Color comes from light; if it was not for light we would have no color. All the visible colors in the spectrum or rainbow are contained within white light.

Color is what the eye sees when light is reflected off an object. When the light rays hit an object some colors are absorbed and others are reflected, our eyes responds to the light that is reflected and we see that color.

Artists use pigments in the form of powder or liquid paints to create color. These colors can be mixed to form new colors. This type of color mixing is called subtractive. It is subtractive because you would subtract pigment to get to white (the ground or white paper).

Pigment colors can be arranged in a circle known as a color wheel.

There are three colors that can be combined to create all other colors. These are called the primary colors, they are: Red, Yellow, Blue. These colors cannot be mixed; they must be created using natural materials from the Earth. Secondary Colors of Orange, Violet and Green, are created by mixing two primaries. Tertiary Colors, such as Red-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Violet, etc.; are created by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color.

Artists create tints and shades of colors by adding white to lighten and make a tint and by adding black or the colors complement to create a shade of the color. Once you alter a color that is pure chroma it is called desaturated.

Complementary colors are colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel.

When placed next to each other complements look bright and when mixed together they neutralize each other.

Color Value is the amount of light that a color reflects. Warm colors reflect more light than cool ones.

Printmakers use pigments to print however their pigments are known a CMYK. This stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black. The K is Black. Black is needed to save valuable colored ink when printing dark shades.

Offset printing uses four printing runs each with a half-tone pattern to create full color images.

Light has a different set of primary and secondary colors. Mixing color with light, such as in a theater and the way a color monitor mixes color is known as an additive process. It is additive because you must add the colors together to get to white light. The primary colors of light are Red, Green and Blue. The secondary colors are Cyan (from G&B), Magenta (from R&B) and Yellow (from R&G).

That is why monitors are called RGB monitors and why in Photoshop we work in RGB color mode.

Artists limit their pallets to use different color schemes, these color schemes help artists to create harmony, focus, atmosphere, and emotion within their compositions.

Analogous colors are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel. red, red-orange, and orange are analogous colors.

Triadic harmony is where three equally spaced colors on the color wheel are used. Yellow, Red, Blue is a triadic harmony color scheme.

Monochromatic is where one color is used but in different values and intensity.

Warm colors are on one side of the color wheel and they give the feeling of warmth. Red, Orange and Yellow are the color of fire and feel warm. Warm colors tend to come toward the viewer.
Cool colors are on the other side of the color wheel and they give the feeling of coolness Blue, violet, are the color of water, and green are the color of cool grass. These colors tend to recede from the viewer.

Split complementary is limited to a color and the two colors that are adjacent to its complement

* special thanks to student Colin Quarello who helped Mr. Myers design and build this website.