This page defines the specific words that have a relationship with the color theory.
sKILLS
ARVZ02.01.03 - Identify use of primary, secondary, and complementary colors in various media.
ARVZ02.01.04 - Define tint, shade, hue, and value in relation to color theory.
ARVZ02.01.06 - Compare samples of work that use contrast, unity, and emphasis.
ARVZ02.02.03 - Identify messages or meanings that colors communicate in various cultures.
Color Study
Tint:
Shade:
Value:
Hue:
A tint is any color that you add white to --to give it a more soft and delicate tone. For example, if you add tints of white to red, it could quickly turn to pink.
Typically, shading is referred to as when you are sketching with a pencil, using the graphite to create darker tones on your piece. Although this is true, shading is just really adding black to any color, thus making it darker. It's like a tint, but backwards. For example, adding shade to a pink color will result in a dark red.
The value of a color is a measurement of how bright the color is. The brighter the color is, the more value that it contains. For instance, yellow has a much higher value than purple.
Hues are all of the twelve brightest and purest colors on the color wheel. There are three primary, three secondary, and six tertiary colors.
Primary:
Primary colors are the three main hues on the color wheel, which are red, yellow, and blue.
Secondary:
By mixing primary colors, you get the secondary colors; which are green, purple, and orange.
Tertiary:
Tertiary colors are formed when a primary color and secondary color mix. Examples are yellow-orange, red-orange, red-purple, blue-purple, blue-green and yellow-green.
ComplImentary:
A complimentary color are two colors that are on the opposite sides of each other on the color wheel. For example, green and pink, blue and orange, and yellow and purple.
Contrast:
Contrasting colors are two colors from separate segments on the color wheel. A color with a high contrast has more transitional colors in between in order to reach the other color, such as red and blue as opposed to red and purple. It takes 5 colors to get to blue from red but only 3 to get to purple from red, so the contrast between red and blue is greater than the contrast between red and purple.
Unity:
If your artwork has unity, it basically means that all of the elements that you have used in the piece all come together in harmony and balance. It all comes together to create a complete whole.
Emphasis:
Emphasis makes a specific element in one's art stand out to the eye. It can often be achieved by the use of contrast.