Beginning Vocabulary
Hue – Name of a particular color zone, defined by different wavelengths of light.
Examples of hue: blue, green, yellow and red. Hue can encompass a range of colors
within the wavelength area.
Tip: think of hue as a color zone rather than a color. Hue is bigger than individual color.
strikingly different hues: red, yellow, green and blue
different colors, same hue: varieties of the hue blue. The hue blue encompasses
everything periwinkle to teal. Rather than blue think of it as the bluish zone.
In the Color-Aid papers hue can also be the name of a zone that is a mixture of two
pure colors, for example the zone of yellow-green (1:1 yellow and green) or even
red orange red (denoting two parts red to one part orange.) The term Pure Hue is
also used to refer to an area of “pure color”, unaffected by white or black.
In painting, hue is often used in conjunction with terms such as: tint, shade and
tone.
A tint is created when a color is mixed with white.
A shade is created when a color is mixed with black.
A tone is created when a color is mixed with gray.
Saturation, Chroma, Intensity
All of these terms refer to the purity of a color. A highly saturated color is bright, a
color with low saturation may appear softer or washed out, having greater amounts
of white. Chroma refers to the purity of a color in relation to gray. The gray scale
(our value scale) is often referred to as achromatic because it contains no
chroma or color.
Brilliance is a term to describe the jewel-like affect of the combination of high light
and high saturation. (Think of stained glass windows or cloisonné).
The Color Systems, where you find them and how they work:
1. RGB System
Where? On your laptop, smart phone or pad screen, also used in stage lighting:
How it works: The RGB (Red, Green, Blue) scale is used with light (rather than inks
or pigment). The RGB system is an example of an Additive Color System
If we are working on a computer, the colors we see on the screen are created with
light using the additive color method. Additive color mixing begins with black
and ends with white; as more color is added, the result is lighter and tends to
white. Red + Green + Blue = white
Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Id9Ky9Sn2Bg to see how light
coloring mixing in the RGB system works in a theater setting, with colored gel
lights.
2. The CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) system
Where? digital and analog printing (screen prints, laser and inkjet printers.)
How it works: CMYK is a Subtractive Color System, meaning one that begins
with white and ends with black; as one adds color, the result gets darker and
tends to black. Technically, adding equal amounts of pure cyan, magenta, and
yellow should produce black. However, because of impurities in the inks, true black
is difficult to create by blending the colors together. This is why black (K) ink is
typically included with the three other colors. The letter avoids confusion with
blue. CMYK can be thought of as a masking and overlaying system Color is used to
mask white light. Overlays of the basic colors produce new colors (cyan over
yellow =green, magenta over yellow = red)
3. RYB (Red, Yellow, Blue)
Where? Standard Painting Color Wheel. Paints of all kinds.
RYB is another Subtractive Color System, begins with white (think of a blank page
or canvas), if all colors are combined you end with black.
Trying to make sense of the difference between additive and subtractive:
It is easy to think that RYB or CMYK are additive because you mixing or overlaying
colors. It SEEMS like you are adding color. However, subtractive makes sense
when you think that everything thrown together is black and you have to separate
out or block colors to arrive at colors other than muddy darks. Going from
everything, you are subtracting. I have so much trouble with this, I just tell myself
that the correct choice of subtractive or additive is the counter-intuitive choice.
You may have noticed that the names of these systems are the initials of the basic
colors, from which all other colors are mixed. Each system has a set of primary
colors, which are unique to the system.
Primary Colors: Primary colors are the most basic colors and cannot be made
from mixing other colors.
The primary colors of various systems:
1. Paint: Red, Yellow and Blue (RYB)
2. Printer Ink: Cyan, Magenta and Yellow (but we add black) (CMYK)
3. Light: Red, Green and Blue (RGB)
The secondary colors are colors formed from mixing or overlaying primary colors.
1. Paint (RYB), Traditional Color Wheel. Substractive System. Mixing.
Primaries: Red, Yellow, Blue.
The secondary colors of the RYB system are: orange (red+yellow), green
(yellow+blue), and purple (red +blue).
2. Ink, Printers (CMYK). Subtractive System. Overlay.
Primaries: Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow (Don’t count black)
Secondary colors of CMYK system are: orange (magenta+yellow),
green (yellow +cyan), and purple (magenta+cyan).
3. TV, Computer Monitor, Stage Lighting (RGB). Additive System. Primaries: Green, Red
and Blue. Here you are not overlaying or mixing materials but overlaying light.
Secondary colors of RGB system are: yellow (green+ red), magenta (red+blue) and
cyan (green + blue).