Color theory is the study and practice of using color in design and art. It explains how humans perceive, interpret, and respond to color and how colors interact, contrast, and harmonize with each other. Color theory uses a color wheel and other tools to guide color choices and combinations.
A color wheel is a visual representation of how different colors relate. It shows the colors of the visible spectrum arranged into a circle, with primary colors (red, yellow, blue), secondary colors (green, orange, purple), and tertiary colors (mixtures of primary and secondary colors). The color wheel is the basis of color theory because it shows the relationship between colors and how they can create color harmonies.
Sir Isaac Newton is known for his theories on gravity and the laws of motion. However, most people don’t know that he was the first to realize that light -- which moves in a wave -- is composed of individual waves, each with its own color.
Newton developed a theory of color based on research where he found that colors were not a result of the blend of light and dark, but rather different colors that could be separated. These colors - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet – are those that appear in a rainbow. When they merge together, they appear white. Newton invented the color wheel in 1706 based on his research about how we see light and color.
Elements of Art - Color
Color as a basic element of art is the general term used to describe hues, tints, tones, and shades that we see, along with each color’s value and intensity.
A hue is a dominant color family of a specific color. Hue is the origin of the color that you see and is one of the six primary and secondary colors - blue, green, orange, red, violet, and yellow. In other words, the underlying base color of the mixture you see when looking at a color is a hue that is one of the six colors named.
Black is not considered to be a color in color theory. It is the absorption of all colors. For this reason, it is not represented on the color wheel.
White is not considered to be a color by some color theorists but is described as being achromatic or as having no hue or chroma. For this reason, it is not represented on the color wheel.
A color’s value is defined by how light or dark the hue is. The value of a color changes when white or black is added to it.
The intensity (or saturation) of a color describes the brightness and purity of a color. High-intensity colors are bold and bright, low-intensity colors are faint and duller.
A tint is defined as any hue that is mixed with white. A tint is a lighter color than its hue but not brighter. A tint of a hue has a different value than its hue, since it is lighter. Tints are sometimes also called pastels.
A tone as any hue that is mixed with gray, with gray being a mixture of black and white. Tones are described as hues with a “lower intensity.” Tones can also be described as dull versions of their hues.
A shade is any hue that is mixed with black. The shade of a color is a darker version of that hue.
In the following video, you will see how Sir Isaac Newton began his study about light and its relationship to color, which led to his invention of the color wheel.
Happy learning!
(Sources – Accelerate Learning, Color Wheel Artist, Encyclopedia Britannica, The Classroom (blog post))