From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Color
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Playing with complementary colors
From the course: Graphic Design Foundations: Color
Playing with complementary colors
- The word "play" is the best word that I can think of for describing what complementary colors can do with one another, but "fight" is another word that comes to mind. Complements, like people who have more differences than things in common, can create a dynamic energy between each other. Ever heard the phrase "opposites attract"? That's a complementary relationship. In an image, if you can control how complements are used, you can play with the energy of the colors fighting or playing to attract attention and move the eye around the image. To demonstrate the kind of playful energy that can be harnessed with complements, I'll start with a book that I wrote and illustrated, "My Little Pony: Under the Sparkling Sea." I used iridescent colors to represent the magic of a place with the idea of being in an underwater world. So by studying the iridescence of shells, and bubbles, and jellyfish, I was able to discover complementary colors in action that provided the pallet that just fit the…
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