If you visit any art or craft store, you can pick up something called a color wheel. It is usually a cardboard disk with colors of the light spectrum. It is a great visual aid in seeing how paint colors mix together. For instance, it will show if you combine green and yellow together, the result will be yellow-green.
The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colors are green orange and purple. Tertiary colors are created by combining both primary and secondary colors together from the color wheel. The color wheel will aid you in the desired color combinations you are looking for.
Another way to look at colors is by understanding light spectrums by using the colors of the rainbow. Roy G. Biv is not a famous painter’s name. It is an acronym most commonly used in art to remember these colors. The outside of the rainbow begins with red, moving to orange and yellow. The letter G represents the color green. Next comes blue, indigo, and violet.
The colors themselves are called hues. If you add black to a color, it is referred to the shade of color. On the other hand, if you add white to color you get the tint of the color. If you add a mixture of white and black together you get grey. By adding grey to a hue, the resulting color is called a tone.
More advanced use of a color wheel also helps an artist visualize color harmonies. The most common color harmony is a complementary color combination. These colors have the highest contrast on the color wheel and are the colors opposed to one another. Red and green is an example of this harmony. If you mix red and green together it turns into a muted or muddy color.
Another popular color harmony is analogous hues together on the color wheel. These are very similar colors on the color wheel that mix well together and maintain a richness in color.
Experiment with color and see what colors you come up with on your own. If you do not succeed in achieving your desired color, pull out the color wheel for further assistance.
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