Art: Design and Color Theory

Color

Is a property of light, is the aspect of things that is caused by differing qualities of light being reflected or emitted by them.

Hues

Pure color-one without tint or shade. An element of the color wheel.

Value

Is the relative lightness or darkness of a color.
[The lightness or darkness of a color in relation to a scale ranging from white to black.]

Temperature

Perceived warmness or coolness of a color.

Saturation

Intensity or purity of a color. The vividness and intensity of a color is represented by _________.

Tints

A color is made lighter by adding white.

Shades

Black is added, the darker version of the color.
Darker values of a color

Tones

Gray is added
[A hue mixed with either a small quantity of gray or the complement of the hue, resulting in dulling the hue.]

Prismatic Colors

Colors that can be seen when white light goes through a prism. Ex.: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (rainbow hues).

Chroma

The quality of a color's purity, intensity or saturation.

Chromatic colors

Any color in which one particular hue predominates.

Chromatic grey

Colors that are creates by adding some black, white, grey or the compliment of the hue or combination of those.

Achromatic

No color, is completely greyscale

Muted colors

Colors that have a lack of vibrancy or saturation. Think earthtones: grays, browns, tans, coppers.

Harmonies

Created by picking colors from the wheel according to predefined schemes, such as Analogous, Complementary, or Triad.

Complementary color scheme

Colors directly across.
Colors that are opposite each other on color wheel

Split-Complementary color scheme

Is a variation of the complementary. In addition to the base color, it uses two colors adjacent to its complement.
[Three colors that form a Isosceles Triangle on the color wheel.]

Triadic color scheme

Uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.
[3 colors that form an Equilateral Triangle on color wheel.]

Analogous color scheme

Uses colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.

Rectangle (tetradic) color scheme

Four colors arranged into two complementary pairs.

Square color scheme

Similar to the rectangle but all four colors are spaced evenly around the color wheel.

Color temperature

The color wheel can be divided into warm and cool colors.

Simultaneous contrast

The colors off two different objects affect each other.
[When two colors come into contact, the contrast intensifies the difference between them.]

The Bezold effect

Named after a German professor of meteorology.
Optical illusion: colors may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors.

Subtractive Colors

When we mix colors using paint pigments.

Additive Colors

They are created with light. when we use computers or screens

Color

Is a property of light, is the aspect of things that is caused by differing qualities of light being reflected or emitted by them.

Hues

Pure color-one without tint or shade. An element of the color wheel.

Value

Is the relative lightness or darkness of a color.
[The lightness or darkness of a color in relation to a scale ranging from white to black.]

Temperature

Perceived warmness or coolness of a color.

Saturation

Intensity or purity of a color. The vividness and intensity of a color is represented by _________.

Tints

A color is made lighter by adding white.

Shades

Black is added, the darker version of the color.
Darker values of a color

Tones

Gray is added
[A hue mixed with either a small quantity of gray or the complement of the hue, resulting in dulling the hue.]

Prismatic Colors

Colors that can be seen when white light goes through a prism. Ex.: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet (rainbow hues).

Chroma

The quality of a color's purity, intensity or saturation.

Chromatic colors

Any color in which one particular hue predominates.

Chromatic grey

Colors that are creates by adding some black, white, grey or the compliment of the hue or combination of those.

Achromatic

No color, is completely greyscale

Muted colors

Colors that have a lack of vibrancy or saturation. Think earthtones: grays, browns, tans, coppers.

Harmonies

Created by picking colors from the wheel according to predefined schemes, such as Analogous, Complementary, or Triad.

Complementary color scheme

Colors directly across.
Colors that are opposite each other on color wheel

Split-Complementary color scheme

Is a variation of the complementary. In addition to the base color, it uses two colors adjacent to its complement.
[Three colors that form a Isosceles Triangle on the color wheel.]

Triadic color scheme

Uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.
[3 colors that form an Equilateral Triangle on color wheel.]

Analogous color scheme

Uses colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.

Rectangle (tetradic) color scheme

Four colors arranged into two complementary pairs.

Square color scheme

Similar to the rectangle but all four colors are spaced evenly around the color wheel.

Color temperature

The color wheel can be divided into warm and cool colors.

Simultaneous contrast

The colors off two different objects affect each other.
[When two colors come into contact, the contrast intensifies the difference between them.]

The Bezold effect

Named after a German professor of meteorology.
Optical illusion: colors may appear different depending on its relation to adjacent colors.

Subtractive Colors

When we mix colors using paint pigments.

Additive Colors

They are created with light. when we use computers or screens