Produced by Linda Thomas for classroom use revised Significant borrowing from A Color Manual by Robert Purser and internet sources

What is Color Theory ? The practical and technical applications of color in conjunction with the current understanding of the perception of color. Color theory includes speculations and assumptions about color harmony and color schemes as well as the intersection of cultural meanings.

Color Theory Color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combinations. Color theory principles first appeared in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti (c.1435) and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (c.1490). A tradition of "colory theory" began in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy around Isaac Newton’s theory of color (Opticks, 1704) and the nature of so-called primary colors. From there it developed as an independent artistic tradition with only superficial reference to colorimetry and vision science

The Color Wheel Color Wheels are an orderly circular arrangement of colors

Terms Characteristics of Color Hue: Basic name for a color, e.g. blue, yellow, blue-green, etc. Primary Hues: Three colors than cannot be mixed but are used to form all other colors Secondary Hues: Colors made by mixing 2 of the primaries together. Tertiary Hues: Colors made by mixing a primary with a secondary hue. Value: The relative lightness or darkness of a color Saturation or Chroma: The degree of intensity, brightness, strength, or purity of a hue All hues on the color wheel begin at full saturation

Terms HUE Primary Hues: Three colors than cannot be mixed but are used to form all other colors Secondary Hues: Colors made by mixing 2 of the primaries together. Tertiary Hues: Colors made by mixing a primary with a secondary hue. This is just the beginning. An endless number of subtle hues can be produced. To change a hue without affecting its purity you may mix it only with hues close on the color wheel, or you will subdue the hue and it will lose it’s purity. A broken color is the result of mixing the 3 primaries together in unequal amounts. Normally one or two hues will dominate resulting in a dull hue.

Color Wheels Based on Three Primaries The three primary, subtractive color wheel works better in theory than in practice. It has 3 Primary hues: red, yellow and blue. They are equal distance apart. In theory, all other hues can be mixed from these. However, because of specialized pigments we now need two of each primary, one of the cool side and one of the warm side. Secondary hues: are midway between the 3 primaries; orange, green and violet. They can be mixed but not necessarily from equal proportions. Tertiary (intermediate) hues are between the Secondary and Primary hues. The primary is always the first part of the name: Red-Orange, Blue-Green, Yellow- Green, Blue-Violet, Red-Violet, Yellow-Orange

Mixing Colors Important Tip: Always Add Dark to Light When combining colors, remember it takes only a small amount of a dark color to change a light color and it takes a lot of a light color to impact a dark hue. Add a dark hue (e.g. blue) to light hue (e.g. yellow).

Mixing clear hues The Brightest Colors derive from a single pigments For the most intense and clear hues use the minimum number of pigments. Confirm that the tube paints you mix are each made from only one pigment.

Proportions of Pigments The amount of red and yellow you combine will determine the exact type of orange you get. If you mix more red than yellow, you get a reddish orange; if you add more yellow than red, you get a yellowish orange.

Mixing Tertiary Colors Tertiary colors are made by combining a primary with a secondary color. Blue-Violet Yellow-Green Blue-Green Yellow-Orange Red-Orange Red-Violet

Mixing Specialized Pigments The secondary color you mix depends on which red, blue, or yellow you use, and the proportions used. If you mix a blue with a green shade e.g. pthalo with a red with an orange shade you will get a neutral violet or a brownish violet. To get a clear violet you need to mix a blue-shade red and a red- shade blue. Mix quinacridone rose and ultramarine blue to get violet. If you mix three primary colors, you get black and brown.

Mixing Neutrals Mixing a primary and a secondary color like the complementary colors red and green will produce a neutral hue. When you mix two secondary colors such a orange and green generally results in a muddy color or brown, grey and blacks.

VALUE

Value is often compared to and calculated on the gray scale. There are usually nine or ten equidistant steps between black and white. These greys, black and white are either the total absence of color (white) or the total presence of color (black) and are therefore called neutrals. Technically, they are NOT colors. Although brown is often considered a neutral by interior designers, technically it is a color. The hues of the color wheel will each match a value on the grey scale, with yellow the lightest and violet, the darkest hue. There are several ways to change the value of a color. 1. Add black or white. Adding white to a hue produces a high-value color, often called a tint. Adding black to a hue produces a low- value color, often called a shade. 2. Increase the amount of medium, thus diluting the percentage of pigment in the mix. 3. Add a lighter or darker color

Gradations in value from light to dark creates the illusion of volume.

Value defines form and creates spatial illusions.

Hue also has value. Yellow is light Yellow is light Violet is dark Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color.

Tints and Shades

Value and Saturation Scale There are several ways to change the value of a color. 1. Add black or white. Adding white to a hue produces a high-value color, often called a tint. Adding black to a hue produces a low-value color, often called a shade. 2. Increase the amount of medium, thus diluting the percentage of pigment in the mix. 3. Add a lighter or darker color

Saturation Saturation or Chroma or Intensity Saturation, refers to the brightness, strength, or purity of a hue. All hues on the color wheel begin at full saturation A color is at full intensity when not mixed with black or white-a pure hue. You can change the intensity of a color, making it duller or more neutral by adding gray to the color. The intensity of a color will be changed (neutralized) by adding its complement; this is called a tone.

The Science of Color: Chemistry

Subtractive Color Wheel Colors made from pigments or dyes. In subtractive color, when pigments are mixed, each color subtracts from the total reflected light. When light hits a pigment some of the waves are being strained out and others are reflected to the eye. The more hues we mix, the less color waves make it through the pigment. Each additional pigment makes the mixture darker.

Subtractive Color Mixing 3 Pigment Primaries Red, Yellow, Blue The more hues we mix, the less color waves make it through the pigment. Each additional pigment makes the mixture darker. When red, yellow and blue are mixed in certain proportions, we lose all bright colors and get a brown. The more colors are mixed the more white light is subtracted and the darker the resulting reflected light from the pigment. 3 Transparent Ink Primaries Cyan, Magenta, Yellow CMYK colors

Pigment Paint is not the same as color. Paints are composed of various pigments which reflect light of different wave lengths, this may result in in a mixed color rather than a pure one. Paint contains pigment and a medium (or binder) which holds it together and on the painted surface. Pigments are molecular structures that absorb and reflect certain waves of light. Ochre, cobalt, titanium, etc. are natural elements from the earth that are used for pigments. Synthetic pigments e.g. thalocynide blue and cadmium are commonly used.

Pigment Iron oxide Bone black Yellow ochre

The Science of Color Physics

Additive Color Wheel Light Additive Color Mixing There are 3 primaries of Light in the additive color wheel Red, Green and Blue The 3 colors of light make white light if mixed in equal strength. When over the 3 primaries of light overlap they make secondaries of cyan, magenta and yellow. Projecting no light makes black. When you reduce the power of the light source it darkens the hues.

Color is a form of energy.= light waves of certain lengths. The difference between blue and yellow is their wavelength. Perceiving color: Neon signs may emit red light. The sun emits all colors which we perceive as white. If we look at a white light through a red filter, only the red will pass through. All the other colors will be absorbed.

The Science of Color Neurology and Physiology

Vision and Color The process of seeing involves encoding in the brain. Light waves enter the eye through the cornea which roughly focuses the pattern of waves on the foveal pit in the retina. The rods and cones are ultimate receivers of the image. They transmit image patterns from radiant energy to chemical energy which energizes millions of nerve endings. These electrical impulses (from both eyes combined) transmit selected impulses to the brain where they are interpreted.

Cones & Rods Cones are the receivers of color within the eye which translate received radiant energy into chemical energy which activates nerve endings and transmits our perception of colors. Rods are not involved in color vision, they respond only to the quality of light entering the eye. Rods are sensitive to low light levels and help us develop night vision.

Perception of Color The eye translates the light waves into the “visible phenomenon” we call color. When we see an object, visible light is either EMITTED by the object, REFLECTED by it, TRANSMITTED through it or REFRACTED. The sun, a light bulb, and TV emit light. Objects such as clothing,a book or an apple reflect light. Stained glass or clear glass transmit light (permit it to pass through). A Rainbow is the product of light refracted through drops of rain Colored objects we see depend on the atomic or molecular structure of that object and on the color of the light before it is reflected or transmitted.