A quick, late edit to start this post: The information here was written with the T.I.F. challenge participants in mind. I'm not preaching color theory, just in case you read this post and wonder why the heck I want you to mix acrylics. . .in this, or any other color scheme. I haven't lost it. . .yet. . .there's a method to this madness.
This is a study I've done in acrylic to match as closely as possible the absolute colors of Sharon's scheme so I can paint them onto fabric, or anything else, if I decide to do so. Also, in this case, brand name counts. Different brands of paint name their colors differently. This information serves for Liquitex fluid acrylic paint.
What follows is a fairly lenghty monologue regarding color and computers. You may be bored, or you may be informed by it. I have no way of knowing, so I'm just going to write it out:
My monitor is +/- 92% accurate, which is pretty good calibration, not great or excellent, but better than most. My printer calibration is @%#*$. So what I see is pretty close, what I print and scan is for the birds.
This means that I am very close to perfect in mixing the true acrylic colors because I'm mixing to what I see. What you are seeing on your screen may be vastly different, or a little different, depending on your monitor's color calibration. But, what you can mix from these colors will be accurate as to the absolute colors.
Notice that I said "can". What you "will" mix from these colors, if you should choose to mix them, depends on the amount of each of the colors you put into the mix. I cannot give you an accurate formula. I'm not a laboratory, I'm an artist, and I have developed a feel for a pinch of this and a lot of that when it comes to color recipies. If you're pretty good at this, or think you might be and would like to try it, then it's a safe bet to use these colors. But be warned, if you're mixing to match what you see on your monitor, you may or may not be dissappointed depending on your degree of accurate color calibration.
Now here's another point: What I painted, matched. But, I had to scan it into Photoshop to get it into my blog. Photoshop is right on. My scanner is, well, @%#*$. So I had to adjust what I scanned back to Sharon's colors in Photoshop. It's coming out accurately. What your monitor does with it may be another story altogether.
Before you get too excited, or too bored with this tidbit of information, let me add a couple of points of clarification. First, this is simply a record of my own purposely slow and deliberate process in working out this month's challenge. Second, if for whatever reason it serves to help you in yours, so much the better, but third, know that success in the endeavor of computer color management depends on a basic knowledge base much akin to brain surgery in its depth and scope. It can be an exact science, but for most of us it is exact only to the degree to which we have invested the time, education and money into the science of color calibration.
My own knowledge falls into what I would guess is the "a fair bit for an amateur" range. Vague, I know, but then so is calibrating color unless you've invested lots of $ in calibration soft and hardware, and those things must be properly attuned to a set of universals, such as PMS (. . .no, I meant Pantone Matching System, but for some, that's either a cure for, or will make your other symptoms of PMS worse, depending on how into studying color you might be. . .).
So for those who are having a problem with coming up with exact colors, just know this: In Photoshop CS3, for example, your computer will read the color exactly, if you input the color system numbers accurately. But, what you see on your screen, and/or what your printer prints, may or may not be miles away from these true colors. However, and this is the important part, the relationships between the colors will be accurate.
If you don't have a program like CS3 or Corel Painter X, or other such programs that can accurately import color, then it's all a guess. But the important thing in any color scheme really is the relationships between and among the colors, so if your "sea foam green" comes up on your monitor more like "light and creamy forest green", it will still be accurate in relation to the other colors in your scheme, which will most likely come up with the exact same degree of inaccuracy. There you have it in a nutshell. Exactness in inaccuracy. Not an oxymoron, but a true sense of what is going on.
This is why one set of DMC colors will accurately reflect the color scheme for one person and not for another. Hopefully, they will all be close. But in every case, the range should be accurate relative to each color.
I hope this is clarifies rather than muddies it up, but think of it this way: Have you ever looked at your own blog page on other computers? Put your own laptop next to another computer and I'll bet you'll see (in my case) two different shades of turquoise, or 3 or more depending on how many separate computer monitors you can see at once. Now the thing is, the HEX code for that color is absolute. But the monitors' calibration vary depending on the soft and the hardware investment and the skill of the person using the equipment.
For a lot of people, this is a non-subject. Something interesting that doesn't apply to our own lives. But for others, even me, a degree of calibration is necessary in what we do. I don't think it is at all something to worry about for this challenge. . .correct me, Sharon, if I'm wrong. But unless your monitor has gone bonkers and reads green as red, you'll be enough in the ballpark to play the game because, as I said, the relationship between the colors will be 100% accurate.
With all that said, and hopefully no one vowing never to visit my boring blog again, here's a study I did using the acrylics together. Just remember to take away from this whatever you want, and by all means, keep it fun!
Not too boring :) I like your sketch!
Posted by: Deb G | January 04, 2008 at 07:59 PM
Wow! You are very knowleageable. I don't have the patience to deal with color mixes. Sometimes I paint by squirting the oils right from the tube unto the canvas :-)
Posted by: Ces | January 04, 2008 at 08:13 PM
Hi - from one wordy blogger to another - I didnt think this was boring. I don't do much with paint and colour theory (yet!) so most of it went over my head - but i still enjoyed reading about it - the more info the better I say!
Posted by: Paula | January 04, 2008 at 09:34 PM
This is interesting. But I don't see why it's necessary to match the colors exactly for this challenge. I'm not going to even try. Clearly finding an exact match might be important for people who are being very technical with the computer or with paint, but for people using fabric, finding a close selection that works together should be enough, don't you think? Or am I missing the point?
Posted by: Kay | January 06, 2008 at 04:21 PM