Color Vocabulary.
Additive Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Colors made by lights which when mixed become lighter in value.
After Image . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When observing an intense color, the complimentary color appears to be visible. Green appears after looking
at red, etc.
Analogous Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Neighboring hues on the color wheel, adjacent colors.
Color Wheel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The traditional layout of the color wheel where all twelve major colors are in position together.
Chroma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
A term for fully pigmented color. The relative brilliance or intensity of a hue.
Complimentary Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Colors directly opposite of each other on the color wheel.
Hue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The name of a color (the hue of blue, for example).
Intensity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The extreme, heightened, or saturated form of color, color brilliance.
Local Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Realistic color-color as it appears in nature (green grass, blue sky, brown horses, etc.).
Monochromatic Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Consisting of one hue with its tints, tons, and shades.
Neutral Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Neutrals are grays, brows, black, and white. Neutrals are created by mixing compliments.
Opaque . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Color where light is caught on the surface, not see-through, neither transparent nor translucent, and nonreflective, having no luster.
Polychromatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Multi-colored.
Pigment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Coloring material used to make hues with paints, mixed with a binder such as liquid plastic, gum arabic, or oil.
Primary Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Colors that can not be created by mixing other colors. Instead, primary colors are the source of other colors.
The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow, when discussing pigment. When discussing light, including
vision, our primaries are red, blue, and green. When discussing process color used for printing with ink, also a
subtractive model, we use cyan, magenta, and yellow.
Purity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The degree to which a primary color is pure and not mixed with the other two primary colors.
Color Strategies, Debra Kayes, Columbia College, Chicago
Reflected Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Color resulting when light is reflected from a pigmented surface.
Refracted Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Color resulting from passing light through a prism, breaking it down into its constituent wavelengths
Refraction is the bending of a wave when it enters a medium where it’s speed is different, the wavelength of
the light changes, but the frequency remains constant.
Retina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The inner surface of the back of the eye, where rods and cones respond to qualities of light.
Secondary Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The second triad of the color wheel, formed from mixing the primaries together. The secondary colors green,
orange, and violet, when discussing pigment. When discussing light, including vision, our secondaries are
cyan, magenta, and yellow. When discussing process color used for printing with ink, our secondaries are red,
green, and blue.
Saturation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The relative purity of a color, also called intensity.
Shade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
When black is added to a hue.
Subtractive Color Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Combination of pigments which results in darkened mixtures. Pigments are found in paint and ink.
Successive Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
After-image viewed in repetition.
Simultaneous Contrast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The optical effect of adjacent colors on each other. As in, the tendency of complimentary colors to intensify
each other. The 19th-century physicist Michel-Eugène Chevreul 1839 book, De la Loi du Contraste Simultané
des Couleurs, a comprehensive attempt at providing a systematic basis to seeing colors. The work dealt with
the so-called “simultaneous contrast” of colors, and contained Chevreul’s famous law: “Two adjacent colors,
when seen by the eye, will appear as dissimilar as possible.”
Tertiary Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Colors formed by mixing a primary and secondary color, analogous in position on the color wheel. For
example, using paint, Blue Violet.
Triad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Three equally spaced hues on the color wheel. Primary colors form a triad, also secondary.
Tint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adding white to a hue.
Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Adding both black and white to a hue.
Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The lightness or darkness.
Color Strategies, Debra Kayes, Columbia College, Chicago
Color Theory Rules.
+ The advancing quality of warm hues, generally red, orange, yellow.
+ The receding quality of cool hues, generally blue, green, violet.
+ Hues of lower intensity are less definite in impact, and are more restful than a bright color.
+ Complimentary hues when seen together usually appear more intense than when seen separately.
+ Whereas, mixing a color with its complement neutralizes the color
+ Hues generally have the qualities of light or dark, warm or cool, and transparent or opaque. For instance,
Ultramarine Blue is dark, cool, and transparent. Cadmium Yellow Medium is light, warm, and opaque.
+ A hue is less intense against a variation of the same hue.
+ Anything that tends towards black, will act as black. Anything that tends towards white, will act as white.
+ Optical color mixture results when two or more colors are perceived simultaneously.
Color Strategies, Debra Kayes, Columbia College, Chicago
EXERCISE
Value Scales
Create a range from light to dark using a mixed-media approach.
Color Strategies, Debra Kayes, Columbia College, Chicago