Color Theory Tutorial
By Alan Gutierrez
Introduction

This is a tutorial I wrote around 2005, which was never fully finished. It only will involve color theory. If there is enough interest, I’ll add one on my Photoshop techniques as well. This method was taught originally to me in the early 1980's at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, by instructor Judith Crook.

Goethe Color Method

Many artists have, over the years, asked about my approach to color. It actually took 5 years of study, (long after my graduation from ACCD) including many works, often failed, before I came to finally understand the basics of this theory. It's even more remarkable for me that, in my grade school days, I was diagnosed Red-Green color blind, and, perhaps as an attempt to overcome it, I pursued the theory to a level beyond just taking one class and doing well at it- I was delighted by Judith's statement that color blindness was not a handicap in understanding and applying the principles. In fact, in the followup elective class on her color theory (the first was a requirement at ACCD), I was one of only 2 male students there, which indicated to me that the fear was mostly one of social stigma.
Basically, the theory was originated by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749-1832). Best known as the writer of Faust, and a philosopher, his color theory is the result of 30 years of research. It was Goethe that formulated the color wheel, based on the 3 primary colors, yellow, red, and blue.
There's a lot more to Goethe's ideas than this. He delved into the psycological and spiritual meanings of color-too much to go into here. And it was nearly a century before artist and scientists accepted this theory as fact. Even today, few artists practice the principles, though many artists do use the concepts-even at times not actually knowing it intellectually, but intuitively.
I never actually read Goethe's writing directly-they were second hand from Judith Crook. Furthermore there are several other influences here, including Albert H. Munsell (1858-1818), and Paul Klee (1879-1940). And during the 24 years since I first learned the theory, I've added some ideas of my own.
Judith taught 3 systems of color;
Red/Green
Yellow/Violet
Orange/Blue
Those are the basics, from the Goethe color wheel. Later on, I 'discovered' one more system
Yellow Green/Purple
During the classes at ACCD, we were made to paint a series of swatches of hues of each system, arranged in a pyramid shape, usually arranged in 9 triangles. Here's where it is hard to teach online, because one must see the colors to understand how the arraingement worked. Basically, the idea was to create two fully saturated colors (red and green as example) and then 'cross' from red to green in hues (which would pass into the gray realm if you can visualize the color wheel and it's workings) and have the effect of enhancing each other (red enhancing or complementing green)
The same goes for the other three, swatches of 9, with orange/blue, yellow/violet and finally yellow green/purple (the latter not done in Judith's class but basicially the same idea)
During the first years, I had not the foggiest idea what I was doing, and this after being there for weeks studying it, so I can't imagine the readers here getting it, but one thing that did happen is that it 'stuck' in the back of my mind, so, after many years of painting and wanting to 'get it'-I finally did.
It happened in 1985, 3 years after I graduated. I was contracted to do a series of toy box covers for Tonka Toys, called 'Legions of Power'. The art director, Liz Durazo, liked some colorful art I'd done, which used the theories I'd learned until then, but was happening by 'chance', like a shooter hitting a target by chance, if one aims at it long enough and hits it-that kind of thing. In fact, the first painting (of ten) was a complete flop, and showed I really didn't have the actual grasp of the Goethe color theory at all-I was on the verge of being canned. My sketches (in color) were lackluster and dull, I'm sure intimidation had something to do with it-it was by far the most expensive and high paying job I'd done before (and even since) and I was stuggling to understand the theory in practice.
Thanks to Liz Durazo's expert art direction-there's never been one better before or since-I prevailed-the second painting was successful! From that point on, I used very bright colors in very close proximity to each other. You can see the result in the Sci-Fi gallery section in the 'Legions of Power' gallery. Many do still consider this among my best work.
But what goes down well in a space environment isn't suited for realistic landscapes, or when a client wants costumes of a certain color, etc. Basically, I've tried to apply the 4 color systems in every painting.
One trick I've tried to do, is to get 2 or more systems in a single painting. I've even managed three.