1. Basic Color Theory
I try to apply colors like words that shape poems, like notes
that shape music.
- Joan Miro

2. What is Color?
Color is what we see when light reflects off of an
object.
WHITE = Reflection of all light/color wavelengths.
When you see something that is white, you are
seeing all the colors being reflected at you.
BLACK = Absorption or absence of light/color
wavelengths.
When you see something that is black, you are not
seeing any colors at all.

3. Color Spectrum
The band of individual colors that results when a
beam of white light is broken into its component
wavelengths, identifiable as hues.

4. Local Color
The color as perceived by
the eye/brain (green grass,
blue sky, red apple, etc.).

5. Properties of Color
Hue = the actual color (ex. red, green, etc.)
Value = the lightness/darkness of a color.
High-Key Color: Any color that has a value level of
middle grey or lighter.
Low-key Color: Any color that has a value level of
middle grey or darker
Intensity/Chroma = the saturation or purity of a color. A
vivid color is of high intensity/chroma (like blood red),
and a dull color is of low intensity/chroma (like green-
grey).

6. Pigment - How We Make Color
An insoluble substance of color,
usually powder, that is added
to a liquid to produce paint /
ink
Examples: red pigment +
linseed oil = red oil paint;
blue pigment + egg = blue
tempera.
Soluble substances of color
dissolved in liquid are dyes.

7. Primary Colors
Hues that can’t be reduced
or created by any other
colors.
Red
Blue
Yellow
They are used to mix all
other colors.

8. Secondary Colors
A color produced by
combing two primary
colors
Purple (Violet)
Orange
Green

9. Tertiary Colors
A color produced by a
mixture of a primary color
and a secondary color
Yellow-Green
Yellow-Orange
Red-Orange
Red-Purple
Blue-Purple
Blue-Green

10. Color Schemes
The choice of colors used in design.
Are used to create style and appeal.
A basic color scheme will use two colors that look
appealing together. More advanced color schemes
involve several colors in combination, usually based
around a single color.
Can also contain different shades of a single color; for
example, a color scheme that mixes different shades of
green, ranging from very light (almost white) to very
dark.

11. Complementary Colors
Two colors directly opposite
each other on the color wheel.
Red & Green
Yellow & Purple
Blue & Orange
When used together, make both
colors appear brighter or more
intense.
If you mix two complementary
colors, the result is brown/black.

12. Vincent van Gough - Cafe Terrace at Nigh - 1888

13. Split-Complement
A color and the two
colors on either side of
its complement

14. Frederick Carl Frieseke - Through the Vines - 1908

15. Analogous Colors
Colors that are closely
related in hues.
They are adjacent to each
other on the color wheel.
For example, Yellow,
Yellow-Orange, and
Orange
When used together,
create a sense of harmony.

17. Color Triad
Three colors spaced an
equal distance apart on the
color wheel forming an
equilateral triangle.
The twelve-color wheel is
made up of a primary
triad, a secondary triad,
and two intermediate
(tertiary) triads.

18. Color Tetrad
Four colors, equally Four colors, arranged
spaced on the color into two complementary
wheel. pairs.

19. Monochromatic
Having only one hue, but
with a complete range of
values in that hue.
amara de Lempicka - Marquis Sommi - 1925

20. Warm & Cool Colors

21. Warm Colors
Suggest warmth and seem
to move toward the viewer
and appear closer.
Are vivid and energetic.
Remember that warm
colors appear larger than
cool colors.
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec - The Kiss - 1892

22. Cool Colors
Suggest
coolness and
seem to recede
from a viewer
and fall back.
Give an
impression of
calm.
Vincent Van Gogh - Starry Night - 1889

23. Neutrals
No single color is
noticed - only a sense
of lightness or
darkness.
Also, a color altered by
the addition of its
complement so that it
is less intense, or
grayed.
Georgia O'Keeffe - Black Iris III - 1926

24. Neutralization
A color that has
been reduced in
intensity (grayed)
by being mixed
with any neutral
or its complement.

25. Changing Value
You can change the
value of a color in
three ways:
Tint = add white
Tone = add gray
Shade = add black

26. Simultaneous Contrast
When two different colors come into direct contact,
the contrast intensifies the difference between
them.
In the example above, both of the smaller boxes are
the same color, yet appear different because of the
contrast with the color of the larger boxes.