1. The Color Wheel
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary

2. Primary Colors
Yellow
Red
Blue

3. Secondary Colors
Orange
Violet
Green

4. Tertiary Colors Yellow-Orange Red-Orange Red-Purple Blue-Purple
Blue-Green
Yellow-Green

5. Chroma - Saturation/Intensity - Value

6. Shade Tint

7. 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.

8. Yellow-Orange / Blue-Violet
Complementary Colors
The colors that are positioned opposite one another are complementary colors.
Red-Orange /
Blue-Green
Violet/Yellow
Red/Green
Yellow-Green /
Red-Violet
Yellow-Orange / Blue-Violet
Orange / Blue

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

10. 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

11. 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

12. Fighting Forms, Franz Marc

13. 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

14. Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh

15. 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.

16. Red-Purple Rectangle Blue-Purple Rectangle

17. 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.