Art History · General

Color Theory Basics

Color wheel relationships, complementary and analogous schemes, and warm versus cool color concepts for design beginners.

35 cards · basic cards · AI-written, checked twice. Edit anything.

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What is a color wheel?
A circular diagram showing the relationships between colors
How many main colors are on a standard color wheel?
12
What are the traditional primary colors?
Red, yellow, and blue
What are secondary colors?
Orange, green, and violet (made by mixing two primary colors)
What are tertiary colors?
Colors made by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color
Define hue in color theory
The name of a color, such as red, blue, or green
What are complementary colors?
Colors opposite each other on the color wheel
Name a complementary color pair
Red and green, blue and orange, or yellow and purple
What is an analogous color scheme?
Two to five colors adjacent to each other on the color wheel
What is a triadic color scheme?
Three colors equally spaced around the color wheel
What is a tetradic color scheme?
Four colors forming a rectangle or square on the color wheel
What is a split-complementary color scheme?
One color plus the two colors adjacent to its complement
Which colors are considered warm?
Red, orange, and yellow
Which colors are considered cool?
Blue, green, and violet
Do warm colors appear to advance or recede?
Advance, they appear to come forward toward the viewer

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