Using the Artist Color Wheel: Essential Color Theory for Every Artist

Primary Colors

The artist color wheel contains twelve colors.

It is based on the primary colors, yellow, red and blue.

All other colors on the wheel are variations of the three primary colors - a fundamental principle of color theory for artists.

Red, yellow and blue, the primary colors cannot be mixed from any other colors.

The art paint colors closest to the primaries are:

• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Permanent Rose
• Phthalo Blue

Phthalo Blue is a very strong, staining color. Consequently, many artists use Ultramarine Blue instead.

We can mix and paint realistic skin tones with the primary colors.

Secondary Colors

Secondary colors are a combination of two primaries. For example, yellow and red make orange.

The combination of yellow and blue make green.

Blue and red make purple, it may also be called violet.

The secondary colors can have some variation. It depends on exactly which yellow, red or blue were used to make the secondary color.

For example: We can get different greens by using various blue colors.

Phthalo Blue and yellow make bright greens. Ultramarine Blue and yellow create more subdued greens.

Tertiary Colors

Intermediate colors are called tertiaries. We get them by combining a primary color and a secondary color next to it on the color wheel.

For example, combining primary yellow with the secondary color green results in a yellow-green.

Different amounts of yellow or green will give us many variations of the yellow-green.

If we go to the other side of yellow and combine it with the secondary color orange, we get yellow-orange.

The tertiary colors are; yellow-green, yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet and blue-green.

Artists often talk about color temperature, warm and cool colors. What are they?

The color wheel shows the warm colors and cool colors.

Red, orange and yellow are considered warm colors.

When warm colors are used in a painting, they appear to advance forward in the painting.

Blue, green and violet are usually considered cool colors.

Basically, any color containing blue is considered cool.

When cool colors are used in a painting, they seem to recede into the distance.

Understanding how warm and cool colors make clean or muddy colors.

Complementary colors are opposite each other.

The colors directly across from each other on the color wheel are complements of each other.

We can look anywhere around the color wheel to find complements, such as orange and blue, red and green, yellow and violet, etc.

Complements are contrasting values: One complement is lighter, such as the orange. The color across from on it on the color wheel will always be darker, such as the blue.

Complements are opposing temperatures: One color is warm and the opposite color will be cool.

Complements neutralize each other: We can cool or warm a color with its compliment. We may also neutralize the intensity of the color with its complement. Complementary colors are used for mixing black, brown and grey colors.

Step-by-step color mixing techniques and formulas.

Glazing with watercolor

1. Warm colors advance: Paint the part of an object that is closer to the viewer with warmer colors.
   
2. Cool colors recede: Paint the parts of an object turning away from the viewer with cooler colors.

Cooler and darker colors on the edge of the mangoes show them turning away from our view.

If the edge has bright light shining on it, we won't paint it darker. But we would still paint it cooler to show it turning away.

But you may say, yellow, orange and red are all warm colors. You are correct.

Yellow is the warmest color. The less yellow in a color, the cooler it gets.

Because orange contains less yellow, it is cooler than primary yellow. Red is a warm color, but it is cooler than orange and much cooler than yellow.

1. Warm vs. Cool: The warm colored leaves pull forward from the cool blue background.
2. Complementary Colors: The red bird stands out against the complementary greens in the background leaves.
3. Creating Forms: The right side of the bird gets darker and bluer to make his body turn away. The left side of its body is warmed with yellow to make it come forward.
   
4. Neutralizing Colors: The female bird colors were dulled by mixing them with their complementary colors.
   The top of her body comes forward from her neck because it is lighter and warmer than the neck.
   
5. Background vs. Foreground: Once again the bluer, lighter colors move back. The warm colors on the branch move it into the foreground.

A few colors can make great paintings.

We refer to the color wheel to decide which colors to keep on hand.

A limited palette of the primary colors is a good choice for any artist, especially the beginners. 

We can never go wrong with:

• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Red Medium or Permanent Rose
• Ultramarine Blue and white

We can mix all the colors of the rainbow. There is no need purchase black because it's so easy to mix black, brown and grey.

An expanded palette makes mixing colors quicker.

It would include a warm and cool version of each of the six basic colors of the artist color wheel; yellow, orange, red, violet, blue and green.

See the recommended 12 color palette - to ensure you're working with quality pigments that mix pleasing colors.