Color: Painting Color Wheel – Beginner’s Guide to Hues

Primary Colors:

Primary colors are pure colors that cannot be created by mixing other colors. These are the foundation of all other colors in the color wheel:

• Red
• Yellow
• Blue

Secondary Colors:

Secondary colors are formed by mixing equal parts of two primary colors:

• Red + Yellow = Orange
• Red + Blue = Purple (Violet)
• Blue + Yellow = Green

Tertiary Colors:

Tertiary colors, also known as intermediate colors, result from mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color. This process yields six tertiary colors:

• Red + Orange = Red-Orange
• Yellow + Orange = Yellow-Orange
• Yellow + Green = Yellow-Green
• Blue + Green = Blue-Green
• Blue + Purple = Blue-Purple (Blue-Violet)
• Red + Purple = Red-Purple (Red-Violet)

Hue vs. Color:

The terms “hue” and “color” are often used interchangeably, but they have distinct meanings:

Hue

• Hue refers to the pure spectrum colors that appear on the color wheel—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet—without any tint (addition of white) or shade (addition of black). It also includes tertiary colors. In other words, hues are the fundamental colors in the color wheel, and you can think of a hue as the origin or parent of a color.
  • For example, what is the hue of pink? The hue of pink is red because pink is created by adding white to red.
  • What is the hue of turquoise? The hue of turquoise is blue-green because it is a mix of blue and green.

Color

• Color is a broader term that encompasses hues as well as their variations, including:
  • Tints (hue + white)
  • Shades (hue + black)
  • Tones (hue + gray)

Are Black and White Colors?

Whether black and white are considered colors depends on the color theory being used:

• In painting (subtractive color mixing), black and white are not considered colors.
• In light (additive color mixing), black and white are considered colors.

Since this guide focuses on painting and pigment-based color mixing, black and white are not considered colors in this context.

Video Demonstration:

Please watch the color wheel painting demonstration.