Color Theory for Digital Media

We will explore the color wheel and learn how to turn the primary colors into secondary and tertiary colors. What happens when we add white, gray and black to create tint, tone and shades of colors. Then we will learn which colors are warm and cool, learn color schemes including monochromatic and complimentary, and see examples of color used in films!

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Primary colors: Red, Yellow, Blue.

The primary colors are RED YELLOW AND BLUE. Nothing can create these colors, they just exist. When you combine them, they will create secondary colors.

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You mix each primary color next to each other to get a secondary color. There are there resulting secondary colors: Green, Orange and Violet. Red and Yellow make Green. Yellow and Red make Orange. Red and Blue make Violet.

mixing primary colors to get secondary colors

two primary colors mixed equal a secondary color.

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Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary and secondary color together.

Tertiary means three. that is because tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary and secondary color together. So one plus two equals three. Primary plus secondary equals tertiary. There are 6 total tertiary colors which include blue green, yellow green, red violet, blue violet, red orange, yellow orange.

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WArm and Cool colors on the colorwheel

Can you think of warm and cool colors in real life? This color wheel shows warm and cool colors. Warm colors are warm in nature such as red, orange and yellows. Cool colors include greens, blues and violets.

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Warm colors in Amalie film.

Warm colors in the film, Amalie, give warmth to a scene. What films can you think of that use warm colors and warm light/filters?

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Cool colors in the film, Shawshank Redemption, give a coldness to a jail scene. What films can you think of that use cool colors to evoke a cold emotion or environment.

Cool colors in jail scene of Shawshank Redemption film.

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We can lighten, darken or mute colors. Tint Tone and Shade can be added to a hue (color). A TINT is adding white to a color. A SHADE is adding black to a color, and a TONE is adding grey to a color.

Tint Tone and Shade added to a hue (color)

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Tint Tone Shade of each hue on the colorwheel

This image shows the Tint (adding white) Tone (Adding grey) and Shade (Adding black) of each hue (color) on the color wheel.

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There are Warm and cool greys. These greys show value of light to dark.

There are Warm and cool greys. These greys show value: tint, tone and shade.

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Complimentary color schemes: colors opposite each other on the color wheel.

Complimentary color schemes: colors opposite each other on the color wheel. Each color has a compliment or opposite. These colors vibrate against each other and make dynamic schemes together. Basically, Red and Green are complimentary, Orange and Blue are complimentary, and Violet and Yellow are complimentary.

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Colorwheel primary, secondary, tertiary, warm, cool and complimentary.

Review the images. It shows various colorwheels of primary, secondary, tertiary, warm, cool and complimentary. Do you have any questions? Leave a comment or question below!

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