20 Color Theory Facts You Should Know

Image via Complex Original

Artists and designers use color wheels regularly as a tool to mix, determine, and pick colors confidently. Color wheels are arranged in the shape of a circle in the order of how colors are represented in the light color spectrum. Painters, unlike printers, typically base their color wheels off of the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. Isaac Newton invented the first color wheel in 1666, and since then artists have studied and designed other wheels based on Newton's concept. Most color wheels have a total of 12 main divisions, but some have 24.

There are three different types of colors: primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colors are green, orange, and purple. And the tertiary colors are yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, and yellow-green. These are the 12 colors that typically appear on a color wheel.

Primary colors are known as basic colors because they cannot be created by mixing other hues. Since humans are trichromatic, the primary colors yellow, red, and blue are fundamental to human vision. Primary colors are the building blocks of all other colors.

Secondary colors are created by the equal mixture of two primary colors. For example, yellow and red make orange, red and blue make purple, and blue and yellow make green. On a color wheel, the secondary colors are located between two primary colors.

When you blend secondary and primary colors together, you get what is called a tertiary color, or intermediate color. On a color wheel, the tertiary colors are found between the primary and secondary colors. Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green, and yellow-green are examples of tertiary colors.

Analogous colors flatter each other when used together because they are so close to each other on the color wheel. When using analogous colors, painters make sure they have enough contrast, often choosing one dominant color, a second supporting color, and a third color that acts as an accent.

A monochromatic color scheme uses variations of a single hue to create a clean, elegant, and single-colored work of art. Using this type of color scheme will establish one overall mood and can be visually appealing.

Neutral colors don't show up on a color wheel. They can be created by mixing two complimentary colors or combining a pure color with white, black, or gray. Pure neutral colors include black, white, and all grays while near neutrals include browns, tans, and darker colors.

Complementary colors are two hues found on opposite sides of each other on the color wheel. For example, red's complementary color is green, and blue's complementary color is orange. A painting or work of art that relies on complimentary colors will have the strongest contrast. This color palette will draw the most attention and is extremely pleasing to the eye.

One of the easiest ways to figure out a color's complementary color is by staring at the color for 30 seconds and then immediately looking at a white piece of paper. The color you see on the white paper will be that color's complementary color. Try staring at the flag above for 30 seconds. When you immediately look at a white surface afterwards, you should see red, white, and blue.

When you change the dominant color in a painting, you will alter its whole appearance. Color proportion impacts the way someone views a painting. For example, all three of the squares above are made up of the same colors, but each has a different dominant color, making them unique.

A printer's color wheel works off of the same concept as a standard painter's color wheel except the primary colors are different. Instead of red, yellow, and blue, the printer’s color wheel relies on magenta, cyan, and yellow, which are the ink colors used to print images. This results in different secondary and tertiary colors.

Saturation is the measure of a color's intensity. Value, on the other hand, is the brightness of a color. High saturation colors look fuller and richer, and low saturation colors look dull and grayish. Saturation is not a matter of how light or dark the color is; saturation measures how pale or strong the color is. The brighter the color is, the higher its value.

Tinting and shading are two ways of altering a color's overall appearance. To achieve a lighter color, tinting is used by adding as much white as needed to get the desired color. Tinted colors are also called pastels. Artists tint their paintings for softer effects. If an artist wants a darker hue, he or she will shade the colors. A shade is the opposite of a tint; instead of adding white, black is added to the color. Artists use black cautiously because it can quickly overwhelm the original color.

An artist usually uses the subtractive color system when painting, while a designer usually uses the additive system when generating digital media on a computer. Both color systems are ways of mixing colors. With the additive color system, the color changes by adding different hues. With the subtractive color system, the color changes based on which hue you subtract or take away.

For example, if you want a color to appear redder, with the additive color system, you simply add more red to the color. With the subtractive color system, you subtract (or absorb) the other hues until all you have left is the color red. If all three base colors of the additive color system (red, green, and blue) are mixed together equally, the color will appear white. If all three base colors for subtractive (yellow, magenta, and cyan) are mixed together equally, the color will appear black.

According to color psychology, different hues have the potential to make people feel certain ways. For example, red is often interpreted to represent love, energy, and passion. Different shades and tints of red can also convey certain emotions. For example, light red carries a different meaning than dark red. Many artists create with these associations in mind to emphasize the messages of their works.

Cool colors are associated with calming and soothing feelings, unlike warm colors. They are made with blue, green, and purple and usually remind people of the sky. In images and paintings, cool colors make things look farther away.

Warm colors are made with orange, red, yellow, and a combination of all three, and they are correlated with sunlight and heat. Warm colors make things look closer in images and paintings.

Colors can play tricks on your mind. For example, a color appears differently depending on which color it’s next to. In the image above, the purple squares may seem like two different colors, but they are actually the same. When the square is against a red background (a warm color), it looks darker than when it’s against a green background (a cool color). The way we perceive a color can change when two colors of the same hue are next to each other but differ in size, shape, or distance.

Active colors, aka brighter colors, tend to excite both the mind and body and can be sources of energy and creativity. Passive colors, aka the more neutral and muted colors, tend to increase mental focus and have a calming effect. On the color wheel, active colors are the warm colors and stimulate the viewer more than the passive colors. Passive colors, which are the cool colors, are more visually receding, which means they appear further away next to more active colors.