Painting 3: Advanced Color Theory || @Elody

Elody Painting 3: Advanced Color Theory Made with

Min 8 colors Full Spectrum Set of Paints 1 Water Container 1 Paper Towels or Rag Several Color Swatches or Magazine Pictures Min 8 colors Full Spectrum Set of Paints 1 Water Container 1 Paper Towels or Rag Several Color Swatches or Magazine Pictures 1 Paintbrush

Get App Make sure you have a full spectrum set of colors (see Painting 2: Colors You Need for Color-Mixing). 1 Made with

Get App Let’s first review color theory vocabulary. The Color Wheel is a rainbow in a circle. 2 Made with

Get App Primary colors are red yellow and blue, the three colors that, in theory, can make the other colors. 3 Made with

Get App The Secondary colors are purple, orange, and green. They are halfway between the Primary colors.￼ 4 Made with

Get App The Tertiary colors are between each Primary and Secondary. An example would be yellow-green. 5 Made with

Get App The color wheel can be divided into many more colors. Each color is called a Hue. 6 Made with

Get App The number of Hues are uncountable. But each Hue can contain thousands more colors. 7 Made with

Get App For example, each Hue can be made lighter or darker. This is called the Value of a color. 8 Made with

Get App These are “Value Scales” showing the full range of a hue from light to dark. 9 Made with

Get App Saturation is how vivid or intense a color is. Neutral means a color is dull: grayish or brownish. 10 Made with

Get App High Saturation is vivid (top). Low Saturation is dull (bottom). 11 Made with

Get App Complimentary colors are opposites on the color wheel, such as red and green. 12 Made with

Get App Together, compliments make neutrals. If you want to make a color duller, add its opposite. 13 Made with

Get App Let’s go back to primary colors. Red, Yellow and Blue are called the “painter’s primaries”. 14 Made with

Get App There is another set of primaries that is used by printers: Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow. 15 Made with

Get App Neither set is perfect, which is why the colors I recommend include similar colors to both sets. 16 Made with

Get App We’ve already made the Secondary colors with our six Primaries. Let’s mix some more complex colors. 17 Made with

Get App Gather some paint chips. You can get them free from the paint section of any hardware store. 18 Made with

Get App If you don’t have any, cut squares of color from magazines or anything else. 19 Made with

Get App Choose three colors that are vivid and three colors that are more neutral. We are going to mix them! 20 Made with

Get App Start with your vivid colors. To make this peach, I’ll try combining red, yellow and white. 21 Made with

Get App You can see that my first try is too dark in value. I’ll add more white! 22 Made with

Get App Closer. Still just a little too dark. I’ll add a tiny bit more white. 23 Made with

Get App Now that it’s the right value, I can see it’s too yellow. It needs to be more pink. 24 Made with

Get App Now I’ll add a tiny bit of my magenta. Then a little more white. When it disappears, you’ve got it! 25 Made with

Get App Sometimes it takes many tries as we adjust the hue, value, and saturation. We’re training our eyes. 26 Made with

Get App Now my vivid purple. I know to use magenta and ultramarine. First it was too dark, then too pink. 27 Made with

Get App The vivid colors are easier. For this teal I used phthalo blue, cadmium yellow light, and white. 28 Made with

Get App The neutral colors are trickier. I start by using the primaries that will make a duller green. 29 Made with

Get App It’s still too vivid, so it needs more of its complimentary color, red. I steal some from my peach. 30 Made with

Get App Now this brown. Follow my brush to see all the colors I use to adjust it until it is correct. 31 Made with

Get App First too dark, then too purple, still a little too dark, finally both lighter and a little redder. 32 Made with

Get App Last, this blue-grey. I’ll start with light blue and slowly adjust it with tiny bits of color. 33 Made with

Get App We are training our eyes to see what a color “needs” to move towards the correct color. 34 Made with

Get App If you can make all six colors match, you’re really starting to understand color. It takes practice! 35 Made with

Get App These paintings are all by the artist Paul Klee. Try making an abstract painting to practice color. 36 Made with

Get App I like to make subtle color shifts and explore color relationships in mine. Good luck with yours! 37 Made with

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