Colour Theory - week 4

Today we learnt about colour theory with Tony's lesson, we did colour wheels, neutralisation, juxtaposition, secondary colours, complementary colours, harmony, discord, neutrals, colour perspective and mixing. The aim was to learn about how colours work together in various ways.

The colour wheel allows us to see which primary colours go into making up secondary and tertiary colours; red and yellow makes orange (a secondary colour), orange and yellow makes up a lighter orange (tertiary colour), it also allows us to see which colours go well with one another such as blue with orange (complimentary colours).

The tertiary colours are red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet.

Hues are created by adding either black or white to the colour.

The chromatic scale is when there are varying levels of white or black added to the colour.

Jextaposition is when multiple colours are placed close together and this creates different effects depending on which colours are used.

Blue on red will have a different effect to red on blue, the different colours create different after images and this is what affects the perception of the colours.


When 7 of the class went to the Eurogamer Expo on a college trip, the 3 of us that didn't go were left behind to do an extra lesson with Tony; Tony set up a scene for us to draw using an abstract impressionistic style.

The windows were closed to try and darken the room as best as possible and we used black paper with coloured chalks to draw the scene. The lights set up were warm red lights which helped create the glowing and opaque effects on the balloons.

This was my drawing at the end of the day, the parts I am most please with is the lighting and the shades of colour which give it the impression of being 3 dimensional.

Subtractive Primary Colours 

When it comes to printing, a printer uses Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black.

Cyan and Magenta makes Blue;
Magenta and Yellow creates Red;
Yellow and Cyan makes Green;
Cyan and Magenta plus Yellow creates Black.

Subtractive means that the colours absorb and reflect light rather than create it, this is the difference between viewing something on a computer screen (digital etc) and viewing something such as paper. Red objects will absorb green and blue light, reflecting only the red back at you.

Additive Primaries

These colours create light, these usually come from a computer or television screen (creates light). The colours on the screen are created from Reds, Greens and Blues.

Red and Green makes Yellow;
Red and Blue creates Magenta;
Blue and Green creates Cyan;
All three colours together create white light.

The difference between Additive and Subtractive is in the name, the additive colours are light sources and subtractive colours are created by the way they absorb or reflect light.

Interestingly, the Subtractive Primary colours happen to be the secondary colours in the Additive Primary colour wheel.