experiment 1: integrated color wheel and grayscale
Challenge: Create an original and personal design for a
twelve-step color wheel based on Itten’s design, combined
with a grayscale in a single composition.
Materials option 1:
gouache on watercolor paper, painted entirely on a single sheet
Materials option 2:
gouache on watercolor paper, painted swatches cut into shapes,
assembled and fixed on a mounting board
Materials option 3:
shapes cut from Color-aid paper
Begin by making sketches that follow Itten’s basic color wheel model.
Use colored pencils or paint markers. In your sketches, try arranging the
twelve colors in a variety of geometric shapes: circles, triangles,
rectangles, and other polygons. Feel free to explore organic arrangements.
Remember to keep the colors in the correct order:
yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, red-violet, violet,
blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green, and yellow-green
Ideally, the colors should be contiguous.
22 playing with color
Explore ways of including tints and shades in your composition.
Consider showing other color relationships (complementary pairs) and
effects (illusion of transparency, gradations).
Your design must include a twelve-step grayscale (refer to experiment 2:
contrast of light and dark, page 33). The challenge is to integrate
the grayscale and the color system in a single composition. Experiment
with different compositional strategies. Look for ways to make the
composition unified and harmonious.
Consider the background: Warm white, cool white, black, shades,
and tints of warm and cool gray are best. The choice of background will
have a profound effect on the composition. Light and dark colors
like yellow and violet will be affected differently by the same background;
for example, yellow on a white background will almost disappear,
while violet will stand out. (Uncoated cardboard or book board can produce
an interesting background effect.)
After you have made a range of sketches and decided on a design
direction, make a full-size pattern drawing of the entire composition. This
drawing should be as precise as possible. It can be rendered by hand
using drawing instruments, or on the computer.
Your pattern drawing will be used to make the painted and cut paper
shapes. Depending on technique, you will transfer or trace the entire
pattern onto watercolor paper or mounting board. If you are using
cut paper, you will transfer or trace each individual pattern shape onto
corresponding hand-painted swatches or Color-aid paper.
If you are using gouache paint, your composition can be any size.
If you are using Color-aid paper, the size and design of your composition
will depend on the dimensions of the Color-aid swatches.
(Note: Large compositions require more materials and are therefore
more expensive to produce.)
For more information about gouache and cut paper, see “the playing
process,” pages 14 –15.
Opposite page: Bithika Adhikary Above: Jeena Hyunjin Kim
Detail of sketch for color wheel and grayscale composition Left: Pattern drawing for color wheel and grayscale composition
pencil and acrylic paint on bristol board pencil on bristol board
Right: Color wheel and grayscale composition
gouache on watercolor paper

color wheels 23
24 playing withcolor
playing with color
Opposite, clockwise from upper left:
Alex Morel
Fingerprint grayscale and color wheel diptych
gouache paint on watercolor paper
Above: Mao Kudo
Woven color wheel and grayscale wall compositions
gouache on watercolor paper, clear mylar

Carlos Ochoa
Footprint color wheel and grayscale composition
gouache paint on watercolor paper

Julie Keh
Detail of modular color system based on Itten’s color wheel
Color-aid paper

Jennifer Meyer
Color wheel and grayscale composition
Color-aid paper

color wheels 25