My Use of Color Harmony

As a painter, I am constantly experimenting with colors; however, these color fundamentals have become the backbone of all my works. As such, I'd like to introduce the concept of color harmony as well as my personal applications of it!

Color Harmony

Color harmony is a seemingly simple tool that can help artists create more aesthetically pleasing artworks.

The harmonious color schemes include (according to The Paint Place): 

Complementary: Complementary colors are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. These colors are can be jarring at times so it is best to use them sparingly for an accent or pop.  

Analogous: Analogous colors are located on the sides of the key color (main chosen color). They usually represent schemes found in nature and are good for blending. However, overuse of analogous colors can make it monochromatic.  

Triadic: Triadic colors are equally spaced around the color wheel. This color scheme is successful when one color is dominate while the others are used as accents.

Split-Complementary: Split-complementary schemes use the key color with the colors on either side of its complement instead of the complementary color itself. This makes the painting softer, without the harsh complimentary color to intrude. 

Tetradic/Rectangle: Tetradic schemes use the four colors surrounding a complementary pair (which themselves make two complementary pairs) for subtlety and blending effects.  

Square: This scheme is a variation of a triadic scheme, using four evenly-spaced colors instead of three, allowing for each color to stand out.

Complementary (The Paint Place)

Analogous (The Paint Place)

Split-Complementary (The Paint Place) 

Tetradic (The Paint Place)

Triadic (The Paint Place)

Square (The Paint Place)

These harmonious color schemes also work outside painting! Photographers also use color harmony to compose their works, as seen here. For any photographers out there, have any of these techniques been used for photo composition?

My Works

For me, personally, I usually choose two complimentary colors and revolve my art around these two overarching color choices. Most of my works are incomplete (I like working on multiple things at once since I can get bored with my initial works!), but here are some examples nonetheless:

(1)

(1) In this sketch (particularly the eyes), I chose blue and orange as my key complimentary colors. There is an intermediate color that helps blend the two opposing colors. Having a muted blue (on the grayer end) makes the orange color pop without orange itself needing to be a super vibrant shade (like, for example neon orange). 

(2)

(2) As for this painting, I chose purple and lilac as my primary focus, with the complimentary yellows acting as highlights. In order to make purple mix well with yellow, there are a lot of intermediate "transitional shades" that help me mesh the colors together. In order to achieve all these intermediate colors, the "color-picker" tool (in digital art programs) and lower opacity (the colors are more transparent, allowing for layering of colors) lets me easily create new shades that are within me desired color range.

(3)

(3) This painting's color scheme isn't as obvious in terms of complimentary colors; however, the blue dress of hers is complimentary to her browner hair (this color scheme resonates with the tetradic technique). More importantly, there is a contrast between warm, lighter tones and cool tones* to differentiate between shadow and light. 


warm colors/tones = consist of orange, red, yellow, etc. ... colors that make you think of sunlight and heat. 

cool colors/tones = consists of blue, green,  purple, etc... colors that are seen as soothing or overcast.

(4)

(4) For this painting, I knew that I wanted the primary focus to be purple and for the view to have sunset colors. I first filled in the painting with the cool violets, then the red-violets, and finally hints of orange-yellows for contrasting effects. Because this painting mostly consists of purples, reds, and oranges, it really isn't focusing on two complimentary contrasts like my other works, but rather, focuses on the analogous and split- color technique. 





All in all, I am still experimenting with colors in my works, but I rely heavily on the techniques of color harmony in order to express the overall theme of my paintings. Depending on the color and technique used, one's artwork can have a completely different outcome. Of course, one's individualized view of color harmony can be subjective to perception and personal experience; however, color harmony is a great tool that allows beginners to have better insight on color choice!