Chapter Four discusses some basic color terminology such as hue, saturation, and value, but also goes further in discussing the importance color plays in composition. Personally, this chapter was a light read for me, having experience in color theory through a number of other design courses and also, in my own photography. I get a bit of a thrill when reviewing photos of my own and being able to find color compositions that work well together. Often, these pictures aren’t even taken at the same place or in the same year but manage to complement each other and work well side-by-side in a portfolio which speaks to the power of color when it comes to mood. When working on a digital design project, I often find myself relying on Adobe’s color tool (found here) to create palettes that complement whatever project I happen to be working on at the time. I find it helpful because sometimes, this tool presents a combination I wouldn’t have considered on my own.
It also reminded me of a video I had come across within the last year or so that I bookmarked, which used clips from Pixar movies and tied the clips by their use of color. After revisiting the video again, it pretty amazing to think of all the work that goes into getting the color just right in order to convey a feeling or mood in their animation. I’ve added the video here if anyone is interested:
ROYGBIV: A Pixar Supercut from Rishi Kaneria on Vimeo.
Chapter Five, ‘Weird Science’ was more about experimentation and the idea that, without experimenting you ultimately end up limiting yourself in your creative endeavors. The two sections of this chapter that will likely stick with me is the notion of making “bad art” and the idea of “failing better”. I tend to struggle will the thought of making bad art which is inevitably tied to my tendency to strive for perfection and my impatient nature. I think that this course (in a general sense) is helping me break that within myself because I have little to no experience in the area of motion design. I have no choice but to experiment in order to try to achieve the results I am after. I enjoyed the reference to the Samuel Beckett quote because my husband frequently likes to remind me of the “fail better” mantra when I’m grumbling that something I was working on isn’t yielding the result I thought it would. I’m going to try to really practice the messages of this chapter when it comes to my animations because I know it will ultimately be a practice that I can apply to other artistic projects as soon as become comfortable with it.