Color Schemes

Image from www.fysa.net/gallery/ sarah/color-wheel.jpg

Anatomy of the

Color Wheel

Primary Colors

Secondary Colors

Tertiary Colors

red, blue, yellow

orange, green, violet

primary mixed with secondary

Hue

the name of a color of the spectrum

Red

Blue

Yellow Green

Value

the lightness or darkness of a color

TINT

TONE

SHADE

Color + White

Color + Gray

Color + Black

Saturation

the amount of pure hue in a color, its vividness (also called intensity or chroma)

Saturated Color

Unsaturated Color

Temperature
Warm Colors reds, oranges, yellows Cool Colors greens, blues, violets

What is a color scheme?

A planned combination of colors.

Monochromatic Color:
Any shade, tint or tone of the same color.

New Moon and Palm Trees 2004, alkyd on canvas, 34 x 42

Sharon Ellis

Monochromatic ~ blue

Analogous Colors:
Any shade, tint or tone of colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.

Helen Frankenthaler
Tales of Genji III 1998, woodcut, stencil on paper

Analogous ~ blue and blue-green

Complementary Colors:
Two colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel.

Untitled 1982, Day-Glo paint on wood, 4 diameter

Keith Haring

Complementary ~ red and green

Split-Complementary Colors:
Using one color in conjunction with the two colors that are next to the original colors complement.

Red, Orange, Tan and Purple 1954, oil on canvas, 84 x 68

Mark Rothko

Split-Complementary ~ blue-violet, yellow and orange

Triad:
Using three colors that are equally spaced apart on the color wheel.

Broadway Boogie Woogie 1942-43, oil on canvas, 42 x 42

Piet Mondrian

Triad ~ red, blue and yellow

Tetrad:
Created by placing a square or rectangle in the center of the color wheel. The corners will point to four colors that make up a tetrad.

Vincent van Gogh

Irises 1889, oil on canvas, 28 x 36

Tetrad ~ red-orange, yellow-orange, blue-green and blue-violet

Achromatic Color:
Also known as the value scale, achromatic color is using only a range of value from black to white, no color.

Guernica 1937, oil on canvas, 11 5 x 255

Pablo Picasso

Achromatic ~ gray scale

Split-Complementary blue, yellow-orange and red-orange Monochromatic blue Triad blue-green, yelloworange and red-violet Monochromatic violet

Triad Complementary Analogous Split-Complementary green, red-orange and red-violet violet and red-violet violet and yellow red-violet, blue-green and yellow-orange

Tetrad red, green, violet and yellow

Triad orange, violet and green

Complementary green and red

Split-Complementary green, blue and red-orange

Analogous yellow and yellow-green

Split-Complementary red-orange, blue and green

Tetrad yellow-orange, red, blue-violet and green

Analogous blue-violet, red-violet

Achromatic gray scale

Complementary red and green

Split- Complementary red, blue-green and yellow-green

Analogous green and yellow