An Introduction to Color Theory For Painters

Color is a very broad topic. Entire books have been written on color and it would be quite difficult to cover every aspect of it within the confines of this article. My hopes with this introduction to color theory is to peek your interest and hopefully cause you to study this topic further on your own. Understanding color theory is perhaps one of the most important aspects of becoming a good painter. When you understand the elements of color and how colors interact with one another, you have unlocked one of the biggest puzzles of painting.

WHERE DOES COLOR COME FROM?

Our beautiful world of color is only possible because of the solar spectrum. You can certainly do your best to mimic natural sunlight with today's technology and they have done a pretty fine job of that with full spectrum lighting. But even full spectrum lighting is not as true as sunlight. One only needs to spend a day painting outdoors to see how your color pops out at you under natural sunlight when compared to indoor lighting.

So what exactly makes a rose appear "red" or grass appear "green". In the green grass, you are only seeing green because the grass has pigments in it that absorb all colors of the solar spectrum except green. So green is the color that is reflected back to your eyes. The same holds true for the red rose, only the rose absorbs all colors of the spectrum besides red.

THE COLOR WHEEL

Sir Issac Newton laid the foundation for today's color wheel with his experiments that began in 1666. Since then, many variations have been developed. A color wheel is essentially a diagram that represents the colors of the visible solar spectrum. Your basic color wheel consists of six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet.

Another popular color wheel called the Munsell color wheel, is slightly more involved. Instead of 6 basic colors, the Munsell wheel consists of ten colors: red, yellow-red, yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue, blue-violet, red-violet and violet.

PRIMARY COLORS

The primary colors are red, yellow and blue. These colors are your base colors from which all other colors come from.

SECONDARY COLORS

When you mix two primary colors together, you get a secondary color. The secondary colors are orange, green and violet. Orange is made by mixing red with yellow. Green is made by mixing blue and yellow. Violet is made my mixing blue with red.

TERTIARY COLORS

Tertiary colors are made by mixing one primary color with one secondary color. For instance, mixing the primary color blue with the secondary color green, will give you a tertiary color called blue-green.

COMPLIMENTARY COLORS

These are colors that are opposite from one another on the color wheel. Red and green, blue and orange, yellow and violet, are examples of complimentary colors. Complimentary colors are colors of extreme contrast. When used together in a painting, they can produce brilliant vibrant images.

ANALOGOUS COLORS

Analogous colors are colors that are close to one another on the color wheel. They more or less will produce harmonious effects with very little contrast. For instance, a violet, red-violet, and blue-violet are examples of analogous colors.

HUE-VALUE-INTENSITY

Hue: Without getting too technical, and to put things into laymen's terms, hue is just another word for color. For instance, grass and leaves are two variations of a green hue.

Value: Value refers to how light or dark a color is. Colors like pink or aqua are identified as colors of high value. Colors like maroon and navy are identified as colors of low value. If you produce a painting with predominately higher values, the painting is referred to as a "high key" painting. On the contrary, paintings produced with predominately lower values, are referred to as "low key".

Intensity: Intensity refers to a colors brightness or saturation. Intensity refers to how pure a color is. For instance, if you were to use cadmium red straight from the tube, it would have a high intensity. If you were to mix it with another color however, its intensity would be diminished.

TEMPERATURE OF COLOR

Colors have temperature, referred to as warm or cool. In painting, reds, yellows and oranges are referred to as warm colors and blues, violets and greens are referred to as cool colors. One of the biggest lessons you will ever learn about color temperature though, is that the appearance of color can change drastically depending on its surroundings. For instance, a certain yellow would appear much hotter if it were surrounded by a violet then say an orange. Another important lesson in color temperature: Warm colors will advance in a painting and cool colors recede.

What Is The Dry Brush Painting Technique?

What is this technique used for? The dry brush painting technique is used to give paintings more texture and to make them look like they've been done on a much rougher surface; the surface also looks as if it's been scratched quite a lot. If you're using water-based media, including watercolours and acrylics, using this technique on something in the painting can give it prominence because it contrasts with the rest of the painting.

What type of paint should I use it with? The great thing about this painting technique is that it can be used with all three main types of paint (acrylics, watercolours and oils). Of the three main types of paint, acrylics and watercolours are probably the best to use this technique with because they dry quite quickly. Because oils take a lot longer to dry, you have to wait a lot longer for the paint to dry before you can blend or brush over strokes you've already made. Is there anything else I should know? This technique is really well suited for watercolour paper, especially paper that's already got quite a rough texture to it. To get the best out of using this technique, it's suggested that you use a round brush, not a fine point one. By using a round brush, the paint is being spread round more, whereas with a fine point brush, the paint's going to be applied in lines, which makes this technique's effects less noticeable.

How do I do it? Make sure your brush is completely dry and is free from any oils or solvents. Load it up with paint, then blot it several times on to a paper towel. Make sure the support you're applying the paint to is completely dry. When it comes to applying the paint to the support, you should do so very lightly, as if you're just skimming over the surface. Keep creating strokes until there's hardly any paint left on the brush, then it's time to reload the brush. If you want to add more colour and depth to a stroke, wait until it's completely dry and then go over it using the same steps you did for the first one. Oils are probably not the best choice for this technique because they take so long to dry; if you want to be able to go over your work, you should use acrylics or watercolours.