🖌 Color Theory - ART 103 - Written Exam 🎨

Color

A wavelength of light received by our eye that causes a color sensation to be produced in our brain; any color derived from any hue.

Hue

Any wavelength from the visible spectrum. It’s a specific color selection from the color wheel in its pure state: primary, secondary, or tertiary color.

Primary Colors

Hues that are not obtainable by any other color mixtures; including red, yellow, and blue.

Secondary Colors

A mixture between two primary colors, essentially halfway point; including orange, green, and violet.

Tertiary Hues

Those hues produced by the mixtures of a primary and a secondary: RO, RV, YO, YG, BG, and BV.

Complimentary Colors

A pair of colors found across from each other on the traditional color wheel, used to create visual interest and contrast within a composition.

Achromatic

Colors that are neutrals, meaning that they contain no chroma or hue. It’s a color scheme that uses all achromatic or neutral colors: black and white, and a full value tonal range of grays.

Chromatic Neutrals

Subtractive intermixtures of complementary hues that create neutral colors based on chromatic, rather than achromatic, colors; such as earth tones.

Value

An attribute of color referring to all the perceptible levels of light and dark colors from white to black. Therefore, have heavily correlation with tinting and shading hues.

Saturation

An attribute of color that refers to the purity or intensity of a hue or color; sometimes referenced as chroma. Less of this makes colors duller, subtle and muted, whilst more is considered pure, bright, and intense.

Analogous Colors

Colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel, for example, blue, blue-violet, and violet. Based on the idea of a color family, using two or three neighboring hues from the color circle as a starting point.

Color Temperature

Refers to our sense of warm or cool colors, warm colors representing fire, blood, and the sun whilst cool colors represent ice, water, and the sky.

Base Hue

A hue from the color circle to which a color is derived; its source hue. The concept determines that from thousands of colors that we perceive, it can be traced back to the twelve hues on the traditional color wheel.

Tint

A hue or color plus white, which makes lighter values of a color or a hue.

Shade

A hue plus black, which makes a darker value of a hue.

Complimentary Vibration

Occurs when two full-saturation complementary hues are in close proximity. When these conditions exist, the colors will generate the illusion of movement.

Bezold Effect

The effect of changing the dominant color in a given design and the subsequent varying of all the other colors.

Color Dominance

Occurs when a single hue, value, or saturation is permitted to be preeminent in a composition. It influences all other colors in a composition by covering the most physical area.

Simulated Transparency

A color illusion in which opaque media is used to create an illusion of transparency.

Monochromatic Color Scheme

Built upon a single hue from the color circle, such as a pure blue with tints and shades. It results in a visually unified composition because the colors are harmonious to each other. Conveying personality and a strong sense of mood.

Analogous Color Scheme

Based on the concept of a color family, two or three adjacent or neighboring hues on the color circle; an example includes blue, blue-violet, and violet. Strong visual unity, and harmonious colors with little more variation compared to ______.

Split-Complimentary

Can be regarded as either a contrasting harmony or a balanced harmony, a three-hue color harmony based on an opposing dyad. Begins with a dyad but rather than having a direct hue complement, the two hues on either side of the actual complement are chosen, for example, violet in opposition to yellow-orange and yellow-green. Well known for having visual interest and strong contrast.

Triadic

An equilateral triangle inscribed in the color wheel points to three equidistant hues. The triad is a classically balanced color harmony; there are two well-known choices: a primary of red, yellow, and blue, and a secondary of violet, orange, and green — a tertiary one. All of the color chords are extremely harmonious and have the advantage of being simultaneously balanced and diverse.

What are the three primary colors of the subtractive system (paint/pigment)?

Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow

What are the three primary colors of the additive system (light)?

Red, Green, and Blue

What are the three main attributes of color?

The three main attributes of color is hue, value, and saturation.

What is the difference between the subtractive and additive systems?

The Additive Color System occurs when light is intermixed, creating source colors as all hue wavelengths combine into colored light (i.e. red + blue + green = white). Subtractive Color Systems reflect light waves into surfaces of objects, in a more physical manner, removing the amount of light intake (i.e. cyan + magenta + yellow = black).

What are the two methods use to lower the saturation of a color?

The two methods to lower saturation of a color is adding the complementary color or add a neutral to a hue.

What are the three principles of color interaction?

The three principles are light/dark value contrast, complementary reaction or effect, and subtraction.