Part One: Introduction to Color

Question 1

additive color/mixture

Answer 1

Color seen as light: when their primary colors are combined the result is white light.

Question 2

luminosity

Answer 2

the relative brightness of a color. (value)

Question 3

subtractive color/mixture

Answer 3

the result of mixing color, such as paint or pigment. The result of mixing primary colors is a dull, dark tone.

Question 4

spectrum

Answer 4

contains the full range of hues present in sunlight (rainbow).

Question 5

hue continuum

Answer 5

a graphic representation of the full color spectrum from infrared to ultraviolet.

Question 6

primary triad

Answer 6

indivisible colors that are red, yellow, and blue. All other colors can be mixed from it.

Question 7

color wheel

Answer 7

circular depiction of the hue continuum.

Question 8

complementary hues

Answer 8

any two hues that lie directly opposite each other on a color wheel. When intermixed, the result is a color darker and duller than both of the two parent colors.

Question 9

saturation

Answer 9

relative purity of a color (richness, intensity, chroma).

Question 10

value

Answer 10

relative quality of lightness of darkness in a color (luminosity).

Question 11

overtone

Answer 11

color bias of a hue.

Question 12

secondary triad

Answer 12

colors consisting of green, orange, and violet. Can be mixed by combining two primary colors.

Question 13

co-primaries

Answer 13

the warm and cool versions of each primary color.

Question 14

tones

Answer 14

a term that can refer to any color but a prismatic color.

Question 15

tertiary colors

Answer 15

the resulting color formed when an equal amount of a primary and a secondary color are mixed. (yellow-orange, red-orange, blue-green, yellow-green, blue-violet, and red-violet.)

Question 16

partitive mixture

Answer 16

which involves how light is affected by other colors, such as different objects reflecting light in a photograph.

Question 17

T/F? Colors that seem similar, such as orange and yellow-orange, do so because their wavelengths are very different.

Answer 17

False

Question 18

T/F? Variations in the color of light are most evident in lighter colors, such as tans, light
grays, and yellows.

Answer 18

True

Question 19

T/F? Artificial light is typically relatively cool in temperature.

Answer 19

False

Question 20

As waves of _______ are received in the lens of the eye, they are interpreted by
the brain as _______.

Answer 20

light; color

Question 21

The secondary triad consists of the colors _______, _______, and _______.

Answer 21

orange; green; violet

Question 22

Why is the idea that all possible colors can be mixed from the primary triad untrue?

Answer 22

The idea that all possible colors can be mixed from the
primary triad is based on the assumption that there are
pure pigments that represent the true primary colors but
none really exist; all red, yellow, and blue pigments are
visually biased, to a degree, toward one or another of
the colors that adjoin them.

Question 23

Identify the perception of color, describing elementary

optics.

Answer 23

The perception of color takes place in the mind. As waves of light are received in the lens of the eye, they are interpreted by the brain as color.

Question 24

Summarize the primary triad.

Answer 24

The primary triad is made up of (in theory) indivisible colors: red, yellow, and blue. They cannot be made by combining other colors. All other colors can be made by combining two or more colors of the primary triad (in an oversimplified theory).

Question 25

Explain color overtone and its impact on color mixing.

Answer 25

Color overtone is a borrowed term from music that describes color bias (a color leaning towards a certain hue). As when colors are mixed, so do their overtones. This is important to understand in color mixing in order to create a specific color, because parent colors can be biased towards a color different than the target and knowing which color bias the parent colors lean towards can help predict the outcome of color mixing.