Understanding Colour (eBook) by Adam Nichols

About the Author:

Adam Nichols

Adam Nichols is an Australian Concept Artist, Illustrator and Art Director having worked for video game mecca Krome Studios, indie breakthrough The Binary Mill and for international success story Halfbrick Studios. He is currently founder and Art Director of SkullStar Studios.

He has worked with many of the largest international publishers including Lucasarts, Revolution Studios, Konami, EA, Activision, Microsoft and Atari on some of the largest IP in the world. His catalogue of work includes credits on video games such as Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Hellboy: The Science of Evil, Fruit Ninja, Clonewars: The Republic Heroes, Mini Motor Racing and TY The Tasmanian Tiger. He has also worked on brands such as Street Fighter, Darkstalkers, Warhammer 40k, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2 and Ghostbusters along with many others.

Throughout his visually diverse career Adam has focused on the power of colour in his work. He has compiled this colour theory reference book for artists of every skill level, discipline and background. It contains a range of subject matter providing simple sets of methodologies for its application. You will be introduced to colour from the ground up, explaining each step and colour process along the way, from light, colour wheels and colour schemes to colour science and colour perception.

Every artist can expand their skill set by learning new ways to understand colour. It is only by learning and developing our visual vocabulary that we can continue to see the world differently each and every day.

Colour is like cooking, in that the wrong ingredient can spoil the whole meal.

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eBOOK CONTENTS:

COLOUR

- The colour Spectrum

- Light

COLOUR BASICS

- Colour Systems

- RYB, RGB and CMYK

- Real Colour Wheel

- Munsell's Colour System

- Chroma Scale

- Hexadecimal Colour Codes

- Spectral Value

- Dithering

COLOUR COMMUNICATION

- Metaphorically Speaking

 - Red

- Green

- Blue

- Yellow

- Purple

- Orange

- Black 

- White

COLOUR SCHEMES:

- Ittens Colour Contrasts

- Warm vs Cool

- Colour Variation

- Key

COLOUR PALETTES

- Illustration Palettes

- Departmental Palettes

- Art Direction Palettes

- Colour Scripts

- Colour Palette Breakdown

COLOUR SCIENCE

- Electromagnetic Spectrum

- LAB Colour Space

- CIE XYZ Colour space

- Gamut

- Gamma

- Colour Calibration

COLOUR ODDITIES

- Fake Colours

- Most Visible Colour

- Colour Fatigue

- Colour Legibility

- Red at Twilight

- Vibrating Boundaries

- Colour Blindness

- Subjective Colour

- After-images

- Colour Illusions

COLOUR AND LIGHT

- Lighting

- Reflection, refraction and Absorption

- Surface Quality

- Basic Lighting Terminology

- Basic Lighting

- 3 Point Lighting

- Common Lighting Errors

- Environmental Lighting

- Colour Casts

- Volumetrics

- Time of Day

APPENDIX

- Colour Centric Art Movements

- Terminology Index

- Special Thanks

- Recommended Reading