cascading colors

ryb color theory

ryb color theory is the most traditional theory of color, and is essential for painters to achieve desired atmospheres for their works. it defines how colors relate to each other and outlines techniques for achieving certain effects. a painter of any media (oils, watercolor, etc.) needs this theory if they are mixing paints in their practice. some aspects of drawing, even in just black and white, are also contained in color theory. the basic principles of ryb color theory follow, but there are many more relationships to discover through the color mixing and painting processes.

primary & secondary colors

primary colors can be mixed to create any color on the visible spectrum, which is why knowledge of color theory is essential for artists mixing colors. a mixture of two primary colors yields a secondary color.

the primary colors are:

1. red
2. yellow
3. blue

hover over the blank swatches below to reveal the secondary colors:

• red

• +

• yellow

• =

• orange

• yellow

• +

• blue

• =

• green

• blue

• +

• red

• =

• purple

on the color wheel, the primary colors are linked to show that their combination in about equal parts yields black. this "homemade" black is usually preferred in painting for the most believable and cohesive shading, but many artists have reason to use black paint from a tube. secondary colors are equidistant from their primary/parent colors on the color wheel.

tertiary colors

tertiary colors result from a mixture of a primary color and one of its secondary colors. for example, red mixed with orange yields the tertiary color red-orange, and red mixed with purple yields the tertiary color red-purple. tertiary colors are often assigned unique names, but the primary-secondary titles will be used here for simplicity.

on the color wheel, tertiary colors appear at every other position, between their primary and secondary or parent colors.

the list below traces the primary colors to their related secondary and tertiary colors:

• red
  • orange
    • red-orange
    • yellow-orange
  • purple
    • red-purple
    • blue-purple
• yellow
  • orange
    • yellow-orange
    • red-orange
  • green
    • yellow-green
    • blue-green
• blue
  • green
    • blue-green
    • yellow-green
  • purple
    • blue-purple
    • red-purple

the table below shows mixtures of primary and secondary colors that yield all the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors:

	red	orange	yellow	green	blue	purple
red	red	red-orange	orange		purple	red-purple
orange	red-orange	orange	yellow-orange
yellow	orange	yellow-orange	yellow	yellow-green	green
green			yellow-green	green	blue-green
blue	purple		green	blue-green	blue	blue-purple
purple	red-purple				blue-purple	purple

the blank cells represent color combinations that would cause complementary colors to interact, like mixing green and orange or purple and yellow. complementary relationships and their uses are dicussed here.