Colour Theory Flashcards
What are primary colours?
These are colours that cannot be created by mixing other colours together.
List the primary colours.
Red; blue; yellow
How do you obtain non-primary colours?
In theory, every other colour can be obtained by mixing primary colours together in varying proportions.
What are secondary colours?
The secondary colours are created by mixing 2 primary colours together in equal proportions.
List the secondary colours.
Green; orange; violet
Why is it difficult to create try secondaries from pigment primaries?
Pigment primaries tend to contain traces of other colours.
Which trace colour is found in cadmium yellow?
A slight trace of red.
What type of yellow is ideal for mixing oranges?
Cadmium yellow
Which yellow creates muddy greens?
Cadmium yellow
Which yellow is ideal for mixing greens?
Lemon yellow.
Which trace colour can be found in cobalt blue?
Yellow.
Which blue creates dull violets?
Cobalt blue
Which blue is ideal for mixing violets?
Ultramarine blue
Which trace colour can be found in alizarin crimson?
a slight bluish tinge
What are tertiary colours?
Colours that are produced by increasing the proportion of one of the primaries in the mixture.
List the tertiary colours.
yellow-orange; red-orange; red-violet; blue-violet; blue-green; yellow-green
What are complementary colours?
Complementaries are a primary colour and the secondary colour directly opposite it on the colour wheel that enhance each other when placed side by side.
What happens when you place red and green next to each other?
The red looks redder and the green looks greener.
What happens when you place violet and yellow next to each other?
The yellow looks yellower and the violet looks violeter.
What happens when you place orange and blue next to each other?
the orange looks more orange and the blue looks bluer.
List the complementary colour combinations on a standard colour wheel.
yellow and violet (blue + red)
red and green (blue + yellow)
blue and orange (yellow + red)
How do you mix neutral greys?
If a third primary is introduced into the mixture, a duller, less saturated colour is produced.
What are neutral greys?
A grey with a colour bias depending on your majority primary colour in the mix.
Which colour combinations create neutral greys?
mixing complementary colours with each other create neutral greys. Red + green; blue + orange; yellow + violet
When is the term “pure” used with colours?
Pure is used to describe a primary colour or any mixture of two primary colours. Primary, secondary and tertiary colours are all pure colours.
Which 10 colours make up the basic palette for watercolours?
ivory black; cadmium red; alizarin crimson; cadmium yellow; yellow ochre; cobalt blue; Prussian blue; viridian green; burnt umber and Payne’s grey.
