Learn the Four Important Color Properties!

There are a few key color properties that you will need to learn in order to use the color wheel effectively.

We will look at these characteristics in detail.

But first, I need you to get out your digital arts program of choice as we are going to practice these characteristics.

Start up a canvas and paint some random solid shapes and start filling in the random shape with the color properties you will go over.

I have drawn a new color wheel for you to reference. This color wheel will contain all the properties of hue, value, intensity, and temperature.

You don’t need to replicate this color wheel. All I need you to know is that this color wheel will contain the color characteristics that we will talk about. In fact, your digital program will have the colors on this color wheel arranged in some way or another.

See if you can find the color spectrums in your digital art program that fits into this color wheel as it’ll help you find the right colors for your picture in terms of creating color harmony and color contrasts.

1. Use the color wheel hues

Any time that we talk about a color, we are actually referring to the term, ‘hue.’ Basically a color hue is the color itself. For example, if we are talking about the color blue, we are actually referring to the hue of blue.

Tone is another way to talk about color hues. If anytime I refer to color tone, I am referring to how the color hues are represented. For example, grayscale is a black and white tone representation of the color hues within a picture.

Right now, I want you to use the color wheel and pick a color hue that you like to work with and to fill your shape with it. Obviously, this will be the easiest part of the exercise as it’s just using one color that you like.

This will be your hue color.

2. Figuring out temperature

As you use the color wheel to find out new properties, there is a property called temperature which dictates how color hues will be divided into.

Normally there are two types of temperatures: warm and cool colors. This is how you determine the mood of your digital painting.

Just looking at the color wheel, you can see a general division of color hues: red, orange, and yellow are warm colors while blue, purple, and green belong to the cool hue category.

3. The properties of value

Hence, it’s easier to use the color wheel to determine if you feel the colors belong to the categories of warm or cool and the various values associated with that color hue.

For illustration purposes, I’ve chosen red and blue as the main warm and cool color hues with different value instances.

Use this as a reference point.

4. The properties of intensity

The last few color properties involve the use of intensity. Basically, there are two instances of color manipulation: dulling of the color and brightening of the color. I’ve taken the example and dulled the color using sponge brushes.

See if you can dull the colors with your example! This is where you need to ask yourself what tools you need to use to dull the colors. For instance, I know that you can dull the colors using the sponge tool in Photoshop. So what tool is available in your digital art program?

The same applies for brightening colors up. How would you brighten the colors in your program? There should be something equivalent to a dodge tool to lighten the bright colors and the burn tool to darken the darker colors.

What would you need to do to manipulate these color properties?

Take some time off and practice manipulating colors without having to paint over the hues with a different color. The object of this exercise is to figure out other tools beside the main brush tool.

If you haven’t guessed it yet, you can’t change one color property without affecting the other three color properties.

For example, changing the intensity of the orange hue changes it to yellowish hue with a different temperature feel. Moreover, it changes the overall color value of the painting as it moves it towards a lighter yellow hue.

Once you know the terminology and figure out how to change the color properties, the next logical step is learning how to apply them.

This is where the fun starts! Get your motivation level up you’re going to learn how to apply them soon!

Return from Color Properties to Digital Art Techniques.
Return from Color Properties to the 2d Digital Art Guide.