COLOR THEORY
Thanks for downloading this cheat sheet. The purpose of this sheet is to give you a brief overview of color theory as it relates to us as artists. Color is amazing. It is all around us. It influences our decisions, evokes feelings and adds vibrancy to our beautiful world. But, Because color is so involved with our day-to-day lives, we tend to overlook its importance. I hope this cheat sheet gives you a better understanding and appreciation of color.
The Three Elements Of Color
Color is much easier to understand when you break it down into separate elements,
Which are: Value: How light or dark something is, With white being the highest value and black being the darkest value.
Saturation: A measure of how intense, Rich or vivid a color is. Most colors are in their most saturated forms straight from a tube, then they lose saturation as you mix them with other colors. Monet,
The Red House Hue: Refers to the position of a color on the color wheel. Red, blue, orange, Green, Yellow - these are all different hues.
Other Color Theory
TINT: A color plus white.
SHADE: A color plus black.
TONE: Used to broadly describe different mixtures of a color.
You will also hear artists use the phrase “toned down” to describe reducing the saturation of a color (making it closer to gray). VIVIDNESS, CHROMA, RICHNESS, PURITY: Refers to the saturation of a color.
HIGH-KEY: Refers to a range of light colors (colors in a high-value range). LOW-KEY: Refers to a range of dark colors (colors in a low-value range.).
LOW-KEY: Refers to a range of dark colors (colors in a low-value rang).
TEMPERATURE: Refers to how warm or cool a color is in terms of color temperature (think orange versus blue). This is not a physical temperature, But rather an implied temperature.
COLOR SCHEME: An arrangement of colors which is generally considered to be aesthetically pleasing. The popular color schemes used by artists are complementary, Analogous, Triadic, Split-complementary, Monochromatic and rectangular.
The Color Wheel
Since the origination of the color wheel by Isaac Newton, It has become one of the most powerful tools available to artists for explaining the relationships between colors. The color wheel is consisted of 3 primary colors, 3 secondary colors, And 6 tertiary colors. The three primary colors are red, Blue and yellow. The three secondary colors are green, Orange and purple. These are made by mixing two of the primary colors. The six other colors on the color wheel are the tertiary colors.
You can mix almost any color using just the primary colors (red, blue and yellow) and white. This is why painting with a limited palette is often recommended for beginners, As it forces you to learn how to mix your own colors rather than relying on pre-mixed colors.
Here are some tips for color mixing: • Mixing any two primary colors will create the color between them on the color wheel.
For example, By mixing red and blue, you will get purple.
• You can reduce the saturation of a color by mixing it with the color on the opposite side of the color wheel. These are complementary colors. For example, You can reduce the saturation of orange by mixing it with some blue.
• To darken a color, You can add blue, Black or an earthy color such as raw umber or burnt sienna.
• To lighten a color, You can add yellow or white.
• To mix a natural black, you can combine a dark blue with raw umber or burnt sienna.
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