Pigments for differently color-sensitive individuals

[lumiere]

Some people are partially or entirely color-blind. Others have an extra color receptor, usually in the green range. So are there artists' pigments specifically for different color sensitivities? It seems like there should be.

Comments

[vorona]

I love that concept. Yes, there should be! Wow... there really should be something to accomodate different types of color-blindness, just 'cause. And the idea of an EXTRA color receptor - hey, wait, you say in the GREEN range? I always think of green as having so much more territory than the other colors... I can name so many permutations of green, green, green. I wonder if I might have it - or if I'm just fussy and freaky about color, and particularly the color green. Well, also blue and pink. I get dizzy, ecstatic, from certain blues, especially as they fade into certain delicate pinks... and glowing glass-sky green. Hmmm. There should be a color that's pink-green-blue and liquid, dynamic like sky light.

[lumiere]

You might indeed.

The OPN1LW gene, which codes for the pigment that responds to yellowish light, is highly polymorphic (a recent study by Verrelli and Tishkoff found 85 variants in a sample of 236 men[6]), so up to ten percent of women[7] have an extra type of color receptor, and thus a degree of tetrachromatic color vision.[8]

--Wikipedia

[adularia]

How would that work? You can mix any color you want... I just assume that a colorblind painter would be less likely to attempt to mix a color they knew they couldn't accurately judge. There's no color that will simulate a true green for someone who doesn't see green well.

Seconding vorona's desire for early dawn light in a tube, though. I would mix it into EVERYTHING. Like, my cereal.

[lumiere]

Art by the colorblind for the colorblind could mix pigments that appear closely shaded or matching to the colorblind but are distinguishable by the color-sighted. It would be interesting...

I have seen some visual art by colorblind artists intended for normal-sighted viewers, and it can be really quite good.

[corivax]

> How would that work?Standard human color vision is three dimensional - that is, any "color" a normal human sees can be mathematically described by three numbers. We see these three dimensions used in the color wheel (red, yellow, and blue - the "primary" colors) as well as in monitors (red, green, and blue

[lumiere]

Hey, don't shade out my rainbow. :-)

In practice, though, most of the time when a pigment mutates and people have an extra color receptor, it's very similar to the ones they already have, so while they might technically have four dimensions of color viewing, the distinction will be pretty subtle, more subtle than the different between someone color-blind and someone with normal color vision.

Well, yes, the pigments that are distinguishable by people with specific additional color receptors but not by normal visioned people will be relatively subtle differences.

Also, in my experience, we already can't make pigments for every color out there, and that's speaking as someone with normal vision. :) I cannot mix colors that match some of the almost-black colors I see, nor can most purples be duplicated well. :)

Clearly we need a Manhattan Project for pigments. :-)

[rosefox]

I believe Photoshop has filters that make an image look the way it does for someone who's red/green colorblind. It's to help designers create e.g. ad banners that everyone can read.

[lumiere]

Nice!

Now I want graphics software with 4 color dimensions, and 5-color ink printers...