Alright, next up is a cover I had to do using only abstract graphic elements. The book was chosen for me and I was only allowed to use three colors. On top of that, the colors had to be some kind of complimentary colors.
From a basic standpoint, there are three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. Not exactly red, yellow and blue, but close enough for our purposes. Mixing any two of those in equal parts makes a secondary color, such as purple, green, and orange. Mix a primary and a secondary and you get a tertiary color, such as that lovely shade of puke your parents used for carpet in the 60s.
A normal color wheel has 12 colors: Yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, red-violet, violet, blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow-green.
There are several type of complimentary colors. The easiest to explain is a normal compliment, which are two colors that appear opposite each other on the color wheel. Orange and blue for example. A split compliment would be a color and the two colors on opposite sides of its compliment. Orange, blue-violet, and blue-green, for example.
You can also create compliments from 4 colors (tetrad) , triangle patterns of 3 (triad), etc.
I chose an analogous color scheme, which are colors next to each other on the color wheel. Thus, blue, blue-violet, and violet.
WARNING - If the images appear cropped (like they do on my screen), feel free to check out the full versions in my pics section, under design.)
As you can tell, it looks like three shades of blue. But it isn't. It's an illusion caused by the colors' proximity to each other and this crappy low res version.
I also did one using yellow, orange, and blue-violet, which is a split compliment (which I didn't post here.). We were allowed to use black in one or the other, but I felt black was a cop out, so I didn't use it in either.
Yes, black is a color, in case you want to argue with your friends.
Below are some of the color comps I did to test out patterns.
Actually, the yellow one is pretty close to the final one I didn't post and obviously the winning design. I'm partial to the orange one and the one beside it, too. I like the fourth pattern, but it's too obnoxious. The last three were done in painter, to try and cheat the three color limitation by doing shades/tints.
From a basic standpoint, there are three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue. Not exactly red, yellow and blue, but close enough for our purposes. Mixing any two of those in equal parts makes a secondary color, such as purple, green, and orange. Mix a primary and a secondary and you get a tertiary color, such as that lovely shade of puke your parents used for carpet in the 60s.
A normal color wheel has 12 colors: Yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, red-violet, violet, blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, yellow-green.
There are several type of complimentary colors. The easiest to explain is a normal compliment, which are two colors that appear opposite each other on the color wheel. Orange and blue for example. A split compliment would be a color and the two colors on opposite sides of its compliment. Orange, blue-violet, and blue-green, for example.
You can also create compliments from 4 colors (tetrad) , triangle patterns of 3 (triad), etc.
I chose an analogous color scheme, which are colors next to each other on the color wheel. Thus, blue, blue-violet, and violet.
WARNING - If the images appear cropped (like they do on my screen), feel free to check out the full versions in my pics section, under design.)
As you can tell, it looks like three shades of blue. But it isn't. It's an illusion caused by the colors' proximity to each other and this crappy low res version.
I also did one using yellow, orange, and blue-violet, which is a split compliment (which I didn't post here.). We were allowed to use black in one or the other, but I felt black was a cop out, so I didn't use it in either.
Yes, black is a color, in case you want to argue with your friends.
Below are some of the color comps I did to test out patterns.
Actually, the yellow one is pretty close to the final one I didn't post and obviously the winning design. I'm partial to the orange one and the one beside it, too. I like the fourth pattern, but it's too obnoxious. The last three were done in painter, to try and cheat the three color limitation by doing shades/tints.
elkaen:
I like the yellow and orange one and the last purple one. then again I am partial to purple. 
Thanks for posting projects. i like to see what you've been working on.
Thanks for posting projects. i like to see what you've been working on.
akirali:
Thanks for the heads up and the new techniques