COLOR

12 step color wheel

Colors are arranged on the 12 step color wheel. Notice in the example above, warm colors (yellow to red-violet) are on the left and cool colors yellow-green to violet) are on the right. The primary colors are located on a vertical, equilateral triangle. Secondary colors are located on an upside-down, equilateral triangle. The tertiary colors are located in the spaces between the primary and secondary colors.

1. Primary: red, yellow, blue
2. Secondary: orange, green, violet
3. Tertiary: yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue violet, blue-green, yellow-green.
4. Neutral: black is created by combining all three primary colors.

 PROPERTIES OF COLOR
1. Hue is the generic term for color (i.e. red, orange, violet, etc.)
2. Chromatic Value refers to the "quantity" of lightness or darkness a color reflects.
3. Intensity, or saturation,  refers to the "quality" of light in a color. Colors lose intensity when tinted, shaded or mixed with their complementary color.
4. Tints are colors mixed with white.
5. Shades are colors mixed with black.
Special Note: Adding white or black to a color does not change the hue.
6. Subtractive colors are derived from pigments. When the primaries are combined the result is "black." ( R, Y, B) or (CMYK)
7. Additive colors are derived from light. When the primary colors for light (RGB) are combined, the result is "white."
8. Temperature can affect spatial depth as well as the "mood" of a work of art. In general, warm colors advance whereas cool colors recede. Value must be considered in order to use this effectively.

L to R: Mono (warm), Mono (cool), Analogous, Comp, Split-comp, Tertiary Triad

Color Schemes are standard color combinations that produce unified compositions.
1. Monochromatic: a single hue.
2. Analogous: colors of similar hue situated adjacently to one another on the color wheel.
3. Complementary: colors located directly across from one another on the color wheel.
4. Split-complementary: one color and the two colors on either side of its complementary color.
5. Triad: colors located on an equilateral triangle. Triads may consist of primary colors, secondary colors or tertiary colors.