The color wheel

The Color Wheel

1. The Color Wheel

2. What is the color wheel? The color wheel is a chart of colors of the visible spectrum that is used to show how colors relate to each other.

3. The History of the Color Wheel In 1666, Sir Isaac Newton’s experiments with light helped him begin his invention for the first color wheel when he passed a beam of sunlight through a prism.

4. The Spectrum The findings: All color is contained within white light. When light passes through a crystal prism, it is dispersed into the spectrum’s range of visible colors .

5. Newton was able to show the natural sequence of color by joining the two ends of the color spectrum together.

6. The Modern Color Wheel The modern color wheel does not show the full gradation in the spectrum. It shows the whole thing broken up into 12 segments.

7. In reality, the segments actually smear into one another so we have an infinite number of colors. INFINITE COLORS

8. Some color wheels show the progression across the middle to a complete neutral in the middle.

9. Colors The color wheel is made up of three PRIMARY colors, three SECONDARY colors, and six TERTIARY colors.

10. The Three Primary Colors You CANNOT make the three primary colors! You MUST buy them.

11. The Three Secondary Colors: You make the secondary colors by mixing two of the primary colors together.

12. What primary colors do you mix to make orange ? What primary colors do you mix to make green ? What primary colors do you mix to make violet ?

13. The Tertiary Colors Tertiary colors are created by combining equal parts of the primary and secondary colors that are closest to their sides.

14. The Names of the Tertiary Colors It is important to note that the primary color name comes first in the tertiary name. Red-violet Red-orange Yellow-green Yellow-orange Blue-violet Blue-green

15. Mixing Colors You can mix any color of the rainbow by mixing with the three primary colors!

16. Tints Color + White= TINT

17. Shades Color + Black= SHADE

18. Tones Color + gray= TONE

19. Color Temperature Reds, oranges and yellows are considered warm colors. Blues, greens, and violets are considered cool colors .

20. WARM COLORS Warm colors are vivid and energetic, and tend to advance in space.

21. COOL COLORS Cool colors give an impression of calm, and create a soothing impression . Cool colors tend to retreat/recede in space.

22. Complimentary Colors Colors opposite of each other on the color wheel.

23. Split-Complementary Colors The split-complementary color scheme is a variation of the complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement.

24. Analogous Color Schemes These are colors next to each other on the color wheel. They usually create harmonious combinations.

25. Triadic Color Schemes A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.

26. Monochromatic Color Schemes A monochromatic scheme involves one color mixed with a variety of tints, shades, and tones.

27. Creative Color Wheels