COLOR THEORY

COLOR WHEEL

A color wheel is a chart that represents color hues and their interrelationship. Most color wheels
begin with the Primary color and secondary colors, leading towards the Tertiary colors.

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HUE, INTENSITY AND VALUE

-Hue: Hue is what distinguishes one color from another.

-Intensity: Intensity is referred to as the purity of color.

-Value: Value is the relative lightness or darkness of a color.

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TINT, TONE AND SHADE

-Tint: When white is added into a pure color, it is known as tint.

-Tone: When black and white is added in equal proportion in pure color, it is known as tone.

-Shade: When black is added into a pure color, it is known as shade.

BRIGHTNESS AND SATURATION

⁃ Saturation is also described as the absolute purity of color. Whereas brightness or
desaturation is said to be the lighter or darker tones of pure color.

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COLOR SCHEMES

-Cool color scheme

-Warm color scheme
-Complementary color scheme
-Split complementary color scheme
-Double split complementary color scheme/ Tetradic color scheme
-Analogous color scheme
-Triadic color scheme
-Square color scheme
-Monochromatic color scheme
-Achromatic color scheme

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COLOR HARMONY

-Color contrast: The difference between a subject and its surrounding field is referred to as
color contrast. The more contrast between a subject and background, the more visible the
subject becomes.
⁃ Color contrast is further divided into categories described below;

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1: Contrast hue

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2: Light dark contrast

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3: Cool warm contrast

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4: Complimentary contrast

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COLOR CONTEXT

⁃ It is also referred to
as, the environment or
background in which
a color is used. It also
helps us to highlight
the subject from
background in
different manner, like
Different color
background makes the
subject act differently.

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Color variants or Colors on computer

⁃CMYK colors, also referred to as

Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.
These colors are used for printing
purposes, also known as 4 color
printing process.

⁃RGB colors, also referred to as Red,

Green and Blue colors. These colors are
used in computers and screen displays.

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1; Color washing: successive color contrast
Negative color after effect.

2; Color context: bezold, interspersed (scattered things among other things), chromostereopsis
( visual illusion and impression of depth in 2 dimensional color )

3; color: tincture(name for painter or artist, heraldry:symbols), undertone(mixing of two or

more colors, more the mass more the true color appear), chroma, paint, pigmentation, wash

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4; Meaning of color in picture:

5; saturation: congestion, impregnation, plethora, soaking, engorgement, superabundance

6; brightness: brilliance, illumination, Ulster, glaze, gloss, light, luminosity, shine

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