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Free Brief Color Theory

Guide

For any artist, mastering colors is as fundamental as

mastering the technique. This mastery of basic concepts is
what allows the creation of unique and surprising
combinations, as well as the transmission of ideas,
sensations, emotions and impressions.

Through expressive watercolor compositions, visual artist COURSE DOCUMENT DOWNLOAD:

and illustrator Luli Reis (@lulireis) seeks to convey her love
and admiration for botanical life. In her creative process, Botanical Watercolor: Illustrate the Anatomy
colors play a crucial role in expressing and reproducing of Flowers
the beauty and enchantment present in nature.

To introduce you on this journey, Luli shares a guide with A course by Luli Reis, Visual Artist and
the essential concepts to understand color theory and SEE COURSE →
Illustrator
never forget how it works.

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COLOR
THEORY

Course by Luli Reis

Color is a very important part of a painting.

I share with you a material that I prepared with a brief description of

color theory, to help you understand a little bit how colors work.

This material is protected by intellectual property rights and can only be obtained with
the purchase of the course in Domestika. It is not allowed to reproduce, distribute, or sell
this material. If you have obtained it from another website or platform, please send an
email to hola@domestika.org.
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BASIC
NOMENCLATURE
HUE
It is the color itself. Pure color.

VALUE
Indicates the amount of light reflected by the color.
On a scale, we see a gradient from white (maximum reflected light) to black
(minimum reflected light). White and black are at opposite ends and between them
are all values of the same hue.

SATURATION
defines the intensity and brightness of the color and refers to the dominance of the
hue. That is, how vivid or faded color is. To make a colorless saturated, its
complementary color is added.

On a scale, we see that the hues are more vivid (maximum saturation) at the ends
and as they get closer to the center they become more faded until reaching a shade
of gray (minimum saturation).
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TERTIARY COLORS
PRIMARY COLORS
They are intermediate colors between the primary and secondary, and are
They are colors that cannot be created from any other color.
obtained by mixing a primary color with a secondary - and therefore have
compound names such as Blue-green or Red-orange.

SECONDARY COLORS
They are colors created from a mixture of two primary colors.
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TEMPERATURE
Colors can also be divided between hot and cold.

HOT COLORS COLD COLORS

they have a yellow undertone, that is, oranges, reds, and yellows are, in they have a more blue base, that is, purples, greens, blues, they are
general, warm colors. They are associated with energy, action, heat. generally cold colors. They are associated with calm, serenity, peace.

Dipping a little deeper into the subject, it is observed that there are shades of traditionally warm colors that
have a cold undertone and vice versa. To identify them, we basically need to train, place the side of the tone
by side, and observe their differences, compare them.

In this example, we can see that one of the greens is colder and the other
is warmer. Even though green is generally a cool shade, it can have a
warm undertone. Just as we can have a red (generally hot) with a cold
undertone, and so on.
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COLOR WHEEL
A color wheel is a tool made up of 12 colors
(3 primary, 3 secondary, and 6 tertiary) that helps us to
visually understand color theory and assists in choosing
of palettes.
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CHROMATIC
SCHEMES
ANALOGOUS COLORS
Colors that are side by side in the color circle.
Any set of colors that are side by side are
considered analogous colors and usually one of
the colors will “dominate” the color palette, while
the others will harmonize with it.
COMPLEMENTARY COLORS
They are directly opposite in the circle! It is a color
scheme that has very strong contrast, making the
colors look extremely vibrant when used
together. Care must be taken where and how we
are going to apply this scheme, according to what
feeling we want to feel.
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TRIAD
Composed of any 3 colors that are equally spaced
in the color wheel.
It is usually a very dynamic color scheme, creating
contrasting but very harmonic palettes.
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