Complimentary Colors & Color Theory

...to elaborate on Ben's post (In Links & Cool Stuff to Check Out), the color wheel is a corner-stone of the elements & principals of art & design. Visual arts students study this extensively. Below is an example of the basic color wheel:

Do you remember studying it in elementary school? My favorite trick for remembering complimentary colors works like this:

Red / Green  (think "Christmas" colors)

Blue / Orange (think "Halloween" colors)

Yellow / Purple (think "Easter" colors)

~

Below is an example of an advanced color wheel,

which is the version most widely recognized by contemporary artists 

& educators:

Fun color facts:

1) Primary Colors (can't be made by mixing colors)
 Red / Yellow / Blue
2) Secondary Colors (are made by mixing two primary colors)  
Orange / Green / Purple
3) Tertiary Colors  (are made by mixing one primary color with one secondary color)
 Yellow-Orange / Yellow-Green / Blue-Green 
Blue-Purple  Red-Purple / Red-Orange

4) Complimentary Colors (are opposites on the color wheel)

5) Printing color photographs relies heavily on the color wheel 
(You will need to be very familiar with this by the time you get to Gr. 12!)

Assignment:

Print or draw a color wheel in your process journal. 
Label the following in your own writing. You will need it for our class field trip this Thursday! 

a) Primary colors
b) Secondary colors
c) Tertiary colors
d) Complimentary colors