A Study in Simultaneous Contrast 

The following are a set of images I made to dig deeper into simultaneous contrast. Specifically, since wrapping up the New Primitives, I’ve been thinking about where to take the concepts next. One idea is to scratch an itch to incorporate pseudo-figuration. The second is thinking about how or even whether to incorporate color interaction. This study combines these into an exploration.

I started with this initial attempt to push the New Primitives into pseudo figuration:

The next step was to select the color of the lines. I picked a pure yellow.

Given the pure yellow, the next step is to select the complement and balance the value.

Shifting the background complement a bit towards cyan, we get simultaneous contrast.

Instead of hard-edge shapes, this composition uses lines of varying alpha levels. The more transparent areas blend with the background, actually changing the color. They yellows stay constants near the nose and mouse where the colors are fully saturated.

Instead of shifting towards the cyans, the background could also be shifted towards the magentas.

If the background is set to a purely neutral gray, the yellow should alter our perception of it and git it a blue tinge.

Putting the last four studies side by side lets us more easily see our shifting perception of the yellow.