Colour Wheel

How to mix the colours you want!

Additive color refers to the mixing of colors of light.

This example shows how the light from red, green and blue flashlights would appear if shone on a dark wall.

The three primaries in light are red, blue, and green.

When all of the colors of the spectrum are combined, they add up to white light.

Subtractive color refers to the mixing of colors of

pigment, such as paint or the ink in your computer's printer.

This type of color is what is used in the art and design

world.

Printers' primaries—yellow, cyan, and magenta—are

typically used by professional designers and printing

presses.

To create a full colour image

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow are used as well as Black to help create the dark areas

Use of four-color printing generates a good final printed result with greater contrast

The colour wheel

Primary Secondary Colours Colours

Primary Colours

Now paint the secondary colours:

Red, orange and violet

Mix each intermediate color by

mixing a primary and a secondary color

together.

Always start with the lighter or brightest

colour. Add the darker; more intense

colour next

There are six intermediate (tertiary)

colors.

Blue-violet red-violet

Yellow-green Blue-green

Yellow-orange red-orange

The six intermediate (tertiary) colors

(above).

Mix all six intermediate (tertiary) colors.

Place them in the appropriate area on the wheel