"I was thinking this might help in color choices for your next build."
Kirk G. responded:
"No. it doesn't help at all."
White isn't even mentioned.
Another thing that always struck me as strange - When light color filters are used, white ends up as the combination of all colors. Black is the absence of all color.
Explain that concept to a five year old with a box of crayons. To a kid, white is the paper you add colors to. When color crayons are layered and combined, you end up with a dirty purple/brown - almost a black.
I never found the Color Wheel helpful when picking out compatible color combinations on model rockets. In my teens, spray paint color picks were whatever was left in the garage.
Now, I tend to go with a three color "rule" on sport models.
First major color, usually a light color overall. White, maybe yellow. White works best if decals are to be added. Never an overall green! Did you ever try to find a green Centuri Star Trooper in the grass?
Secondary color, a bright darker color used on fins or nose cone (one quarter to one third of the total surface area) Orange, Red maybe Purple.
Third color accent - Black nose cone, decals and/or some chrome trim.
If you want a good idea how it should be done, peruse the pages of the 1973 Centuri Catalog: CLICK HERE
For me, this is the work by which all catalogs (previous and new) can be compared.
Color theory is fascinating. A chapter in the book Real World Photoshop explains it very well. What you explain above is the difference between additive and subtractive color spaces, the differencebetween light projecting the colors and bouncing off the pigment on a surface. Having worked in print shops, I'm sure you know all about it.
ReplyDeleteHi Metal,
DeleteIn the print shop we dealt with additive inks to achieve a four color print, just like a home office printer does now. This combing of projected colors never made sense to me until I saw it demonstrated in person.
Light works the opposite of pigment. Black is all pigment and no light, white is no pigment and all light.
ReplyDeleteWhat was posted on FB is color theory. Blue and orange are complimentary thus they work well as contrasting colors
In other words, with pigments the color we see is subtractive -- the color we see is what has been reflected (the rest has been absorbed). Combining different colors of pigment causes less light to be reflected -- and the result appears darker.
DeleteWhen we combine different colors of light, we're dealing with additive color.
To Anonymous
DeleteI don't think I'd ever use Blue and Orange on a rocket. I don't find the complimentary colors shown on the color wheels very satisfying.
"In my teens, spray paint color picks were whatever was left in the garage." This. Actually, in my 60's, this.
ReplyDeleteThe wheel has too many colors that make rocket tracking or recovery difficult. I do even less than Our Host: body color, and then one contrast color on nose and fin. (Or one color only, which is usually a HoJo). I've broken that rule once, by coloring alternate segments of my Odd'l Break-Away.
ReplyDeleteHi Bob,
DeleteGood choice on the Break-Away, where complimentary (alternating) colors can make sone sense.