Colour Theory

Primary Colours
Red Yellow Blue
 Secondary Colours
Orange Green Purple
They are achieved by mixing two primary
colors together.
 Tertiary Colours
• Tertiary colors are made by mixing a
primary and a secondary color that are
side by side.
 Complementary Colours
• Complementary colors are diagonally
opposite one another on the color
wheel.
• They create the maximum contrast with
one another.
 Analogous Colours
• They sit next to one another on the
color wheel. These colors are in
harmony with one another.
 Red
• Fire, blood, danger, anger and violence.
• Love and passion.
 Yellow
• Life, energy, happiness, hope and
wisdom.
 Orange
• Creativity and endurance.
• It unites the creative passion of red
with the clarity and wisdom of yellow.
 Green
• Nature, health and growth.
• Envy and inexperience.
 Blue
• Calming, freshness, purity and hygiene.
 Purple
• Royalty, wealth and power.
 Brown
• Earth, wood and stone, humility
 Black
• Death, evil, witchcraft, fear and sorrow.
 Grey
• Metals and stone,
• Weather, boredom and old age.
 White
• Peace, purity and goodness.
 Brown and Grey
• Browns and greys contain all three primary
colors.
• They're created by mixing either all three
primary colors
 Brown
• Mix a primary color with its complementary
color.
• So add orange to blue, purple to yellow, or
green to red.
– Each of these makes a different brown
 Grey
• Mix some orange (or yellow and red) with
a blue then add some white.
• You'll always want more blue than orange,
but experiment with the amount of white
you use.
 Colour Tint
• A tint describes a color that is mixed with
white.
 Colour Shades
• A shade describes a color that is mixed
with black.
 Colour Intensity
• Color intensity is the strength or value
of a color.
• The three violet rectangles are identical
colors but they appear to change when
surrounded by different colors.
 Transparent Colours
• Transparent colors are colors that you
can see through.
• Different types of paint and certain
colors are naturally more transparent
than others.
 Opaque Colours
• Opaque colors are colors that you
cannot see through.
• Different types of paint and certain
colors are naturally more opaque than
others.
 How We See Colour
• Daylight (white light) is made up of
numerous waves or impulses each having
different dimensions or wavelengths.
• When separated, any single wavelength
will produce a specific color impression to
the human eye.
 How We See Colour
• When an object is hit (bombarded) with
light rays:
– The object absorbs certain waves
– The object reflects others
• For example, a blue ball
– it reflects only blue light and absorbs all other
light. 
• The ball does not have color in itself. The light
generates the color.
• The color white: If all light waves are
reflected from a surface the surface will
appear to be white. 

• The color black: Similarly, when all light

waves are absorbed by a surface the
surface will appear to be black.