What's the Difference between Shades and Tones?

Have you ever made a page where you're sure you've used the right combination of colours, but somehow the page still doesn't look right? It may be because the colours don't carry the same tonal "weight". The pages used in my last post show colours with equivalent tonal weight, that is, they are all about as bright or dark as each other.

Note that I used a derivative of the word "tone" rather than "shade". "Shades" refers to the different variations of colour that exist within a colour family. For example, "blue" can be anything from a "green-blue" through to a "purple-blue" depending on how much yellow or red has been added. However, each of those shades can come in many "tones", ie. they can be lighter or darker depending on how much black or white has been added. Muted colours are different again because they have been created using a beige base, rather than a white base.

It can be a helpful exercise to match up scrapbooking papers by shade and tone. Start with one colour group, eg blue. Sort the papers into their various shades of green blue, blue and purple blue. If you are unsure which shades belong together, try layering them and you should be able to see whether they are tones of the same colour or if they are a slightly different shade. Arrange these shades again into light, medium and dark tones.

Now, using just one of these shade groups, put together a page that takes advantage of the differences in tone between these papers (if you don't have a photo in the right colour, try printing it in black and white, or in sepia if you are using colours with a beige base). You will notice that very light tones and very dark tones contrast well together, while tones that are closer together look softer and less well defined.

Now look again at that page that didn't work so well. The shades of colour may have been correct, but did the tonal quality of the colours also work well together? Was there enough contrast between light and dark or too much? Is the page too dark or too light overall? Did you mix white-based and beige-based colours together? The beauty of scrapbooking is that you can always pull your page apart and try again!

Please post your results on my Facebook page for others to enjoy, or leave a comment below!