Harmony
Harmony
In poetry, we talk about the musicality of a poem. Color is going to be a key part of the musicality of the illustration.
Color is an indivisible part of a line or a shape. Form is form because it has a color or a set of colors that define it as an object, recognizable or not. From there, the choice of colors is a subjective decision and has to be controlled by the illustrator.
Similarities can be made with music. Thus, we can have notes, chords, and rests. Intensities and textures.
If we equate a set of colors to a set of notes, they have to form a well-tuned chord. It has to generate something special together.
Through our experience, colors can have connotations in terms of their meaning that can help us control a message or not spoil it. Just as there are notes and chords that sound happy or sad, we can do the same with colors. There is a subjectivity that will depend on the reader of the image. Just as there are people who like to listen to quiet music or others who need happy music to accompany them.
The elements that we can control in the color of an illustration are:
Silence: Absence of color.
Tone: Color.
Note: Dimensions of a colored mass.
Number of notes: Quantity of masses of color.
Chords: Groups of colors or shades of colors,
Scales: The choice of colors that make up the work
Intensity: Livelier or more muted,
Texture: Plain or textured color. Type of brushstroke,...