Mastering the Palette: A Beginner's Guide to Color Theory

George Seurat, A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte, 1884.

Georges Seurat, a pioneer of the Pointillist technique, used color theory in a revolutionary way in his paintings. He applied the principles of color theory, particularly the idea of optical mixing, to create bright and harmonious compositions.

Seurat's use of small, distinct dots of pure color placed closely together allowed the viewer's eye to mix the colors optically, resulting in the perception of a broader range of hues and tones. This technique, known as pointillism or divisionism, was based on the scientific understanding of how colors interact and blend when viewed from a distance.

His meticulous approach to color placement and his understanding of color theory set him apart as a master of the technique, influencing generations of artists to come.

I have been delving into art history as I progress on my art journey. As a result, I’ve read about artists like Seurat who made it a mission to learn about color theory to improve their art. If master artists knew investigating color theory was a good idea, I should do the same.

Over this series of blog posts, I’ll look into scientific theories of color and investigate artists’ use of color in masterpieces to learn how we can utilize effective principles to improve artworks.

In this first post, I’ll go over the basics of color theory. I will include the fundamentals and the vocabulary needed to continue the conversation for the rest of the series.

What Is Color?

Color wouldn’t exist without light, which reflects off objects depending on their chemical composition. We wouldn’t see color if it weren’t for the photoreceptors in our eyes that provide information to our brains to tell us what color we are seeing. The study of color is called chromatics, colorimetry, or color science. One of the best-known pioneers of color science was Sir Isaac Newton.

Sir Isaac Newton and His Color Experiments

In the 1660s, Sir Isaac Newton was the first to discover that the light from the sun, which appears white when coming through a window, has several colors. He made this observation using a prism, which refracted the sunlight into its components that can be seen with the human eye. His findings went against the predominant theory of that time, which said that color was a mixture of lightness and darkness.

Sascha Grusche, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Newton’s Spectrum of Light

The spectrum of visible light that Newton discovered is a continuous line, meaning that each color doesn’t have a specific break before the adjacent color. To keep things simple, he created 7 distinctions and named them to line up with the number of musical notes in an octave and the days of the week. It is because of him that as children we learned ROY G BIV (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet). More recently, color scientists removed indigo, because it is so close to the violet range.

Newton’s Color Wheel

Newton discovered that if he mixed red and violet the result would be magenta which wasn’t on the spectrum. So he created a circle to help determine what would happen if you mixed colors. The outcome was the very first color wheel. Varying color wheels have been invented since Newton’s wheel which was created in 1666. I’ll get into present-day color wheels down below.

Isaak Newton, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sunlight and Our Eyes- How We See Color

The Electromagnetic Spectrum

The sun gives off electromagnetic energy in the form of ultraviolet rays, visible light, and infrared wavelengths. Visible light refers to the energy that can be seen by humans, which is what Newton was able to capture using his prism.

The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum the human eye can detect is quite small (400- 700 nanometers) and is depicted below by the rainbow in the middle.

Solar Radiation of Four Wavelengths in Spectrum, Ali Tahouri

Photoreceptors in Our Eyes Help Us to See Color

Most of the energy moving about cannot be seen by humans, such as ultraviolet rays and microwaves. The reason why we can see energy in the visible spectrum is because of photoreceptors in our eyes. Cone cell photoreceptors help us to see color, while rod cell photoreceptors help us to differentiate between lightness and darkness.

Most humans have three types of cone receptors: “L” cones, which stands for “long” because they recognize red light with a long wavelength. “M” cones perceive green, with a middle wavelength size, and “S” cones decipher blue, with the shortest wavelength, next to violet.

Simple Description of How We See Color

Look at the image below to get a basic understanding of how we see the red of an apple. When sunlight hits an object like an apple, only a portion of the visible spectrum is reflected. All other light is absorbed because of the chemical composition of the apple.

In the case of the apple, the long wavelengths bounce off, which triggers the “L” photoreceptors. Finally, the receptor’s information is interpreted by the brain, which tells us that the apple is red.

This means that an apple is only red to us because it’s absorbing all of the other light on the spectrum, but bouncing back red wavelengths to our eyes.

Wade A and Benjamin A, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Attributes of Color

There are four main attributes of color. I’ll reference the color wheel below to explain concepts.

This is a fantastic cheap resource to have as an artist. Here is the link: Color Wheel

Picture of a color wheel that you can buy from the Color Wheel company. It has two sides and I highly recommend it.

Definitions

Hue-

Hue refers to the attribute of color that allows us to distinguish one color family from another. It's essentially what we commonly refer to as the color itself. For example, red, blue, green, and yellow are all different hues.

On a traditional color wheel, red, yellow, and blue are primary hues, which means they cannot be created by mixing other colors.

Secondary hues, such as orange, green, and purple, are created by mixing two primary hues.

Tertiary hues, such as yellow-orange and red-violet, are further combinations of primary and secondary hues.

Tints, tones, and shades fall within this definition of hue. They are new colors created by adding white, gray, and black to a pure hue, respectively. If you purchase this color wheel or one similar to it, you will be able to see tints, tones, and shades of each hue on the flip side of the wheel.

Below is an example of a tint (adding white), tone (adding gray), and shade (adding black) using red as the primary hue.

Chroma-

Chroma refers to the intensity, saturation, or purity of a color. It represents the degree of departure of a color from a neutral gray of the same brightness. In simpler terms, chroma describes how vivid or intense a color appears.

Colors with high chroma are highly saturated and appear vibrant and intense, while colors with low chroma are more muted or dull. Using the example above again, a bright, pure red would have high chroma, while a desaturated, grayish-red would have low chroma.

Value-

Value refers to the relative lightness or darkness of a color or tone. It's an essential element of visual art and is used to create contrast, depth, and form within an artwork.

When referring to value, artists often think in terms of a grayscale ranging from pure white to pure black, with various shades of gray in between. This grayscale represents the different degrees of lightness and darkness that can be present in a color or tone.

On the color wheel, there is a value scale. Value 1 is the darkest value, black, and value 10 is the lightest value, white.

Understanding value is crucial for creating realistic works. It is harder to determine the value of color as opposed to a black-and-white drawing. We will look into ways to help that in the next blog post.

Temperature-

Temperature refers to the perceived warmth or coolness of a color. It's a characteristic that can evoke certain emotions or associations in viewers.

Warm colors, such as reds, oranges, and yellows, are typically associated with heat, fire, sunlight, and warmth. They tend to advance or appear closer to the viewer, creating a sense of energy and vibrancy.

Cool colors, such as blues, greens, and purples, are often associated with water, sky, and coolness. They tend to recede or appear farther away, creating a calming or soothing effect.

Temperature is a relative concept, and the perception of warmth or coolness can vary depending on context and the colors surrounding a particular hue. Understanding temperature is essential in color mixing, as combining warm and cool colors can create contrast, balance, and visual interest in an artwork.

On the color wheel above, note that violet to yellow-green represent cool colors with blue being the “coolest” hue. And yellow to red-violet represent the warm colors with orange being the “warmest” hue.

Conclusion

As we embark on this journey into the depths of color theory, inspired by Seurat's dedication to mastering his craft, we recognize the importance of understanding the fundamental principles of color. From Sir Isaac Newton's groundbreaking experiments to the attributes of color such as hue, chroma, value, and temperature, each element contributes to artistic expression.

Join me in the upcoming blog posts as we delve deeper into the intricacies of color theory, exploring its scientific foundations and practical applications in creating compelling artwork. Through this exploration, we aim to empower artists to harness the power of color and elevate their artistic practice to new heights.