The Crazy World of
COLOUR
Reminder: What is colour?
• Colour: The
perceived character
of a surface
according to the
wavelength of light
reflected from it.
The Three Dimensions of Colour
(i) Hue – The colour we
see (i.e. Red)
(ii) Value – The colour’s
lightness or darkness
(iii) Intensity – The
colour’s brightness or
darkness.
Colour Wheel
• The colour
spectrum literally
bent into a circle.
A system to
organize.
Primary Colours
• Colours that
cannot be made
by mixing other
colours
• Red, Blue &
Yellow
Secondary Colours
Colours made by
mixing two primary
colours
• Red + Yellow =
Orange
• Yellow + Blue =
Green
• Blue + Red = Purple
•
Tertiary Colours
• Colours made by
mixing a primary and a
secondary colour.
• Red + Orange =
reddy-orange or
tangerine red if you
want to get fancy
Complementary Colours
• Colours across from
each other on the
colour wheel.
• They make
eachother pop!
• Pairs = Y + P, R +
G, B + O
Complementary Examples
Analogous Colours
• Colours beside each
other on the wheel –
HOT/WARM &
COOL/ COLD.
Monochromatic
• MONO= One
• A colour scheme
only using one
colour (its values
and intensities
can change adding white and
black)
For the following pieces of
artwork, identify if they
are one of the following:
Sunflowers, Vincent Van Gogh
Wrapper, Asante peoples, Ghana
The Old Guitarist, Picasso
The Red Painting,
Robert Rauschenberg
Plazza da Mula, Claude Monet
Le Chateau Noir, Paul Cezanne
Orange and Yellow, Mark
Rothko
Orange Crush, Larry Poons