Hello Empire Minecraft. In my series of threads about art, I originally said I wouldn't post these guides again. However, I've been feeling depressed over the absence of the series; I have been anti-social, both verbally and through text. Trying to get others to talk to via Skype or Mumble is a possible solution, but then everyone has to agree for a specified time. As from what the older viewers can tell, I know a lot about art, particularly with building in Minecraft and other related games. Why know so much that you can't apply or spread? For these reasons, I'm starting the Building Guides series again! This topic is about color, from the basics to how it's applied to any visual. *In the basics, there may be information already known by the majority of the community, but I think it's unlikely to be 100%. Color Basics We humans are always seeing color. It seems like it's natural, but it's not. Color is just how our eyes see the universe from reflections of different wavelengths. Some people are color-blind and can't see colors in a certain wavelength range while others are able to view more. Colors are often classified by their location on the color wheel. The color wheel shown represents three (3) main categories of color, primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary colors are the three (3) base colors. Combining two (2) primary colors will result with a secondary color. Then, a primary color and a secondary color adjacent to each other on the color wheel can be combined to create a tertiary color. Primary Colors: Red Blue Yellow (Green for light) Secondary Colors: Purple (Red + Blue) Green (Blue + Yellow) Orange (Red + Yellow) Tertiary Colors: Red-Purple Blue-Purple (Or Violet) Blue-Green (Or Cyan) Yellow-Green Yellow-Orange Red-Orange The Grayscale There's also another set of colors called a grayscale. White, gray, and black are the color components of it. These colors are sometimes referred to having no color, but are actually a mix of all colors being either reflected or absorbed. White is a reflection of all colors, black is all colors absorbed, and all shades of gray are in-between. *The majority of the text you're reading right now is colored white on a black background. Colors apart of the color wheel can also be influenced by combining them with the grayscale. The result is a color of less saturation, or intensity. Pink, a combination of red and a light gray, is an example of these colors. The color of hardened clay in Minecraft is a desaturated red-orange. This base color is carried over to it's stained variants. This results with a desaturated color with a brownish* tint from the regular hardened clay, as opposed to the boldness of wool and stained glass. *Brown is made by combining red, yellow, and a dark gray together. The color can be divided into equal halves representing the warm and cold colors. One of the primary warm colors, red a color of fire and stars, representing the lowest temperatures. Based on surveys in the United States and Europe, red is the second most favored color, behind blue. In design aspects, it's used to symbolize strong emotion such as love, anger, and much, much more. A primary warm color, yellow is a bright color of fire and stars, including the sun, as well as the color of gold. Due to it's high visibility, yellow is often used on objects that need to be seen. It can also symbolize optimism, enthusiasm, danger, etc. Yellow is one of the most affected colors by being darkened. It loses a majority of it's original symbolism from this. The cold primary color, blue is the color of the Earth's sky and the sea. From surveys in United States and Europe, it's the most favored color. Blue can vary in symbolism by it's value whether it's towards white, black, or in-between. Some symbolisms to blue include confidence, trustworthiness, and sorrow. In fire and stars, blue represents the highest temperatures. The warm secondary color, orange is a color of fire and stars. Orange symbolizes high energy and heat. An abundant secondary cold color, Green is the color of most plants. It symbolizes new life, wealth, sickness, etc. A naturally scare secondary cold color, purple symbolizes royalty and piety. The wavelength range for purple causes it to be the most difficult color for the human eye to distinguish. White is the combination of all 3 colors of the color wheel. All light reflects off it. Within designing, white symbolizes light, cleanness, plainness, the new, etc. With these meanings, it's often painted on what's meant to be clean. White can amplify the warmness or coldness of colors next to it. This also explains why snows feels cold; it appears white, but it's actually a pale, light blue. Black is the result of all light being absorbed. Black takes much symbolism from white in the opposite way, symbolizing, darkness, evil, etc. Gray is in-between color of black and white. It symbolizes neutrality, boredom, the elderly, etc. Gray tends to adapt with its surroundings when it comes to either feeling cool or warm. From surveys, it's the most unfavored color. Despite it's combination of red and yellow, Brown is considered a neutral color along with the grayscale. It's the color of soil, much animal fur, etc. Brown may be classified with black, white, and gray, but it's components of warm colors can provide feeling of warmth such as with a log cabin during a taiga winter.
To succeed at color harmony and make a visual pleasing, it's important to know color schemes and how to use them effectively. Complimentary colors are ones that are on direct opposites of the color wheel and provide contrast to the equivalent of black and white. Colors of this combination are used to grab viewer's attention by their differentiation. However, using complimentary colors too much can become overwhelming. Another variant called 'sub complimentary' colors, a color scheme with two (2) adjacent colors to a compliment, can be used to make designing more versatile at the cost of slightly less contrast. A complimentary color scheme using the 2 (two) adjacent colors as opposed to the originals is known as a tetradic color scheme. An analogue color scheme, also known as an analogous or dominance harmony, is composed of colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel. This can provide more color variety without too much contrast. The whole color wheel can be considered an analogous because the colors adjacent to one shares a component (Example: Blue is next to violet, a more bluish purple). A triadic color scheme takes it name partly from 'tri', the prefix for three (3). It's also takes the form of a triangle on the color wheel when straight lines are drawn from one color to another. It's vibrant, but balance with them is essential for it's pleasure. The three primary and secondary colors are some triadic color schemes. If you missed the past guides, here are the links: Color Palette: http://empireminecraft.com/threads/building-guide-color-palette.33260/ Planning:http://empireminecraft.com/threads/building-guide-planning.33816/ Energetic Feeling: http://empireminecraft.com/threads/building-guide-energetic-feeling.36300/ Finale (Original): http://empireminecraft.com/threads/building-guide-finally.37163/
Thank you for doing this! Hopefully we will start seeing more vibrant builds instead of wood huts everywhere!
That was my signature. And I believe the rule is to watch your language even if it is censored. I don't mind, I just know that there are some people who do.
Bump. At this point, I'll be taking any suggestions to add onto this guide. I should have a new guide released tomorrow by noon (EDT). Also, don't forget you can suggest topics for me to cover in future guides.
