| |
Hints and Tips: The Colour Wheel
 |
|
The colour wheel is divided into three categories: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
The three primary colours are red, yellow and blue. These colours are considered to be foundation c olours because they are used to create all other colours.
By combining two of the primary colours, three secondary colours are formed. They are orange, green and violet.
The six tertiary colours are made by combining a primary and an adjacent secondary colour. These colours are red-orange, red-violet, yellow-green, yellow-orange, blue-green and blue-violet.
|
 |
|
Warm Colours
These are the warm colours of the spectrum from red through orange to yellow. You can use a small amount of a warm colour to warm the temperature of a cool colour and vice versa.
The warm colours tend to come towards you, or feel closer to you, and come forward in a painting.
Use this knowledge in your work to advantage, for instance, cool blue colours to show distant land and a warm brown for land near to you.
|
|
Cool Colours
Cool colours tend to feel distant, and recede in a painting. You can use a cool colour to change the temperature of a warm colour, just use it's opposite on the colour wheel.
Use warm and cool colours to contrast with each other |
 |
|
Complementary Colours
Complementary colours are opposite each other on the colour wheel, Red/Green, Blue/Orange etc. Colours that are opposite each other when put side by side, contrast with each other.
Complementary colours when mixed together produce a neutral or grey colour, sometimes with a leaning towards one colour. You can use complementary colour, to dull and darken the original colour instead of using black.
A tint of a colour is made by adding white.
A shade is made by adding black.
|
|
|
Identifying Warm and Cool Colours
|
|
|
|
This is an interesting question because as you are probably aware, sometimes when we mix red and blue together we don't always get a pure purple, rather a sludgy maroon colour. This can be caused by mixing warm and cool colours together.
I've listed below ways in which you can identify warm and cool colours.
Firstly, these days manufacturers of artist quality paint will often label colours red shade, green or blue shade eg: Phthalo Blue red shade. Assuming you haven't got these sort of paints there are other ways of doing it.
1. Buy a large colour wheel which has a range of tones of green between the yellow and blue, look at your tube of green paint and see if the colour sits somewhere between the blue and yellow. If it does it is likely to be a cooler green - blue shade. If the green is more earthy in appearance it will probably be a red shade green (warm) as greens can be reduced in intensity if mixed with a little red. Repeat for all your colours.
2. The second method involves colour mixing and a good eye. Generally speaking cool colours are more to the blue end of the spectrum, warm colours towards the red. Therefore, if you mix lemon yellow with ultramarine you end up with a pure green, because lemon yellow is a cool yellow. (you are mixing here a cool yellow and a pure blue). If you now mix cadmium yellow deep with ultramarine the green is much duller, more earthy and less strong. This is because cadmium yellow deep is a warm yellow - nearer the red end of the spectrum. You are essentially mixing yellow, blue and a little red together which would end up being brown if the balance of all colours was equal.
In summary mix your primary colours together equally and see if they produce pure secondary colours, if the do the colours are either both warm or both cool. If they produce a less pure brownish sort of colour you know you are mixing a cool and warm colour together. A process of elimination will determine which is cool or warm.
Work with only a limited range of colours get to know them and how they mix together and memorise their colour combinations and you've cracked it!!
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2011 Paul Priestley Art Courses. All rights reserved.