A digital lesson about colour and

pattern

2005 Pearson Publishing

Colour and pattern are two powerful artistic tools.

Artists use colour and pattern in a huge variety of ways to create images, both pictures and objects, that are good to look at.

For this lesson I’m using some ideas about colour and pattern that are inspired by a painter called Robert Delaunay (1885–1941).

Robert Delaunay used colour to make his pictures good to look at. He rejected the ordinary colours of the buildings and people. Instead, he used beautiful combinations of rainbow effects, and warm and cool colours.

Robert Delaunay made pictures that experiment and combine the following:• Representation – things you can recognise,

like buildings and people.• Abstract shapes – just shapes not things you

can recognise.

Like Delaunay, I am going to use buildings as a starting

point.This is a digital photograph.

My first step is to use a find edges filter in the

photo manipulation software.

This has removed the real colours, which I am

not interested in.

Next, I’ve increased the contrast. This has made the

main shapes very clear.

I’ve used the magic wand tool to select the

key shapes which make

up the cathedral.

I’ve used a tool called a gradient fill to pour colour

into these shapes. I’ve set the gradient to fill from

blues to rich purple into each shape.

I’m continuing with this idea to put colours into the design that simply look good. It’s just

the approach that Delaunay would have taken.

More colour!

Even more.

Now something a little different.

I’ve used the magic wand again. This time I’ve selected and copied some of the purple

shapes from the cathedral, and then pasted

them into the tree!

Just here

I’ve repeated this with some of the

orange shapes on the left.

The effect is to increase the patterns and shapes.

This creates new rhythms

and relationships in the picture, and makes both

the colour and the pattern more interesting.

Delaunay’s pictures have a great texture since they

are oil paintings. I’ve made the digital texture richer by using the add

noise filter.

I’ve also replaced some of the heavy black lines with

pale green to soften the effect of colour in the middle area.

Just here

I’ve used the colour balance

tool to tone down the greens, and make the whole

image warmer and more red.

Next, I use a poster edges filter

to make the edges of the shapes a little more

dramatic.

Finally, to complete my design in the spirit of Robert Delaunay, I’ve increased the texture

again. I’ve also changed the colour

balance to make the whole image

a little warmer.

This is an experiment that puts together representation (things you can recognise, like buildings) and abstract

shapes (just shapes not things). Like Delaunay, I’ve combined both ideas, and

used colour freely.

Let’s see that again without the captions.

Just watch how the picture develops.

Thank you for following this lesson.

Now it’s time for you to try out some of these ideas!