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Colour Theory Information Sheet

This document provides information on colour theory, including the twelve pure hues used to mix infinite colour schemes. It describes how colour is perceived by the human eye depending on the wavelengths of light absorbed and reflected by an object. Colour can be described by its hue, chroma, saturation, intensity, value, and other terms relating to the amount of black, white, or grey mixed in. The colour wheel is used to visually represent primary colours of red, yellow and blue that can't be derived from other colours, as well as secondary and tertiary colours formed by mixing primaries. Complimentary colours sit opposite each other on the wheel, while analogous colours are adjacent. Warm colours like red and yellow evoke warmth,

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315 views3 pages

Colour Theory Information Sheet

This document provides information on colour theory, including the twelve pure hues used to mix infinite colour schemes. It describes how colour is perceived by the human eye depending on the wavelengths of light absorbed and reflected by an object. Colour can be described by its hue, chroma, saturation, intensity, value, and other terms relating to the amount of black, white, or grey mixed in. The colour wheel is used to visually represent primary colours of red, yellow and blue that can't be derived from other colours, as well as secondary and tertiary colours formed by mixing primaries. Complimentary colours sit opposite each other on the wheel, while analogous colours are adjacent. Warm colours like red and yellow evoke warmth,

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Colour theory information sheet:

These are the family of twelve purest and brightest colours. With just
these twelve colours, you can mix an infinite number of colour schemes.
Most of the time you will modify these twelve hues by mixing in other
colours.

Colour is light. Light is electromagnetic radiation and, over a range of


wavelengths, it makes an impression on the human eye. This range of
wavelengths is the visual spectrum.

When light hits an object some wavelengths are absorbed and others are
reflected. We see the reflected wavelengths of light as colour. When all
the wavelengths in the visual spectrum are absorbed we see black and
when all are reflected we see white. When some are absorbed and some
are reflected we see different colours of the spectrum.

Colour can be described in three ways. By purity, by value or lightness.


We have several terms to help us describe colours in those three ways.

Hue: When someone is talking about hue they are talking about the
actual colour of an object. Green is a hue as are red, yellow, blue,
purple, etc.
Chroma: Refers to the purity of a hue in relation to gray. When
there is no shade of gray in a colour that colour has a high chroma.
Adding shades of gray to a hue reduces its chroma.
Saturation: is the degree of purity of a hue. Its similar to chroma,
though not quite the same thing. Pure hues are highly saturated.
When gray is added the colour becomes desaturated.
Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a colour. Adding white or
black to a colour lowers its intensity. An intense and highly
saturated colour has a high chroma.
Value/Luminance: Is a measure of the amount of light reflected
from a colour and is basically how light or dark a hue is. Adding
white to a hue makes it lighter and increases its value or luminance.
Consequently adding black makes it darker and lowers the value or
luminance.
Shade: The result of adding black to a hue to produce a darker hue
Tint: The result of adding white to a hue to produce a lighter hue
Tone: In between black and white we have gray. A colour
tone is the result of adding grey to s hue.
Shades, tints are tones at the extremes.

The colour wheel is a visual


representation and it was first credited to
Sir Isaac Newton who joined
the red and violet ends of the
visual spectrum into a circle.

Primary colours in the colour wheel

Primary coloyrs are the 3 pigment colours that cannot be


mixed or formed by any combination of other
colours. All other colours are derived from these 3 hues. The
primary colours are red, yellow and blue.

Secondary colours in the colour wheel

These are the coloyrs formed by mixing the primary


coloyrs. The secondary colours are green, orange and
purple.

Tertiary colours in the colour wheel

These are the colours formed by mixing a primary and a


secondary colour. Thats why the hue is a two word name, such
as blue-green, red-violet, and yellow-orange.

The tertiary colours on the colour wheel are yellow-orange, red-orange,


red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green.

Complimentary colours

The complimentary colours are red and green, blue and orange,
purple and yellow. These colours are located directly across
from each other on the colour wheel.

Analogous colours in the colour wheel

These are colours that are located right next to each other on
the colour wheel.
Warm and cool colours
Warm colours such as red, yellow, and orange evoke
warmth because they remind us of things like the sun or
fire.

Cool colours such as blue, green, and purple (violet)


evoke a cool feeling because they remind us of things like
water or grass.

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