The Color Wheel

• Primary• Secondar

y• Tertiary

Primary Colors

• Yellow• Red• Blue

Secondary Colors

OrangeVioletGreen

Tertiary Colors

• Yellow-Orange

• Red-Orange• Red-Purple• Blue-Purple• Blue-Green• Yellow-Green

Chroma - Saturation/Intensity - Value

Shade Tint

Color has value. This is the darkness or lightness of a particular color. We can divide these value changes into SHADES and TINTS. Shades are the relative darkness of a color and Tints are the relative lightness of a color. These divisions are created by darkening or lightening the PURE HUE. This is the base color at its full INTENSITY.

It is important to note Intensity of a color here because a value of, lets say, red can be the same as a medium TONE of that same color. A Tone can be the same value, but can be grayed in such a way that it is not at the highest degree of Intensity. The Pure Hue has the highest SATURATION of color. This is illustrated in the middle ring of the Color Wheel above. The outer ring of TINTS illustrates what happens to a Pure Hue when white is added.

The center section of SHADES shows the effect of black on the Pure Hue. The four graphs at the right of the chalkboard show relative values of three colors and gray. The star in each column shows the purest hue of the group. It is important to note that the pure hue changes with the relative value of that color. For example the pure hue of yellow is lighter than medium gray, whereas the pure hue of blue is much darker than middle gray.

Complementary Colors• The colors that are positioned opposite one another are complementary colors.

Violet/Yellow Red/GreenRed-Orange /

Blue-Green

Yellow-Green /

Red-Violet

Yellow-Orange / Blue-Violet

Orange / Blue

When mixed, complementary colors annihilate each other when mixed to create dark neutrals:

LIGHT & SHADOW ZONES

LIGHT ZONE

Light = Tint (Intensity)

Bright = Saturation(Pure)

Warm = Temperature

Warm Colors: Red, Yellow, and Orange

SHADOW ZONE

Dark = Shade (Intensity)

Dull = Saturation (Compliment)

Cool =Temperature

Cool Colors: Blue, Violet, and Green

Warm Colors

• Active colors will appear to advance when placed against passive hues.

• Most often warm, saturated, light value hues are "active" and visually advance.

Deux fillettes, fond jaune et rouge (Two Girls in a Yellow and Red

Interior), Henri Matisse

Fighting Forms, Franz Marc

Cool Colors

• Cool, low saturated, dark value hues are "passive" and visually recede.

• Passive colors appear to recede when positioned against active hues.

Old Guitarist, Pablo Picasso

Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh

Color Context

• Red appears more brilliant against a black background and somewhat duller against the white background. In contrast with orange, the red appears lifeless; in contrast with blue-green, it exhibits brilliance. Notice that the red square appears larger on black than on other background colors.

Red-Purple Rectangle Blue-Purple Rectangle

Different Readings of the Same Color

You will saw that the small purple rectangle on the left appeared to have a red-purple tinge when compared to the small purple rectangle on the right.

They are both the same color as seen in the illustration below. This demonstrates how three colors can be perceived as four colors.