Administrator

Posted October 03, 2006 12:06 PM
Check out this basic color theory article on the American Artist website:

http://www.myamericanartist.com/2006/09/color_theory_th.html

Hi,

I'm wondering where the author of this article got his information on chroma. His definition is incorrect: " And chroma, or saturation, is how pure the color is compared to its corollary on the color wheel. If a color is close to how it appears on the color wheel, it is said to be “high chroma.”

Chroma is not saturation, and it has noting to do with a hue's complement. Rather, it is a measure of a hue's intensity or neutrality. The author mentions Munsell's work in the article, but apparently he did not study it.

Also, it is impossible to make many high-chroma colors by mixing from primaries. For inistance, I am working on a pink rose, and there is some red-purple at chroma 12 that I don't think can be had from any red-blue mix I've ever seen.

I don't mean to be harsh, but misinformation like this is harmful to those who look to your magazine as an authority.

Best,
Rich