A PowerPoint presentation about colour as an element of art

1. ELEMENT OF ART
By Bernard E. Richardson | Master Teacher & Art Educator | 2022
© Bernard E. Richardson | 2022

2. SPECTRUM………
• Scientifically, Colour is the result of the breakdown of white light into
its single colour elements by using a prism.
• This discovery was made by Sir Isaac Newton in 1666.
• From his discovery he called the arrangement of colours a SPECTRUM.
What is Colour?

3. • The colour SPECTRUM is the arrangement of colours that are visible to
the naked eye.
• The colours are seen in a specific order – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo
and Violet (purple).

4. Colour has four qualities:
• Hue - refers to the actual name of a colour e.g. ‘red’, ‘green’, ‘purple’.
• Value - refers to the lightness and darkness of a colour. The greater the
amount of light (white) is the higher its value; the greater the
amount of dark (black) the lower its value.
• Intensity- refers to the purity and strength of a colour e.g. bright red or dull red.
• Temperature - Colours are either warm or cool. Warm colours are bright
and cheerful. They are reds, yellows and oranges.
Cool colours give a feeling of calm, quietness and peace.
These colours are blues, greens and purples.

5. Primary Colours
The basic colours from which all other colours are mixed.
Red Yellow Blue
Secondary Colours
Those colours created from an equal mixture of any two primary
colours.
Orange Green Purple
primary + primary = secondary

6. Tertiary Colours
Those colours that are created from a mixture of a primary
and a secondary colour.
Yellow-orange Red-orange
Blue-violet Blue-green Yellow-green
Red-violet
primary + secondary = tertiary

7. Neutral Colours are those colours which are not found on the colour
wheel but are created from a mixture of the other colours on the
wheel.
They include white, browns, gray and black.
Neutral Colours

8. Colour Wheel
The Colour wheel is a circular chart or diagram representing the arrangement
of colours within the colour spectrum.
The color wheel consists of
• three primary colors (red, yellow, blue),
• three secondary colors (green, orange, purple)
and
• six tertiary colors (blue-green, yellow-green, blue-
violet, red-violet, red-orange and yellow-orange).

9. COLOUR SCHEMES
A colour scheme is a harmonious combination or set of colours which
work well together.
1. Contrasting schemes
2. Related schemes
complementary
Split complementary
Triadic
Analogous
Monochromatic
Two categories
of
Colourschemes
Tetradic

10. COMPLEMENTARY Colour scheme involves the use of two colours that are
located directly opposite to each other on the colour wheel such as red and
green, yellow and purple, or orange and blue.
On the colour wheel a primary colour is opposite to a secondary colour.
Red Green
Yellow Purple
Orange
Blue
CONTRASTING COLOUR SCHEMES

11. A SPLIT-COMPLEMENTARY Colour scheme involves
three colours. One colour with the two colours adjacent
to its complement.
A TRIADIC Colour scheme involves the use
of three colours that are equi-distant (of
equal distance) from each other on the colour
wheel.

12. A TETRADIC Colour scheme involves the use of
four colours (two pairs of complimentary colours) on
the colour wheel.
For example blue and orange are paired with red
and green.

13. MONOCHROMATIC Colour scheme involves the use of only one
colour with its shades and tints.
Red
Pure
colour Black is added to the colour.
It becomes darker
SHADE
TINT
White is added to the colour.
It becomes lighter
RELATED COLOUR SCHEMES

14. An ANALOGOUS Colour scheme involves the use of a set of 3 to 5 colours
lying adjacent to each other on the colour wheel.
They are closely related, look pleasant together as they are closely related
and are regarded as Harmonious colours.
Yellow-green
Green
Blue-
green Violet
Blue-violet Red-violet
Yellow-
orange
Orange
Red-orange

15. WARM COLOURS are those colours that evoke a feeling of warmth
and are associated with energy, brightness, action, the sun and fire.
COOL COLOURS are those colours that evoke a feeling of
quietness, calm and serenity They are associated with the sea
and cold.
Warm colours
Cool colours
Red, yellow, orange
Green, blue, purple

16. • Kris Decker.(2012).The fundamentals of understanding colour theory. [Online] Available:
https://99designs.com/blog/tips/the-7-step-guide-to-understanding-color-theory/
References
Image Courtesy
• https://live.staticflickr.com/2928/14296908721_2b9856c939_c.jpg
• http://all-about-light.weebly.com/uploads/2/0/3/2/20328131/6516821.jpeg?341
• http://chaospin.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/RainbowCloud.jpg
• https://www.color-meanings.com/wp-content/uploads/rectangular-tetradic-color-wheel.png

17. The End