Color ball

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The paintball (even color ball , colors globe , English: color sphere) is a three-color system that provides a comprehensive overview of all of the tones and clarifies certain aspects about their order and relations. It specifies the elementary fundamentals, but it cannot fully grasp the multidimensional possibilities and richness of the world of colors.

The color ball is one of many ways to arrange the color tones in a three-dimensional color system. Other shapes are, for example, ellipsoids , hemispheres , cones , pyramids , tetrahedra , cubes , cylinders or completely free shapes.

description

Essentially, all paintballs are constructed the same way.

  1. The pure colors lie on the equator (most intense, saturated , pure colored , unclouded, optimal colors , pure colored colors, spectrally pure, full colors). Similar to a color wheel , similar colors run backwards next to each other. Here the various colored balls differ in that the number and the selection of colors on the equator vary.
  2. White is on the North Pole and black on the South Pole . The two colors are called pure non-colors (pure achromatic colors).
  3. The gray axis (achromatic straight line, achromatic gray axis ) stretches along the earth's axis between black and white . All gray shades , the achromatic colors (achromatic, non-colors) are located here. The middle, neutral gray is in the center of the sphere .
  4. On the outer skin of the northern hemisphere are the bright clear colors (whitened, white brightened, white clouded). These are mixtures of a pure color with white (e.g. light green , pink ). On the outer skin of the southern hemisphere are the dark, clear colors (darkened black, clouded black, blackened light ) (e.g. dark green, dark red ).
  5. In the interior of the sphere are the cloudy colors (broken, cloudy gray, impure, unsaturated) (e.g. old pink, brown , olive green).
  6. All colors of the color sphere (outer skin, equator and interior) except for the achromatic colors of the gray axis are called colored colors (chromatic colors, chromatic colors).
  7. The complementary colors (complementary colors, opposing colors, compensation colors) are diametrically opposed. In a narrower sense, they are opposite in the color wheel on the equator. In a broader sense, complementary colors are diametrically opposed on the entire surface of the sphere (e.g. dark green and pink, black and white).
  8. Overall, the color ball illustrates the three color characteristics (determinant, dimension, property, characteristic, component, criterion, parameter, variable) hue , lightness and saturation .
    • The color changes along a horizontal circular line. This follows according to the colors on the equator line . Colors of the same hue are on the vertical semicircles that lie between the meridians ( degrees of longitude ).
    • The colors become lighter towards the top and darker towards the bottom. (Roughly simplified, one could say that colors of the same brightness on horizontal circles are at the height of the circles of latitude . But since the pure colors on the equator are not equally bright, the brightness differs on these circles.)
    • From the outside to the inside in the direction of the gray axis, the saturation decreases or the turbidity increases. Colors of the same saturation lie on the surface of vertical cylinders (parallel to the central gray axis).

advantages

  1. The color ball has a simple shape that is symmetrical on all sides.
  2. The description of the color ball is clear, since the terms of the earth can be taken from geography.
  3. The color ball clearly illustrates the complementary color laws. The complementary colors (in the broader sense) are diametrically opposite on the surface of the sphere.
  4. Color tones and intensities are correctly distributed.
  5. On the color ball, the color terms (basic categories) colorful, pure, light-clear, dark-clear, clouded and achromatic colors can be clearly distinguished.

disadvantage

  1. The brightnesses are not distributed correctly. The pure colors on the equator are of different lightness and should be on a wavy line or on different degrees of latitude. (The disadvantage of this arrangement, however, would be that the complementary colors would no longer be exactly opposite.)
  2. The perceptual equidistance is not fulfilled, since there are fewer equally spaced colors between yellow and white than between purple and white.
  3. In general, the same problems exist with the color ball as with any other color system. Depending on whether they were created under aesthetic, artistic, physical, physiological, psychological or technical aspects, there are differences. There is no such thing as a universally valid color ball that meets all requirements.
Color ball after Aron Sigfrid Forsius from 1611
Philipp Otto Runge's color ball from 1810
Color ball after Wilhelm Wundt from 1874

Development of the color balls

Since ancient times people have made countless attempts to get a grip on the variety of colors and to make them understandable by means of a color system .

Color ball by Aron Sigfrid Forsius

The first detectable color ball comes from the Finnish astronomer and priest Aron Sigfrid Forsius (or Siegfried Aronsen Forsius, died 1637). In 1611 he published a manuscript that was only rediscovered in the Royal Library in Stockholm in the previous century and presented in 1969. Although Forsius' drawing is two-dimensional, Narciso Silvestrini is certain that his system was meant to be spherical. Forsius assumed black and white as the primary colors, from which all other colors have their origin. Between these colors he placed red, yellow, green and blue together with gray as the most important colors in the middle level. Other colors complemented the ball with white and black. Apart from the problems with perspective, Forsius created the basis for the modern three-dimensional color systems.

Color ball by Philipp Otto Runge

While Forsius' model received little attention, the color ball (published in 1810) by the north German painter Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810) is one of the most influential spatial models. Basically, Runge's color ball was constructed in the same way as Forsius'. Only the interpretations were different. On the poles there were white and black. For Runge, they weren't colors, but symbols. The light stood for the good and the darkness for the bad. Furthermore Runge assumed that there were only three colors, the three primary colors (subtractive for him as a painter) yellow, red and blue. For Runge they were the simple symbol of the Trinity of God. With the corresponding mixtures of secondary and tertiary colors , Runge received a twelve-part color wheel on the equator. On the surface of the sphere, diametrically opposite, were the complementary colors, which dissolved in the center of the sphere in a neutral, medium gray. Runge chose the spherical shape because, in his opinion, the central importance of the mean gray was most evident here. In addition, the perfect shape of the sphere was a symbol of life for the mystic Runge. It is unclear whether Runge wanted to refer to color sensations, light or body colors in his color ball.

Color ball by Wilhelm Wundt

The German physiologist and psychologist Wilhelm Wundt (1832–1920) published his color ball in 1874. As with Forsius and Runge, white and black were at the poles and gray in the center of the sphere. There were eight colors on the equator: yellow, red, purple (magenta), violet , blue, blue-green, green, and yellow-green. Wundt developed his color system to better understand the processes of perception and sensation. He chose the spherical shape because it most vividly expresses the entire, self-contained system of light sensations. However, Wundt noted that he could just as easily have chosen a different spatial structure. Indeed, in 1893, Wundt presented a conical arrangement.

Modern color ball from 2008

Color ball by Johannes Itten

The Swiss painter and art theorist Johannes Itten (1888–1967) designed a sphere of paint that was constructed just like that of Runge. As a painter, Itten's sphere refers to body colors (paints). Itten ignored Runge's religious and mystical interpretations. For him it was important that the sphere shows the variety of colors and that it clarifies fundamental relationships such as the complementary laws or the relationships to black and white.

Modern variants

Modern colored spheres are often no longer divided into single-colored segments, but instead have continuously changing color tones. The choice of colors is based, for example, on the RGB system.

literature

  • Karl Schawelka: Color. Why we see them as we see them . 1st edition. Publishing house of the Bauhaus University, Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-86068-314-9 .
  • Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer : Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 .
  • Friederike Wiegand: The art of seeing. A guide to image viewing . 2nd Edition. Daedalus Verlag Joachim Herbst, Münster 2019, ISBN 978-3-89126-283-2 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Itten: Art of Color. Subjective experience and objective recognition as ways to art . 4th edition. Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1961, ISBN 3-473-61550-1 , p. 114 and 117 .
  2. ↑ Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer: Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 , p. 21-184 .
  3. ↑ Jörg Michael Matthaei: Basic questions of graphic design . 1st edition. Heinz Moos Verlag, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-7879-0081-0 , p. 136 .
  4. ↑ Friederike Wiegand: The art of seeing. A guide to image viewing . 2nd Edition. Daedalus Verlag Joachim Herbst, Münster 2019, ISBN 978-3-89126-283-2 , p. 142 .
  5. ↑ Johannes Itten: Art of Color. Subjective experience and objective recognition as ways to art . 4th edition. Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1961, ISBN 3-473-61550-1 , p. 114 .
  6. ↑ Jörg Michael Matthaei: Basic questions of graphic design . 1st edition. Heinz Moos Verlag, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-7879-0081-0 , p. 136 .
  7. ↑ Jörg Michael Matthaei: Basic questions of graphic design . 1st edition. Heinz Moos Verlag, Munich 1975, ISBN 3-7879-0081-0 , p. 135 .
  8. ↑ Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer: Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 , p. 22 and 23 .
  9. ^ Aron Sigfrid Forsius. colorsystem, accessed on October 21, 2019 (German).
  10. ↑ Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer: Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 , p. 22 .
  11. ↑ Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer: Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 , p. 21-23 .
  12. ↑ Karl Schawelka: Color. Why we see them as we see them . 1st edition. Verlag der Bauhaus-Universität, Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-86068-314-9 , p. 149 .
  13. ↑ Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer: Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 , p. 56 .
  14. ↑ The color ball according to Runge. Retrieved October 21, 2019 .
  15. ↑ Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer: Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 , p. 58 .
  16. ↑ Karl Schawelka: Color. Why we see them as we see them . 1st edition. Verlag der Bauhaus-Universität, Weimar 2007, ISBN 978-3-86068-314-9 , p. 150 .
  17. ↑ Wilhelm Wundt. colorsystem, accessed on October 21, 2019 (German).
  18. ↑ Narciso Silvestrini, Ernst Peter Fischer: Color systems in art and science . Ed .: Klaus Stromer. 1st edition. DuMont Buchverlag, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-7701-4397-3 , p. 85 .
  19. ↑ Color Studies and Color Mixtures in Art | School lexicon | Learning aid. Retrieved October 21, 2019 .
  20. ↑ Johannes Itten: Art of Color. Subjective experience and objective recognition as ways to art . 4th edition. Otto Maier Verlag, Ravensburg 1961, ISBN 3-473-61550-1 , p. 114 .
  21. ↑ Itten color wheel. February 23, 2017, accessed October 21, 2019 .