Color Harmonies

This illustration has various color harmonies. The triangles within the sunglasses shows a triadic harmony between the primary colors: red, blue and yellow. These colors are evenly spaced on the color wheel. Though there is high contrast, there is still a balance between the vibrant colors. There is also a complementary harmony between the bright red within the person's hair and the dark green of the plants. These colors are across each other on the color wheel. The brightness of the red hair is definitely balanced by the green because it does not cause too much tension to the eyes.  

Chin, Marcos. "Style (Shades)." Society of Illustrators 54th Annual of American Illustration Jan-March 2012: 176. Advertising.

Color Schemes

I thought this illustration by Marcos Chin had a very interesting color scheme because of the usage of so many primary and secondary colors. It creates a very bright and loud design, which definitely captures your attention. The skin tone of the woman being red is the brightest, and makes her stand out, especially against the black background. The colors around her neck alternate between warm and cool colors, but they do not pop out as much as the red. The cool colors definitely recede more than the pops of yellow in the design. However, the small lines of bright yellow helps separate the colors at the neck. Though there are so many different colors, there is still color harmony seen through the placement of complementary and analogous colors.

Chin, Marcos. "Textile." Society of Illustrators 54th Annual of American Illustration Jan-March 2012: 159. Institutional.

Positive/Negative

Both of these designs are good examples of making positive and negative space visually appealing. In this design, the red circle creates emphasis and asymmetrical balance with the elephant, which grabs the initial attention of the viewer. As you follow where the elephant is looking, the viewer is then led to the presence of the mouse created by the negative space under the elephant. The way the shape of the mouse completes the shape of the elephant gives the design a sense of unity through proximity.








Similarly, the second design has images created in both the positive and negative space. However, I think it is a bit harder to differentiate which is the foreground and which is the background. Though there is emphasis on the girl due to the contrasting brighter color that surrounds her, but when you look from afar, I actually notice the blue man first. Since it is hard to tell which is positive and negative space, it proves that both positive and negative space has been effectively created. Additionally, there is a lot of unity present with the repetition of elements and colors. 

Durado, Adonis. "Capitalists Who Fear the Free Market." Society of Illustrators 54th Annual of American Illustration Jan-March 2012: 79. Editorial.

Steininger, Otto. "Insomnia." Society of Illustrators 54th Annual of American Illustration Jan-March 2012: 135. Editorial.