Color Schemes

Primary colors –
RED, YELLOW and BLUE are used to
create all other colors. These three
colors are unable to be created through
mixing of any other colors. By mixing
the primary colors together, they create
other colors, such as the secondary
colors.
Secondary colors –
GREEN, ORANGE and PURPLE are
made by mixing two of the primary
colors of light together.
Tertiary colors – are combinations of
primary and secondary colours. There
are six tertiary colors; RED-
ORANGE, YELLOW-ORANGE, YELLOW-
GREEN, BLUE-GREEN, BLUE-VIOLET,
and RED-VIOLET. An easy way to
remember these names is to place the
primary name before the other colour.

Complementary colors – lay
exactly opposite each other on
the color wheel. In the simple
color wheel you just look at,
yellow is complementary to
purple, red is complementary to
green, and blue is
complementary to orange. When
complementary colors are placed
next to each other, both look
bright.
Analogous colors – are colors
neighboring each other on the
color wheel. For example, green,
yellow-green, yellow. This
creates a color scheme, which
some paintings are created only
with 3 neighboring colors.