Leonie’s amazing rule of 2/3 + 1/3 + a little bit.
Good design helps make the leap from average to art. There should always be a dominant value. Either dark, middle or light. One of the basic rules I teach my students is to use the rule of 2/3 + 1/3 + a little bit. That rule applies to dark and light values as well as the choice of color. In actual fact, it is such a good rule that you can apply it to everything you do.
This rule can be used for every aspect of art and life…think about a plate of food. A good idea is not to have equal portions of everything. Two thirds (2/3) of the plate should be vegetables and greens, one third (1/3) meat and a little bit of carbs.
Using this same rule in art, from design to painting technique and color usage will ensure a good painting.
Using it with Color
When we use the same ‘amount’ of different colors the painting will tend to look dull. Using this rule will help to brighten up your colors and not make it look ‘muddy’.
An equal block of Red next to an equal block of green will create a dull greyish color.
Every painter knows what ‘mud’ is. We have all experienced this frustrating happening in our paintings.
Muddy paintings can be the bane of our existence. Frustration when mixing color hinders our creative process. It can even cause us to doubt our abilities. Would you like to be rid of mud in your work? Would you like to know how you created it in the first place? Let me explain…
I call this the Perfect Triadic Mix.
- A Triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.
- Triadic color harmonies tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues.
- Choose one color to dominate (2/3), a second to support (1/3). The third color is used (along with black, white or gray) as an accent. (a little bit)
Taking three colors that are equally spaced and decorate your space with these beautiful, contrasting shades. This will create a harmonious look but without the slightly ombre or monochromatic styling, instead, it’s much more interesting and vivacious.
Pro Tip!
Use an app to help choose the right colors. One of the great apps, available on Google Play is Color Harmonizer.
This app will help you to find the perfect color combination. In this application, there is nothing superfluous. There are 10 color combination algorithms.
8 thoughts on “How NOT to make mud!”