Tutorial 96 - The Color Red (Patreon)

Keywords:  Anger, Passion, Courage, Sacrifice, Lust, Attention, Sin, Joy.

Red is described as being the most brilliant color. It has the longest wavelength, and affects us physiologically, with the ability to increase our heart rate! 

Red seems to stand out against other colors and demands our attention, alerting us to the subject. Red might be used to indicate that an area or person is important or distinguished. For this reason, film makers often show the protagonist wearing red. A red carpet is used at special events, and red colors the seats in an opera house. 

Red is used to alert us of danger or to caution us, as at a traffic light. 

Red is associated with life, death and fertility in a very physical way. The gory reality is that blood is present during childbirth, the menstrual cycle and violent death, which makes it difficult to imagine a culture that doesn’t give the color red special significance. 

This dramatic life, death, fertility association with red might be why we see red used as a symbol of love, anger and passion. 

Some scholars consider the red hood of Red Riding Hood symbolic of a young girl approaching puberty, gaining the power to create life. 

Red or “Rubedo" is also the fourth and final major stage of the alchemist’s Magnum Opus, signifying an approach to immortality, triumph over death or the creation of gold. 

In the West, red is used to describe someone who is angry, with the idiom “to see red”, though this is not the case in every culture. In China, for instance, red is the color of happiness. 

Consider what meaning you intend to convey when wielding the color red in your images. Red should be used sparingly as it will always attract attention. As a lively color, it will stir us emotionally, and so it’s best applied to dramatic and evocative scenes, perhaps involving some of the themes discussed.