Colour: mixing and relationships
Art & Design · Key Stage 2 · The School
Three colours make the rest
The PRIMARY colours in paint are red, yellow and blue — they cannot be mixed from anything else. Mixing two primaries gives a SECONDARY: red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, blue and red make purple. Mixing a primary with the secondary beside it gives a TERTIARY, like red-orange. That is the whole colour wheel from three tubes.
Colours that fight and colours that agree
Colours opposite each other on the wheel are COMPLEMENTARY — red and green, blue and orange, yellow and purple. Placed side by side each makes the other look brighter, which is why a small red boat in a green sea leaps out. Colours next to each other are ANALOGOUS and sit together quietly. Choosing between the two is choosing between contrast and calm.
Lighter and darker on purpose
Adding white makes a TINT — pink is a tint of red. Adding black makes a SHADE. Adding a little of the complementary instead of black makes a colour duller without killing it, which is usually what you want for a shadow: a shadow on a red object is not grey, it is a deeper, slightly green-ish red. Painting shadows in grey is what makes a picture look flat.
Mix the three primaries into three secondaries and arrange all six in a circle: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. Now look at pairs OPPOSITE each other — red and green, blue and orange, yellow and violet. Put those pairs side by side and each looks more intense. Now MIX an opposite pair together and you get a rich neutral brown or grey — far better than black for shadows.