Color Notes: An Introduction to Color Theory Mrs. Love Visual Art 1AB Santiago High School
Color Notes: I. Color has Three Basic Qualities: 1.Hue: Pure color; Another way of saying its name: Yellow, Orange etc.
Color Notes: 2.Value: The Lightness or Darkness of a Color Tint= Add White to a Color Shade = Add Black to a Color Tone = Add Black and White (Gray) to a Color
Color Notes: Tints: Add White to a color Shades: Add Black to a color Tones: Add Gray to a color
Color Notes: 3.Intensity Brightness or Dullness of a Color Bright = Pure Hue Dull = Some of the color’s complement has been added or by adding NEUTRAL GRAY in varying amounts.
Color Notes: Primary Colors: Colors that cannot be created from mixing other colors together Red, Blue, Yellow
Color Notes: Secondary Colors Colors that are mixed together from 2 Primary Colors. Orange, Violet & Green
Color Notes: Intermediate or Tertiary Colors Produced by mixing together a Primary and a Secondary Color. YO, YG, RO, RV, BV, BG
Color Notes: Neutral Colors Black, White, Brown and Gray Can be used with any Color Scheme Add one of the colors in the color scheme to transform the neutral into your color scheme.
Color Notes: II. Color Scheme: A plan for organizing colors based on the Color Wheel
Color Notes: Monochromatic Mono = one Chroma = color One color in different values Can add Black OR White OR Brown OR Gray Neil Welliver “Thawed Ledge”
Color Notes: Analogous 4 colors that are next to each other on the color wheel Have 1 color in common. All are related. Henri Rousseau “The Snake Charmer”
Color Notes: Complementary 2 Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel Red & Green; Blue & Orange; Yellow & Violet etc. Paul Cezanne “Still Life With Onions”
Color Notes: Split- Complement 3 colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel, but to either side of the exact opposite Example: Red, Yellow-green & Blue- green.
Color Notes: Double-Split Complement Four Colors, two on either side of two complements, but not the complementary colors. Example: Red- orange, Red-violet, Yellow-green & Blue-green.
Color Notes: Cool Colors *Green, Blue- Green, Blue, Blue- Violet, Violet, *Red-Violet Cool colors recede; makes objects look farther away. * means that when used with primarily cool colors it will be a cool color, but when used with primarily warm colors it will become a warm color. Can be cool or warm
Color Notes: Warm Colors Warm colors advance; makes things look closer. Yellow-Green, Yellow, Yellow- Orange, Orange, Red-Orange, Red
Color Notes: Triadic Any three colors that are equidistant from each other on the color wheel. Example: orange, green, violet