (supporting colour) and two- thirds (main colour).

For a four colour combination, reserve about 5% of the total for an accent colour and divide the remaining space into one-third and two-thirds. The two-thirds portions is for your main colour. Finally, divide the one-third portion again into one-third and two-thirds to create two supporting colours.

The mental calculation may not be possible all the time so I made templates keeping the above in mind. I have done the template for colours: Black, White, Golden, Silver/Grey. The same template can be done for any colour you want/prefer as the Cardstock.

Let me show you how I use the templates.

If I have a Black carstock and plan to use two colours, I have small cut out pieces of the colour shade that I plan to use and place it under the template as below.