3 Basic Principles of Color Theory in Medical Illustration
Recently we were invited by Dr. Levent Efe, physician-turned-medical illustrator, to present to a group of medical illustrators in Turkey on the topics of color theory for medical illustration. We were honored to do self-exploration about our our work’s relationships with color. In addition, it was an amazing experience to survey the work of illustrators internationally and study the different trends and within color.
Like every creative field, medical illustrations leaches its influences from neighboring to far-spread inspiration. From movies, VFX, fashion, to mobile gaming, we were able to see how these creative influences have impacted not only the visual style over time, but also the level of interactivity with the viewer (ie: gamification & comics are two examples of new vehicles for medical illustration).
Topics we covered included:
- Color schemes in medical illustration
- Color and light in medical illustration
- Design principles in medical illustration
- Animation in medical illustration
The color wheel
The first color wheel was designed by Sir Isaac Newton in the 17th century when he was locked away in his England apartment trying to escape the Plague. This original color wheel consisted of:
- 3 primary colors (red, yellow, blue)
- 3 secondary colors (colors there are created when primary colors are mixed: green, orange, purple)
- 6 tertiary colors (colors that are made from primary and secondary colors, such as blue-green or red-violet).
If you draw a line through the middle of the color wheel, you will effectively separate warm colors (red, orange, yellow) from cool colors (blue, purple, green).
Digital color
There are many ways too control color digitally. I personally like the HSL slider in Photoshop. A key advantage of HSL over RGB color is that the complementary colors are situated at across the spectrum from each other which makes it easy to use.
Hue: The hue is the dominant color family that a color lies within and is notated by a degree on the color wheel from 0 to 360 degrees like a traditional color wheel. 0 is red, 120 is green, 240 is blue.
Saturation: The saturation is a percentage value of the color’s intensity. 0% means a shade of gray and 100% is the full color.
Lightness: The lightness is dictated by the amount of black and white added to the color. 0% is black, 100% is white.
Other things to consider when adjusting color are tints, tones, and shades which are variations of hues/colors on the color wheel.
Color schemes
There are many ways too control color digitally. I personally like the HSL slider in Photoshop. A key advantage of HSL over RGB color is that the complementary colors are situated at across the spectrum from each other which makes it easy to use.
Hue: The hue is the dominant color family that a color lies within and is notated by a degree on the color wheel from 0 to 360 degrees like a traditional color wheel. 0 is red, 120 is green, 240 is blue.
Saturation: The saturation is a percentage value of the color’s intensity. 0% means a shade of gray and 100% is the full color.
Lightness: The lightness is dictated by the amount of black and white added to the color. 0% is black, 100% is white.
Other things to consider when adjusting color are tints, tones, and shades which are variations of hues/colors on the color wheel.
