The document discusses color wheels and color theory. It explains that a color wheel organizes primary, secondary, and tertiary colors in a circular format. Primary colors are blue, red, and yellow. Secondary colors are created by mixing two primary colors: orange, green, and purple. Tertiary colors are made by mixing a primary and secondary color, such as yellow-orange. The document also describes different color schemes based on analogous, complementary, triadic, split-complementary colors and their relationships on the color wheel.

1. A color wheel is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle that shows relationships between
primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc.

2. The typical artists' paint or
pigment color wheel includes the
blue, red, and yellow primary
colors.
The corresponding secondary
colors are green, orange, and
violet or purple.
The tertiary colors are red–
orange, red–violet, yellow–
orange, yellow–green, blue–
violet and blue–green.

3. In theory, the Primary Colors are the
root of every other hue imaginable.
The primary pigments used in the
manufacture of paint come from the
pure source element of that Hue. There
are no other pigments blended in to alter
the formula.
Think of the three Primaries as the
Parents in the family of colors.
In paint pigments, pure Yellow, pure
Red, and pure Blue are the only hues
that can’t be created by mixing any
other colors together.

4. When you combine any two of the Pure
Primary Hues, you get three new mixtures
called Secondary Colors.
Think of the three Secondaries as the
Children in the family of colors.
Yellow + Red = ORANGE
Red + Blue = VIOLET or PURPLE
Blue + Yellow = GREEN

5. When you mix a Primary and its
nearest Secondary on the Basic Color
Wheel you create six new mixtures
called Tertiary colors.
Think of the six Tertiary Colors as the
Grandchildren in the family of colors,
since their genetic makeup combines a
Primary and Secondary color.
Yellow + Orange = YELLOW-
ORANGE
Red + Orange = RED-ORANGE
Red + Violet = RED-VIOLET
Blue + Violet = BLUE-VIOLET
Blue + Green = BLUE-GREEN
Yellow + Green = YELLOW-GREEN

6. A color scheme based on analogous colors
Analogous colors are any three colors which are side by side on
a 12 part color wheel, such as yellow-green, yellow, and yellow-
orange. Usually one of the three colors predominates.

7. A color scheme based on complementary colors
Complementary colors are any two colors which are directly
opposite each other, such as red and green and red-purple and
yellow-green. In the illustration above, there are several
variations of yellow-green in the leaves and several variations
of red-purple in the orchid. These opposing colors create
maximum contrast and maximum stability.

8. A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced
around the color wheel.
Triadic color harmonies tend to be quite vibrant, even if you
use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues.
To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be
carefully balanced - let one color dominate and use the two
others for accent.

9. The split-complementary color scheme is a variation of the
complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color,
it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement.
This color scheme has the same strong visual contrast as
the complementary color scheme, but has less tension.

10. Traditional Color Wheels