Colour Theory
Colour
theory
PRIMARY COLOURS:
• These are the base colours, and they are: red, blue and yellow.
SECONDARY COLOURS:
• These colours are created by mixing two primary colours
together.
 Red+blue= purple/violet
 Blue+Yellow= green
 Yellow+Red = orange
TERTIARY COLOURS:
• These are created by mixing secondary colours with primary
colours.
• They are:
 red-orange
 yellow-orange
 yellow-green
 blue-green
 blue-violet
 red-violet.
Colour Schemes
• There are three different colour schemes:
complementary, analogous, and triadic.
• Complementary colours are “opposite colours”.
These are the colours that are exactly opposite
to each other on the colour wheel. For
example, Green is complementary to Red, Blue
is complementary Orange, and Yellow is
complementary to Violet (or purple).
• Black and White are not colours, but rather
tones, and if you mix them together, they
create a grey colour. Similarly, if you mix
complementary colours together, they create a
“muddier” or dirtier shade of those colours.
This is done by artists to make more realistic
colours for, if you only used primary and
secondary colours, it would create am
artificially bright painting.
Analogous and Triadic colour schemes:
Warm and Cold
Colours
• If you draw a line down the
middle of a colour wheel, you
will see the divide between
warm and cold colours.
• Warm colours are generally
associated with energy,
brightness, and action.
• Cool colours are often
identified with calm, peace,
and serenity.
Let’s see some
art!
Look at the painting.
Describe exactly what
you see using the
elements of art page
handed out to you.
For example, “I see
lots of warm colours
being used”, or “I see
lots of geometric
shapes”, or “I see lots
of building shapes”…
Vincent Van Gogh. Starry Night. 1889. Oil Painting. Museum of Modern Art,
New York, USA.