Do you want to learn about color theory so that you can apply it effectively? Then you can begin by enrolling in one of the color theory classes.
One of the most essential visual languages a designer can employ is color. Since the beginning of time, there has been a desire to define and categorize people’s favorite colors.
Color, regardless of medium, can elicit emotion, communicate ideas, and lend an extra depth of significance to any creative endeavor.
If you’re interested in learning more about color theory, explore this writing in full to know the Color Theory Classes.
Color theory can assist you in creating eye-catching designs. For thousands of years, artists have studied the color wheel, while philosophers and scientists have debated its nature and meaning.
You may now study color and understand color theory using a variety of online tools.
These free tutorials will take you on a journey across the color spectrum and show you how to apply it in a variety of art disciplines, from photography to illustration.
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What is Color Theory, and how does it work?
Color theory is a collection of ideas and criteria used by artists to connect with people using visually appealing color schemes in user interfaces.
Color theory is both a science and an art form when it comes to working with color. Designers employ color to make their items more appealing to the eye, bring attention to them, or convey a message.
Color is one of the most important visual elements in a designer’s or illustrator’s toolbox for communicating ideas, thoughts, and emotions.
Color therapy has been used in the past as a means to connect with nature and as a technique to help individuals learn to see more clearly.
To build successful and appealing color palettes in anything you create, you must first grasp what colors are available, how they relate to one another, and how to evaluate and discuss color use.
Designers use a color wheel and a wealth of information on human vision, psychology, society, and more to select the best colors every time.
Color is an important part of artistic work that appeals to our emotional and aesthetic senses. It’s helpful to understand the set of basic color guidelines in order to maximize the impact of your work.
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What are the Color Theory Classes?
These Color Theory Classes are targeted at explaining how colors are made and how they complement one another (or not). When you understand color, you can more easily communicate ideas and moods, develop palettes in your work, and simplify decision-making.
1. A Beginner’s Guide
Color theory: A Beginner’s Guide for Designers is presented by Neal O’ Grady, a freelance designer, traveler, and all-around web guy. It’s a good course for learning more about color theory.
Color terminology such as Primary Colors, RGB and Hex, Warmth of Colors, Temperature, Tints and Shades, Saturation, Hue, and Lightness, and the Color Wheel will be covered.
Hue psychology is also covered in Neal’s course, and you’ll learn that each color has its own set of tones and implications. Monochrome, Complementary, Analogous, and Triadic color schemes are only some of the options.
Colors have varied meanings in various cultures and regions. Colors can help to enhance the overall message of a website.
You’ll also get some suggestions for color tools and resources that can match the complexity and suppleness of color.
Duration: Approximately 1 hour
Price: Free
2. Color for Designers
Richard Mehl has been teaching two-dimensional design, color theory, and typography at the School of Visual Arts for over a decade. It’s a user-friendly introduction to the serious study of color.
Richard trained with design legends such as Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson, and Herbert Matter.
You’ll get a new degree of color awareness and sensitivity as a result of this course, which will help you feel more confident in your personal and professional design work.
You’ll work on a number of analog and digital projects that will introduce you to a variety of useful concepts and skills.
Richards’ 12 years of teaching and publishing on color in design will be shared in this workshop, which will cover the principles of color theory and how to apply them.
Richard takes a friendly approach to the difficult topic of color theory for designers.
Duration: 8 hours and 14 minutes
Price: $49.00
3. Creating Color Palettes
Join Lindsay as she covers a wide range of color theory subjects, including the principles of color harmony. It’s a fantastic course for a quick crash lesson in color theory.
Lindsay Marsh is a freelance graphic designer who has worked on a variety of projects both digitally and in print.
You will discover the fundamentals of hue, tones, and shades, as well as the differences between them, in this course. Lindsay will also discuss color psychology and show you some gorgeous color examples.
Finally, you’ll be able to experiment with variations of our fundamental hue to build stunning, cohesive color palettes.
Duration: 40 minutes
Price: Free with a free trial
4. Color Applied: Graphic Design
Leire Fernández and Eduardo Herrera are graphic design professors and researchers at the University of the Basque Country (UPV / EHU).
They explained the functions and variables of color in graphic design and teach how color may be used to communicate.
This course will teach you how to think about the optical, expressive, psychological, and other values of color in order to respond ethically and rationally to people’s true communicative needs.
You’ll learn how to recognize the techniques and factors that go into the design process, which will come in handy in your own work.
By studying how images work in our visual communicative environment, you will obtain a deeper understanding of how they work.
Through an analytical and practical approach, you will develop a deeper understanding of how images function in our visual communicative environment by learning to appreciate and recognize the resources of color.
Duration: 4 hours and 59 minutes
Price: $44.90
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5. Color Theory Illustrators
This is the class for you if you’ve ever had the notion that you know what colors you like but they just don’t match together. This course will give you a fun, hands-on introduction to color theory.
Join Broke Glaser, a professional illustrator, as you mix and match beautiful colors to give your drawings and artworks a new lease on life.
Even the simplest sketches can look amazing with the right colors, as you’ll learn in this lesson. You’ll learn how to use color to draw attention to your work and make your colors stand out.
Broke’s course will also teach you how to employ evocative colors to emphasize the mood you wish to create.
Duration: 57 minutes
Price: Free with a free trial
6. Color Theory: Applying to Images
Allow Jean Fraisse, a Concept Artist and Art Director with vast experience in animation and video games, to demonstrate how to use color in unexpected ways.
This lesson gives you a good understanding of color and how to use it. This course will assist you in gaining a thorough understanding of color theory and how to apply it to your work.
Jean’s course will teach you how to discern an image’s mood and apply it to your story designs through the use of a series of photos.
Learn why keeping things simple is so important, and how utilizing fewer colors in your photographs may help you establish a stronger sense of self.
Jean will also show you how to address five of the most typical color difficulties you’ll come across.
You’ll learn how to build a vibrant design while keeping your resources to a minimum in order to capture the essence of the subject.
Duration: 3 Hours and 53 Minutes
Price: $44.90
7. The Beginner’s Guide to Color Theory
Kurt Michael Russell has been a professional comic book colorist since 2011 and teaches digital coloring on YouTube since 2013. This is an excellent tutorial for learning color theory.
This course is for you if you enjoy drawing in black and white but become apprehensive when it’s time to add color.
You’ll learn how to use principles like warm, cold, primary, secondary, complementary, and so on in your work in this course.
Kurt will also demonstrate some of his work as a digital colorist for Image Comics and Top Cow. This session will teach you how to use line drawings so that you may focus on practicing with color.
So, if you’re interested in learning more about color theory than just the color wheel, join Kurt in this Color Theory course.
Duration: 3 Hours
Price: $49.99
8. Color Theory 101
Arielle Rassel is a qualified interior designer who spends her free time following her passion for all things creative.
You’ll learn how to make your own abstract artwork with acrylic paint and color theory foundations. Everyone, according to Arielle, has the ability to be creative.
She’ll share her expertise in art theory, lettering, illustration, and other creative pastimes in this course. You’ll learn crucial techniques in this program that you can apply to all of your artistic endeavors later.
This course is for you if you’ve always wanted to try new things and love color but have been intimidated by the thought of putting it all together.
Duration: 44 minutes
Price: Free with a free trial
9. Color Theory: Online Projects
According to branding and UX expert James Eccleston, color is one of the most potent tools for solving problems through design.
James Eccleston, an English designer and founder of Bridge, began his career designing album sleeves for rock bands before relocating to London to work for huge branding businesses for eight years after graduation.
Learn how to combine colors using color harmony to create a color palette that can be used on a website or in the artwork.
This course will help you become a more well-rounded artist by teaching you how to communicate with color and analyze the work of other designers in terms of color.
This course will teach you what color is and why we see colors the way we do.
Complete the course with some advice on how to fix faulty color schemes and how to build and use color in call-to-action buttons efficiently.
Duration: 1 hour and 48 minutes
Price: $44.90
10. Color Theory for Designers
Sarah Parkinson-Howe and Daniel Walter Scott will teach you all you need to know about color, from the principles of the color wheel and color harmonies to the psychology of color in branding.
This is a wonderful course for beginners. Sarah Parkinson-Howe is a graphic designer who creates unique brands and communication solutions for a wide range of clients all around the world.
Daniel Walter Scott has been teaching for almost 14 years and previously worked as a media designer and content developer.
This course will teach you the principles of color theory as well as how to put together effective color combinations.
Sarah and Daniel will guide you through the various color systems used in design and technology (RGB, CMYK and Pantone color).
You’ll learn how to put up successful color schemes by studying the color wheel and color harmonies, as well as how they’re applied in successful businesses.
Duration: 1 Hour and 40 Minutes
Price: $34.99
Other free classes include;
11. Colors and Moods
You may have noticed that melancholy movie sequences frequently use dark backgrounds, blue lighting, or other comparable elements. Karmen Loh, a.k.a. Bearbrickjia, is here to explain why and to give you a crash course in the mood. Karmen has been digitally illustrating for about ten years.
Her work evokes a sense of tranquility with a dreamy quality, and she has amassed a sizable Instagram following.
She discusses how varied hues and lighting result in distinct moods and atmospheres in this lesson on colors and mood, using examples from well-known movie screenshots, photographs, and artworks.
In Karmen’s digital portraits class, you’ll learn about color and atmosphere.
Price: Free
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12. Color Theory Crash Course
Now that you have a basic understanding of how color can tell a narrative and appeal to our emotions, it’s time to dig further. Are you familiar with the terms hue, saturation, and value?
Camille Labarre uses the punch needle technique to create distinctive embroidered portraits using her knowledge of color. She’s a New York-based freelance fabricator that specializes in animation, film, stage props, puppets, and sets.
She covers the keywords you need to know when it comes to thoroughly understanding color and how certain hues mix together to form others in her crash course on color theory.
Learn about color theory to get ready to make punch needle art.
Price: Free
13. The Best Terminology of Color
James Eccleston has eighteen years of experience working for big brand communication agencies in London, digital start-ups in Latin America, and establishing his own agency, Bridge, in Madrid.
Color is used heavily in graphic design for branding and campaigns to capture people’s attention and create an impression of the company.
This course will teach you color terminology that will help you communicate more effectively. Learn concepts like RGB and CMYK, as well as how to break down descriptive words for distinct hues, to take your knowledge to the next level.
James’ training on color in online projects and marketing will help you create coherent digital designs.
Price: Free of charge
14. Choosing the Right Color Palettes
Gray hues can be full of passion and interest, even if you don’t recognize it. Understand the contrasts between cold and warm tones and how to choose a deliberate color palette, even with grayer, muted tones.
Sara Luna is a textile artist who works as a visual artist and illustrator.
She grew up in a family of weavers and crafters, but when she went to the United States, she rediscovered the punch needle and sharpened her skills.
Her work has been featured in Create! Magazine and Carper Contemporary, and she has had shown in New York and Salt Lake City.
Sara’s lesson will teach you how to create a dramatic punch needle portrait utilizing a simple, limited color palette.
Price: Free of charge
15. Designing a Digital Color Palette
Returning to more intense colors, it’s time to consider digital art. It’s vital to know that computer monitors utilize RGB (Red, Green, and Blue) color settings, whereas print media uses CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black).
Owen Davey is a British illustrator known for his geometric shapes and carefully chosen color palettes. He’s collaborated with companies like Google, Facebook, and Flying Eye Books, among others, and is the primary illustrator for the multi-award-winning app Two Dots.
In this session, he shows how he used digital color palettes in several projects, emphasizing how context and placement may change the appearance of a hue.
With Owen’s lesson, you may include vibrant color palettes in your vectorized digital work.
Price: Free of charge
16. Complementary Colors
You should now have a good idea of what complementary colors are. It’s time to learn how to use them to create strong compositions and highlighted regions.
James Chapman is a British illustrator and children’s author.
His professional work focuses on animation and digital art, but tens of thousands of Instagram followers are familiar with his colorful sketchbooks loaded with cinema and pop culture references drawn with Posca pens.
He teaches how to work with brilliant Posca pens in this lecture on complementary colors, quickly trying color combinations before committing to a final piece.
In James’ lesson, you’ll discover the colorful joy of Posca pens.
Price: Free of charge
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17. Understanding Color in Interior Design
This is the lesson for you if you want to add more color to your surroundings. By analyzing the color wheel in a specialized context, Shari Francis leads you through color for interior design.
Learn how color influences mood and inspires specific feelings in interior spaces.
Then, by blending color and texture, you can add another layer to your comprehension.
Shari Francis is the owner and chief interior designer of Dädapt, a Brooklyn-based interior design firm, as well as a part-time interior design professor and a member of the Black Artist and Designers Guild.
Shari’s work has been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, and others, and she has written interior narratives for development, residential, commercial, and hospitality projects.
With Shari’s color and texture course, you can breathe new life into your home.
Price: Free of charge
18. Working with Composition and Color Together
Now that you’ve got the basics down, it’s time to use color and composition to bring your artwork to life.
Marcos Chin is an award-winning illustrator whose work has been featured in books, CD covers, periodicals, and other publications. He’s worked for publications such as Rolling Stone and The New Yorker.
Marcos teaches how to use color and composition to bring dynamic and symbolic meaning to a drawing of birds flying around a cage in this session.
He goes over each stage of structuring and coloring the image in great detail to ensure that it has the most impact on the viewer.
Marcos’ course will teach you how to tell stories with vibrant visuals.
Price: Free
19. Psychology of Color
In this session on the psychology of color, you’ll delve further into the emotional responses elicited by color, as well as how they affect photography in particular.
Yaopey Yong is a Malaysian surgeon who has blended these aspects of his life with a passion for photography he acquired from his father.
Yaopey has won numerous honors, including The Spirit of Resilience Awards’ Award of Excellence. His work has appeared in National Geographic, Photography Week, and Asia Overland, among other magazines.
Yaopey believes that color is more than meets the eye. It taps into our subconscious—memories, emotions, and past experiences. When we gaze at specific photos, this can elicit strong emotions and inspire us to develop a meaningful connection.
In Yaopey’s photography course, you’ll learn how to use color to express yourself.
Price: Free
20. Cinematography and Cinematic Color
As we discussed before, color in cinematography serves a variety of purposes, including setting the scene and developing a character’s tale. How can you use cinematography as a source of photographic inspiration?
Teresa Freitas, a fine art photographer from Lisbon, Portugal, has made a name for herself by making vibrant photos.
Teresa started an Instagram visual diary and was approached by numerous worldwide businesses as a result of her work, allowing her to photograph professionally. Netflix, Dior, Polaroid, Chloé, and American Express are among her clients.
Teresa gives tips and examples on how to utilize color to define the tone of an image and how to work with a cinematic subject to give your images a unique look in this workshop on cinematic color.
Price: Free of charge
Conclusion
Color may be a frightening aspect of any visual production because it has the power to make or break a beautiful design. The color theory also includes the meanings that colors send.
It is a vital aspect of the communication process because it uses human psychology and cultural context to establish a strong emotional connection with the audience.
Color can help you connect with your audience on a much deeper level and bring your project to the next level of professionalism.
FAQs
You’ll learn the different vocabulary of color including Primary Colors, RGB and Hex, Warmth of Colors, Temperature, Tints and Shades, Saturation, Hue, and Lightness, and the Color Wheel.
The best way to learn color theory is to purchase a color wheel or better yet, make your own using your own paints.
there are three basic categories of color theory that are logical and useful : The color wheel, color harmony, and the context of how colors are used. Color theories create a logical structure for color.
Aristotle developed the first known theory of color believing it was sent by God from heaven through celestial rays of light. He suggested that all colors came from white and black (lightness and darkness) and related them to the four elements – water, air, earth, and fire.
References
- https://www.ebaqdesign.com/blog/color-theory-courses
- https://www.skillshare.com/browse/color-theory
- https://www.domestika.org/en/blog/free-online-color-theory-classes-for-beginners
- https://www.udemy.com/topic/color-theory/
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