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Color/ Composition & Art Terms

Additive Color- how the colors red, green, and blue are used together to make other colors that are perceived by the eye. Blue and green create cyan. Red and green create yellow. Blue and red create magenta. All three together create white.

CMYK Color- Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black (key). Often used in printing, and the four colors are blended together. They become darker as they are put together (subtractive).

Color depth- the number of bits per pixel to make a color on a screen. Most computers support 32- bit color.

Color wheel- a wheel of colors that represents the relationships between primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.

Greyscale-  range of shades of grey, white to black.

Hue- a color or shade, the name we use to classify a color (blue, green, red)

Monochromatic- consisting of only one color or very similar hues of one color.

RGB Color- red, green, and blue are used blended together to create colors. Useful for screens. Added together, they create white (additive color).

Shade- any color mixed with black to make a darker hue.

Tint- any color mixed with white to lighten the hue.

Tone- any color mixed with grey to dull the hue. It will bring the intensity down.

Subtractive color- when cyan, yellow, and magenta are blended together and create darker hues. All three together create black.

Triadic- any three colors that are evenly spaced on the color wheel, for example orange, blue, and purple.

1-dimensional- having one dimension, for example a single line.

2-dimensional- drawings, paintings, photographs for example, that have height and width but not depth. A "flat" image.

3-dimensional- something that has dimensions that include height, width, and depth. This could be a sculpture, installation, etc.

4-dimensional- in art this would be a 3-D object that is moving through space. It can be portrayed in drawing, painting, and sculpture.

Asymmetry- when there are different visuals on each side, that are a different weight, within a piece but still has a sense of balance because the elements balance one another.

Chiaroscuro- use of strong sense of light and dark creating highly contrasted piece.

Focal point- the part of a piece that the viewer's eye is naturally drawn to. The artist must make sure they are drawing attention to the part of the piece they want to be the focal point.

Juxtaposition- when two things are purposely placed next to one another for comparison or contrast.

Leading lines- technique used to drawn attention to certain areas of a piece by using lines or elements that lead the eye around the piece.

Motif- a recurring image or symbol within a piece or series of pieces.

Negative space- the empty space around the subjects of a piece. It may create interesting shapes or images.

Opacity- how much light is let through an object to create more opaque or transparent image.

Postmodernism- a 20th century style that was a rebellion against modernism. A movement that refused to accept definitions of what art "should be."

Unity- design concept that enforces elements of a piece of art to be cohesive and complete as a whole.

Rule of thirds- principle that encourages images to be composed using a grid of thirds, with the subject being at the crosshairs of the grid.

Transparency- how see-through an image is or element is. Opposite of opaque images.

Value- the lightness or darkness of an element.




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