How Do Painters Make Colors Pop?

Imagine you're coloring a picture with crayons. If you color the sky blue and the grass green, it looks nice, but if you make the sky bright blue and the grass dark green, it feels more exciting! Painters use this trick called color contrast to make parts of their paintings look bolder or stand out more.

Take the quiz →

Examples

A painter uses bright red for a rose and places it next to a green background, making the flower look more vivid.
A blue sky is painted with white clouds, which help highlight the sky’s brightness.
A yellow sun is drawn against a dark night, making it seem like it's glowing.

Ask a question

Discussion

Recent activity

Categories: Art · color theory· painting techniques· art fundamentals