Hue, Value and Intensity

• According to the Cambridge dictionary, a hue is “ a degree of lightness, darkness, strength etc
of a colour.”

• A hue refers to a colour family such as blue and takes into account all variations from baby blue
to navy.

• Although hue means a colour family, it is often used to talk about the “purest form” of a colour,
with no added black, white or grey.

• Value is the darkness or lightness of a hue, it is the perceived brightness. It is the measurement
of how much pure black or pure white is mixed into your hue. Value is the relative brightness of
a colour when compared with another colour.

• Value is used to create light, shadow, texture etc.

• If you are adding black to your hue, then it is called a shade.

• If you are adding white to a hue, then it is called a tint.

• A tint of red would be pink and a shade would be wine.

• An artwork that has low contrast in value, will look at and the colours will seem to blend.

• When there is high contrast in value, colours will seem to separate and some colours will stand
out more than others. This creates light, shadow, texture etc.

• If you would like to see the value of your colour artwork clearly, you can convert it to black and
white. This will make the value contrast between colours in your artwork very apparent.

• Intensity is the brightness or dullness of a colour.

• You can dull the intensity of a hue/colour by adding black, grey or white to it.

• Saturation (aka chroma) describes how pure your hue is compared to grey. You can dull a
colour by adding grey to it. If you keep adding grey to your hue you will slowly neutralise it to
grey.

• Intensity is often used interchangeably with “saturation”. The way I separate the two is by
thinking of intensity as taking into account both value and saturation, making it a broader term.

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A. Red and green are di erent in hue, but similar in value.

B. The shade and tint of red are similar in hue but di er in value

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 Additive Colour Mixing

• Colour is what our eyes see when light is being re ected o or being emitted by an object.

• Each colour is made out of a di erent wavelength of light, with red being the longest and violet
the shortest.

• Additive Colour mixing deals with light.

• In additive colour mixing you start with black (the absence of light) and move towards white (a
mixture of all colours of light) by adding more colours.

• It is called additive because you are adding wavelengths of light together and all colours are
still being emitted when mixed and reach your eyes. You are adding brightness each time you
add a colour.

• The primary colours of light are red, Blue and Green (RGB).

• Primary colours can not be mixed from a combination of any other colours and can be used to
mix all other colours.

• When you combine two primary colours of light, you get a secondary colour of light. The
secondary colours of light are the following:

- Blue + Green = Cyan

- Red + Blue = Magenta

- Red + Green = Yellow

• Tertiary Colours of light are produced by mixing a primary and a secondary colour of light,
some examples are:

- Red + Yellow = Orange

- Blue + Magenta = Violet

- Green + Cyan = Spring green

• Televisions, phone screens, computers and other electronic devices use the primary colours
Red Blue and Green, aka RGB, to produce the colours that you see on the screen.

• If you were to zoom in on a digital screen then you would be able to see the pixels of red, blue
and green working together to create the large variety of colours that we see on our screens.

• In additive colour mixing white is considered a colour as it is the result of all colours combined.
Black is not considered a colour in additive colour mixing as it is the absence of light, (and
therefore absence of colour).

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 Subtractive Colour Mixing

• When white light (daylight) from the sun hits and object, that object will re ect the colour that
you see, back at you, whilst absorbing (canceling) all other wavelengths.

• For example: grass is green because it absorbs all colour wavelengths, except for green, which
is re ected back at you. (Please see more examples at the bottom of the page and refer to the
additive colour primaries diagram of the previous page)

• Subtractive colour mixing applies when mixing pigments. Pigments are substances that are
used to add colours to materials. This could be paint, dye etc.

• It is called subtractive because you are loosing brightness every time you add a colour.

• When you mix paints you start with a white canvas and move towards black by adding more
colours.

• You are subtracting/ ltering out wavelengths each time that you add a colour. When you mix
pigments, the only wavelengths that remain to be re ected back are those that both starting
colours were commonly emitting before being mixed. All other wavelengths will be deleted/
cancelled/absorbed.

• In subtractive colour mixing, white is the lack of colour and black is the mixture of all colours.

• The traditional Primary colours of pigments are red, yellow and blue (RYB) but there has been a
new set introduced which is cyan, magenta and yellow (CMY).

• The reason CMY has been introduced as a potential replacement is because

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 The Colour Wheel : CMY vs RYB

• A colour wheel is a tool that shows relationships between colours and helps to categorise
them.

• The subtractive colour wheel is used by painters around the world to help with mixing colours
and is also used as a guide to create pleasing colour schemes by both digital and traditional
artists alike.

• The colour wheel can be used to generate colour schemes that look “harmonious” together and
can help you better understand how certain colours interact with each other.

• You do not have to use the colour wheel to make a great colour palette, it is simply there to
help you learn about colour relationships and to inspire you when you need it.

• The CMY colour wheel has proven that you can indeed mix red and blue from other colours,
excluding them from being primaries.

- Magenta+yellow=red

- Cyan+magenta=blue

• The CMY colour wheel produces brighter and more colours than the RYB wheel.

• The CMY colour wheel may be better for artwork that requires bright and saturated hues
whereas the RYB colour wheel could be better for realistic artwork due to the more subdued
and realistic colours. Pick your favourite!

• Printers use CMY plus black (CMYK)

• Printing uses subtractive colour mixing, in that you start with a white base, the lack of colour,
and move towards black by adding colours and deleting brightness.

• The black colour is called a key since it is the “key plate” used to align the other 3 colour
plates. The black ink is there to create shading whereas cyan, magenta and yellow are
combined to create a wide array of colours.

• CMY is also lighter than RGB, and it is easier to create a darker colour by mixing two lighter
colours together than it is getting a lighter colour out of two darker colours.

• A printer uses dots made up of these 4 colours to make up the image that you are printing.

 Warm and Cool Colours

• The colour wheel is divided into a “cool” and ”warm” side.

• On the cool side you can see variations of blue, green and purple. Cool colours are calming and
soothing. They remind us of snow, ice and nature and help us relax. Cool Colours less
dominant than warm colours and will therefore recede when paired with them.

• Warm colours such as red, orange and yellow remind us of re and heat. These colours are
energetic, passionate and joyful and can be used to convey a sense of urgency. They will pop
and stand out when combined with cool colours.

• Our perception of a colour can change when it is paired with other colours. This is an example
of value, or the relative brightness (luminosity) of a colour. Perceived colour temperature is
dependent on the other colours that are surrounding it.

• Lets say you have a desaturated orange. It is still a warm colour but it can be made to look
considerably cooler by contrasting it to a bright pure hue of red and warmer when put next to a
brilliant blue.

Below you can see how warm colours stand out while cool colours recede:

Below is an example of how a desaturated orange looks cooler next to a ery red and warmer
next to a brilliant blue:

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 Complementary and Analogous Colours

• You can use the colour wheel to nd complementary colours.

• Complementary colours are opposite each other on the colour wheel and create a striking and
contrasting look. They are colour combinations with the most contrast and will always consist
of one warm and one cool colour.

• Analogous colours are located close to each other on he colour wheel. Analogous colour
combinations create a softer and less contrasting look and can be used to camou age a
subject into the background.

• Mixing two analogous colours will give you a colour with less loss of brightness, because they
have re ecting wavelengths in common, leaving fewer wavelengths of colour to be absorbed
and in a way “deleted”.

• If you mix two complementary colours you get black because they cancel each other out. They
re ect the opposite wavelength and all colours end up being cancelled and absorbed when
mixed.

Complementary colours:

Analogous colours:

Mixing complementary colours:

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 More Colour Schemes

• A monochromatic colour scheme uses a single hue and creates contrast and depth by using its
di erent shades, tones and tints. This type of colour scheme forces the viewer to focus on the
details of a drawing and is therefore great for artwork where you want the viewer to pay
attention to the whole scene, rather than a predetermined focal point.

• A split complementary colour scheme is a variation of a complementary colour scheme. You

• A triadic colour scheme takes three colours in an equilateral triangle from the colour wheel. In
this colour scheme you will get either:

- two warm colours and one cool colour

or

- two cool colours and one warm colour

• Another fun fact about the triadic colour scheme is that you will get either:

- three primary

- three secondary

or

- three tertiary colours

• Tetradic colour scheme (rectangle) uses 4 colours arranged into two complementary pairs.

• Square colour schemes uses 4 colours that are spaced evenly around the colour wheel.

• When using the triadic, tetradic and square colour schemes, it is recommended that you
choose one main colour and use the rest for accents and details. This will help ensure that the
colour scheme does not become too overwhelming.

Monochromatic:

Split Complementary:

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Triadic:

Tetradic:

Square:

 Colour Interaction : Saturation

• It is important to have areas in your artwork that let the viewer’s eyes rest. These could be areas
of white, black or desaturated colours.

• If your whole drawing is made up of only saturated colours then it can end up being
overwhelming for the viewer as their eyes have nowhere to rest.

• When used for storytelling, saturated colours convey a vibrant and happy mood.

• Desaturated colours can be used to convey a dull, lifeless and sad mood.

• I nd that saturated colours loose a bit of their power when they do not have any duller, darker
or lighter hues to contrast against. You can make your saturated , brilliant colours pop more by
contrasting them. They will look like they are glowing when put next to darker desaturated
colours for example.

The illustration on the left has mostly saturated colours whereas the image on the right has a
mixture of both saturated and desaturated colours. Do you notice how the stars in the woman’s
arm seem to be glowing and stand out more on the right?

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