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• Reputation: 1892 Q&A: 26 0 27 731 19 24 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 4 Sacrelicious

  3 0 Short answer, no, but there's several things going on. 1. Most artists, because they make color their business (unless you're Ansel Adams), have trained their eyes to catch details and hue subtleties that many of us miss. A shade of turquoise is a warmer tone because it has more yellow, let's bounce the red of this barn off the poppies in the flowerbed, clouds aren't really white, etc. This is a fun test of your ability. How'dja do? 2. Being a professional artist, for many people, is an economic issue. There's lots of people out there with great artistic skill that actually get to employ it very seldom, because they didn't want to live that life, or they missed an opportunity. They have the ability (trained or untrained), but not the title. So, the line dividing artists from the rest of the population isn't as hard and discrete as it seems...lots of bleedover. I think I'm one of these. I don't want to be an artist, but I love color. I wish I could paint, but I'm terrible and lack the self-discipline to improve. One of the reasons I like to quilt is because I love color, and I often see (or invent) these INCREDIBLE color combinations and symphonies, and taking those colors and offloading them into a physical object makes the voices in my head shut up for a while. Example: if I can't get the colors in this card into a quilt soon, I will go mad. 3. Are you familiar with synesthesia? Simply put, it's when your sensory system assigns value to neutral things. Some people mentally link objects or words with certain musical tones. Color is a really common one. I always see a capital A in red, B is blue, C, H, and Y are yellow, Q is tan, L is pink, and so on. I also assign gender to things. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, and 10 are male. 4, 8, 9, and 11 are female. It wouldn't surprise me if you have a little synesthesia sloshing around in your head. It's classified as a neurological condition, but it makes my world pretty rich and I bet it does the same for you. So, in short, I don't think you likely have a special color-sensing ability. Instead, it sounds like you have a rich inner dialogue and a deep appreciation for beautiful things. Which is a different, perhaps more applicable, ability. Sacrelicious answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report 17 comments by Russ Campbell, NWEBS, Sacrelicious, and Russ Campbell, NWEBS… 0 0 I got a 61. Did it with both eyes open and checked it with my implant equipped eye and made a few changes. Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented 6 months ago | Report 2 0 4. ::strikes a heroic pose:: I'd be curious to see what your scores would be if you put an eyepatch on and tested each eye separately. Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report 2 0 Highest (worst) score for my age range/gender was 1520 so I didn't feel too bad. I actually think of myself as being better able (than the average bear) to read subtle cues of people in communication - an entirely different skill. But that doesn't help me with color recognition. I had a professor in an advanced biology class that showed us a color swatch and then at the end of the hour asked people to pick out the same one from a group of some 100 similar hues. Of course, most couldn't get close. He explained that with some of the butterfly species he was studying they could pick it out 6 months later without fail, after just one exposure with the reinforcement of the increased sugar content at that color. Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 Maybe I need a better monitor, did it on a laptop (excuses, excuses). Ha! Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 I first took this test a few years ago and did much worse than I did today. I think I was in a hurry. This time, I took a long time to do it, and I switched to other browser tabs periodically when my eyes got color fatigued. It helped me to unfocus my eyes a little, and then the blocks in error jumped right out. In contrast, I think I mentioned that I am TERRIBLE at people's faces. If you see me in a crowd, please come over and say hi, because the odds are excellent that I will not recognize you. So. Embarrassing. Butterfly fact = amazing. Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report 1 0 This one is fun too: http://woodgears.ca/eyeball/ Got a 4.13 on this one, this time. I think I can do better, but they time you. Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report 0 2 So you are saying that 1) artists do not trend towards having inherently better color sense. 2) you have an inherently better color sense. 3) you are driven to be artistic and enjoy creating things with color how is this not contradictory? Is it because you are not a professional artist or because you don't paint or are you just unique in combining a love of color with craft? Perhaps I misinterpreted the original question as being strictly about professional artists. Kip Waddle commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 i have had no respect for butterflies until now. amazing! when i asked the question i didn't have career artists in particular in mind, but how can you really quantify artistness if they're not a professional? really, i was just wondering about the kind of person who, like me, can't stop painting even if they wanted to and their finish product is appreciated by other people besides themselves. I got a 6!! whiskeypony commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 sacrelicious - i am awful with faces too. i've walked past people i'm dating on the sidewalk. sooo embarrassing. whiskeypony commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 Sorry, Kip, I didn't mean it to sound like that. And bear in mind that this is mostly my opinion, I don't have scientific data to back this up. 1. I think artists DO have a better color sense, but more out of practice than physiological quality. 2. I don't have a better color sense; I just think that colors are interesting and they draw my attention. I like to do artsy things, and that's a way for me to play with it. I don't make anything great. 3. Yes. Just not in any professional or really skilled sense. Whiskey...good question. I don't know how else you would quantify it. My main point is that you don't have to be a professional artist to enjoy making art, or to feel a desire to make art Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 Whiskey...names too. People might as well just replace their names with static when introducing themselves. ::facepalm:: Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 8! I am quite irrationally pleased! ozchick commented 6 months ago | Report 4 0 I got a ZERO! Makes me feel like I accomplished something today! haha Kristin Bell commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 Hot DAMN! We have a winner! Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report 0 1 I think that one is an artist or one is not. Doing if for a living is no different than doing it for fun. you don't have to sell records to be a talented singer or musician. From my perspective it is who you are. I also think that you are selling yourself short when you dismiss you color sense and then describe your natural affinity for color and art. Kip Waddle commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 "I also think that you are selling yourself short when you dismiss you color sense and then describe your natural affinity for color and art." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman Black Beetles in Amber commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 I got a 24. But that's about the limits of my computer terminal to resolve these colors also. Still, that's not bad! O my captain commented 6 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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• Reputation: 4209 Q&A: 121 4 6 1581 87 19 Classifieds: 0 0 what's this? Follow Following 5 Russ Campbell, NWEBS

  2 0 I am not sure that I would attribute the ability to discern color variations as an indicator of artistic ability not would I expect that an artistic individual would have that ability. What would you say about a person that is a sculptor working in stone or other media or any other artistic expressions where color is not necessarily a major factor (black and white photography, charcoal media, etc.). Now having said that I think that awareness of color could definitely go beyond the physiology of the eye itself and be a function of your cortical ability to interpret the visual world (meaning there is more to it than just the structures of the eye itself). Your awareness may be a function of a more well developed visual cortex. Now add to that the fact your eye's ability at seeing color changes over time as the lens in your eye yellows with age. I have had one lens replaced with a plastic intraocular implant. If I alternately close one eye and view the world through the other I see amazingly different intensities of blue and greens versus reds and yellows (the red end being emphasized as the eye ages and the lens yellows) between my two eyes. My ophthalmic surgeon said my new lens gave me color vision like that of a 8-9 year old in that eye. Believe me it is vastly different! Ever since I had that procedure I have thought that designers and artists that are middle aged or older don't really know what colors they select truly look like to much of the viewers of their work (the younger ones anyway). Russ Campbell, NWEBS answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report 5 comments by Kip Waddle, whiskeypony, and Russ Campbell, NWEBS… 0 1 Do you think that those in the theoretical physics world are especially good at math? Why wouldn't a natural ability to discern color be an expected skill-set among artists? Not a requirement, certainly but doesn't one tend to pursue that which they are naturally good at? Kip Waddle commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 russ, i understand what you're saying, but i think i've worded my question poorly. what i really am wondering is whether a person with the genetic predisposition to see colors more vividly are more likely form a career around pigments. but kip, i think you're right - people naturally follow careers that mirror their interests, and one's interests naturally fall into behaviors that they're good at. but can color perception be a behavior that one can be especially good at, either through the first stage of seeing that color, or through an especially well-tuned optic nerve? is that genetic? can that be conditioned? whiskeypony commented 6 months ago | Report 1 0 Certainly such ability might prepare someone to show special skills in artistic expression, but I would have to argue that 'artistic' aptitude concerns more areas of the brain than just visual perception. In another life, time, or culture these abilities might have well meant a person would excel at hunting, tracking, finding water, or otherwise reading the subtle differences of vegetation, ground disturbance, differences of animal coloration against background fields (seeing beyond camouflage coloration), reading skin and body signs for illness (shaman, healer), etc. Russ Campbell, NWEBS commented 6 months ago | Report 1 2 You are being too rigid here. Just because we are talking about color doesn't suggest that is the only natural ability that helps artists. Being an artist is like being gay. Few people would choose it. If you are predisposed to the skills that make a good artist you are more likely to go into that field. I could train all my life and never be a good athlete or physicist but my inherent skill-set did attract me to a career in the art field. I grew up in an artist community and got my first job in an art department at 18. After a lifetime around them, the one thing I can say about artists is that training can only improve what people bring to the job. Artists are born and not made. No, not all visual artist have great color sense but those who do are more inclined to pursue art as hobby or career. Kip Waddle commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 Out of curiosity, Kip, are you an artist yourself? Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 While I think there may be some inherent tendencies for people who are creative to color, 98 % of art is work and training. If you spend alot of time looking at others work you're going to start picking that up subconsciously. Give me a student with drive over one with "natural talent" any day. The ones who work their asses off ( in their own studio, researching others work and doing the repetitive things you have to do daily to teach yourself how to look and translate things). Those are the people who are going to go farther and make more interesting work most of the time. Art is a discipline. It takes constant reassessment and seeking. Maybe there is a leg up from a gene doing something freaky with your eyes but I think most of it is spending most of your day looking at things and figuring out how you respond to it. And on the genetics- both my sister and I are artists. I make extremly colorful work, eye jarringly so. My sister prefers to work in black and white. While she has fantastic color sense, especially with muted colors, most of her work is grayscale because it's what lends its self to the work she is trying to do. There are many, many artists for which color is like the tenth most important thing in the work. Concept, composition and materials are above color for most artists I know even if they have amazing use of color. sublevelthree answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 1 The ability to see and recognize color varies greatly from person to person. It makes sense that those with better color sensitivity are more likely to be artistic and vice versa. There are tests that can quantify your ability to see colors that are available online. It seems like this is an inheritable trait. My family is very color obsessed. Both my grandfather (who I never met) and I worked in factories doing nearly identical work with color and pigments. I have a niece who was adopted as a baby and we recently reconnected. Her family photos are disturbingly familiar and feature a color sense that is remarkable. Kip Waddle answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report 3 comments by whiskeypony, Kip Waddle, and Sacrelicious… 0 0 that is AWESOME. thank you for sharing - have you taken those color quantification tests? whiskeypony commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 Yes. Google for it. You are given a range of blended colors and have to place each one in order along that scale. Kip Waddle commented 6 months ago | Report 1 0 This: http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 I've actually heard of artists who are color-blind! I don't know how they do it though. Kristin Bell answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report 3 comments by whiskeypony, sublevelthree, and Sacrelicious… 0 0 yeah - that's fun to think about. i don't love monet, but i love looking at his pre- and post-cataract surgery pieces just to see how differently he sees. whiskeypony commented 6 months ago | Report 2 2 Monet was loosing his eyesight not colorblind. Although there are many colorblind artists throughout history. I've worked with a few who were. Art is not just about color, and the colorblind artists I've known were masters at composition because they had trained themselves to use their shortcomings to heighten other aspects of their work sublevelthree commented 6 months ago | Report 0 0 I'm not a HUGE fan of Monet, but I saw a lot of his stuff on my Paris trip in May. The neat thing I discovered about his cataract paintings is that if you squint a little (like a Magic Eye picture), the features you can barely see in the picture jump right out, like 3D. It was wild. Sacrelicious commented 6 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Why not. It sounds reasonable to me. I had a friend who realized while taking a wine tasting class with some friends that his sense of taste was really limited. Everyone talked of oaky notes, fruity flavors and what not and he tasted - wine. agness answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  0 0 Women tend to be better at discerning color than men, and then there's the whole X-linked issue of colorblindness that mostly hits men. There are optical illusions that, I suspect, may be easier to see through if you're a trained visual artist (like this one: http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/lum_dynsimcontrast/index.html) There's probably a training angle to it, also, as I know that my years of musical training have taught me how to listen very carefully in ways that non-musicians can't quite fathom. I can, for example, hear the difference between a coin landing heads or tails after hearing a take of each side--it's a neat bar trick. What I find fascinating is how stereo blindness (which I have) affects artistic ability, specifically in the ability to render 3d objects on flat surfaces. Here's a neat overview. Griffin answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 2 Not at all. They're simply trained to be more analytical about color. Black Beetles in Amber answered in Whatever 6 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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