Color Theory

Introduction

• Color theory: a body of principles which provide guidance on the relationship between colors and the physiological impacts of certain color combinations.
• Color theory is one of the most fundamental areas of painting.
• The importance of understanding color theory far exceeds simply knowing how to mix colors together (for example, knowing that yellow and blue make green).

History of Color Theory

• General principals of color theory were evident in writings of Leone Battista Alberti (c.1435) and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci (c.1490).
• The first color wheel was developed by Sir Isaac Newton around the start of the 17th century.
  • This color wheel was an arrangement of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet on a rotating disk.
• Since the origination of the color wheel by Newton, it has become one of the most powerful tools available to artists for explaining the relationship between colors.
• The three primary colors in the ARTS are red, blue and yellow.
• The three secondary colors are green, orange and purple.
  • These are made by mixing two of the primary colors.
• There are six other tertiary colors.
  • Tertiary colors are made by mixing primary and secondary colors
• Using the primary colors, you could mix pretty much any color in the spectrum.
• This is why a solid knowledge of color theory is so important when it comes to painting and mixing your colors.
• This is also why you should always at a very least have the primary colors on your palette.