Hue, Entry 4.

Analogous colours.

The next colour configuration I need to cover is analogous colours.

Analogous hues are essentially neighboring hues on the colour wheel, so for example, Red, Orange and Yellow, or Blue, Blue-Green and Green.

The example I want to assess for this topic is not a piece of traditional art, but is rather the title screen from a favorite game of mine, one I have recently replayed.

This is the title screen from the independent video game 'Braid'. Here, we see analogous hues used together to create an initially harmonious image. The analogous hues sit together and use their interstitial hues to merge in and out of each other, creating a soft, almost dream like vision. We can clearly see of course, that the scene is far from harmonious, however, but this is caused by the ominous presence of thick black used to add mystery and a primal sense of the unknown to the image. This I found interesting, as the usual application of the analogous palette is for creating calm, serene images that're very soft on the eye. This softness is from the lack of complimentary hues that battle for focus, or the strong focal point control of a split complementary colour layout. However, the artist has used black and a high contrast to create that conflict, allowing for the re-purposing of a serene, dream like colour set up to create danger or at the very least, unease.

Another interesting note on the usage of the heavy set black tones in the image is that they transform the composition itself. were the background of the scene consistant in their tonal values and hue, the scene would appear to be an idyllic, golden sunset or afternoon scene, however, the black cloud like strokes bearing down on the background from the top of the image give the city and its amber tints an emissive quality, as if the golden hues do not saturate the setting, but are projected FROM the scene. The logical assumption from this interpretation are not that the scene is a glorious golden sun illuminating the buildings, but rather that the buildings themselves illuminate the scene, the oranges and reds bring us to a final, more grim conclusion, that the city itself is on fire.

These final observations deviate from the subject of pure hue somewhat, and are evidence that to assess the colour composition of an image, I need to move on to my next subject, 'Value'. This shall be posted after a somewhat lengthy post on a triadic composition.