This piece of artwork “Cigarette Break”, was produced by Dan Kitchener. You can see a man offering a cigarette to a dragon. Kitchener created this piece by using photoshop, making a digital painting. I looked at Kitchener because he is one of my favourite artists in my chosen discipline.

Looking at the meaning of colour and analysing the image; the colours used are predominantly blue, red and yellow; primary colours. Further review shows the image is mostly blue. Blue represents trust[1]. Therefore, when I look at the image I don’t feel alarmed for the man casually standing opposite the dragon.

Yellow isn’t used a lot in the image yet it has a big impact; less is more. This is because yellow is the “most luminous”[2] colour in the spectrum and represents happiness[3]. Again, linking back to why the viewer feels at ease looking at the image.

“Red is the colour of good luck in Asia[4]”, this adds to the tranquillity of the image.

I started looking at photography. I like this photo because of how the negative space has been used and how the artist has played with perception causing an optical illusion.

Here this photo does not use colour which contrasts with the graphic design piece. These pieces however are both modern. I like the lack of colour as it adds to the mystery of the image which has a foreboding feeling. This links back to the meaning of colour with the colour black being associated with mystery and negativity[5].

[1] https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/blue – paragraph 5.

[2] https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/yellow – paragraph 1.

[3] https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/yellow – paragraph 3.

[4] https://www.colormatters.com/the-meanings-of-colors/red – Meanings of Red in Different Cultures.

[5] https://www.bourncreative.com/meaning-of-the-color-black/ – paragraph 3.