nathanaardvark

Tutorial 89 - RGB and CMY triads

Added 2016-03-31 01:28:40 +0000 UTC

This explains some areas in color theory that we need to aware of as digital painters. We might expect that the software we use would mimic the way color is mixed traditionally, though this isn't the case, so we need to change our way of thinking a little. We have to think in an additive and subtractive way. See tutorial number 88 to see those words defined visually.

Traditionally we're used to a Red, Yellow, Blue color wheel, which we're usually taught very early in life. We use yellow and blue to get green, yellow and red for orange, red and blue for violet. These would be our secondary colors.

However, this is a fairly outdated model and mixing from RYB means we will lose intensity as we mix. This is because mixing with traditional paint is a subtractive process. We are losing intensity as we subtract closer and closer to zero (theoretical black). According to Wikipedia, the only reason why RYB was used in the past is because an intense red pigment at full concentration behaved more like a magenta at low concentration, meaning violets could be created that would otherwise be impossible. The same for blue, behaving more like a cyan.

So, if we are to identify important color relationships and produce harmonious palettes then we need to use a color wheel that contains both RGB and CMY as complementary triads, effectively mirroring each others primaries and secondaries. See tutorial number 88 for a visual explaining this relationship, however, you can observe something similar in the visual here.

Color theory is tough to grapple with, so we need even more tutorials to go further!