Find the balance
What better way to explore the
balance of colors than to apply it to
one of your own pieces of artwork.
You can use Goethe’s scale to fi nd
balance within a composition by
doing the following:
- List the colors you are using in
order from strongest to weakest. - Place the corresponding
numbers under the color names. - Working from the outsides to
the center, swap the numbers as
follows:
Glossary of Color Terms
Here is a quick overview of several color
terms and how they are used- Luminosity—Th e perception of
brightness of a given color - Complementary—2 colors directly
across from each other on the color
wheel - Triadic—3 colors in a triangular
form on a color wheel - Double Split Complementary—^2
pairs of complementary colors forming
an “x” on the color wheel (such as
yellow, violet, red, and green) sometimes
with an additional color added in
fi gure 3
fi gure 4
figure 3
- The strongest and weakest colors trade
numbers - The second strongest and second weakest
colors trade numbers - If you are using an odd number of colors, the
color in the center keeps its number
- These new number assignments indicate how
many parts of each color need to be used in
your composition in order to achieve a harmony
between the colors.
Exercise 1: Balance a
complementary color scheme
Let’s return to the complements—yellow and
violet—to put this into practice. In Figure 3, yellow
(9) + violet (3) switch position to become yellow
(3) + violet (9).
When possible, reduce the numbers, but
maintain the ratio, i.e., 3:9 can be reduced to 1:3.
This ration of 1:3 means that every time yellow
appears in a composition, 3 times as much violet is
needed to tame it and create harmony.
Example 2: Balance a triadic
color scheme
Let’s try again with the triadic color scheme. In
Figure 4, I’ve switched the numbering so orange (8),
green (4), and violet (3) become orange (3), green
(stays 4), and violet (8).
fi gure 4