Colour wheels/palettes
general journal junk
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idealog
- Mix primary colours to create secondary and tertiary colours.
- Make sure to investigate only mixing warm versions of colours together and cool versions of colours together.
- Mixing warm and cool is how you can end up with mud.
- Investigate the split primary colour palette/wheel, one that combines both warm and cool colours.
This will work with any type of paint - watercolour, gouache, acrylic, oil, etc.
A split primary palette consists of two versions of each primary colour, a warm and a cool, allowing for a wider range of mixing possibilities. Some colour examples for a split primary palette:
Red:
- Cadmium Red (warm)
- Alizarin Crimson (cool)
Blue:
- Cobalt Blue (warm)
- Phthalo Blue (cool)
Yellow:
- Cadmium Yellow (warm)
- Lemon Yellow (cool)
You can't always mix the brightest or most intense colours with the primaries, so, to round out a split primary palette, it's handy to have some pre-made colours handy to round out a split primary palette.
Earth Tones:
- Burnt Sienna (warm)
- Raw Umber (cool)
Green:
- Viridian (cool)
- Sap Green (warm)
Orange:
- Cadmium Orange (warm)
- Pyrrole Orange (cool)
Purple:
- Magenta (warm)
- Dioxazine Purple (cool)
Neutrals:
- Payne's Grey
- Neutral Tint
- Titanium White
- Ivory Black
You could:
- Perhaps put some squares onto a sheet of watercolour paper or sketchbook page.
- Mix each pair of colours to see what happens.
- Make sure to label each square so you know what colours you used.
Notes:
- Messing around with mixing these colours is a great thing to do with a sketchbook, to make swatches, and to see how the colours mix.
- Remember that colours can vary across brands. So, even if you have two tubes with the same colour name, they may not be quite the same colour.
- The warm split primary palette leans towards brighter and more vibrant mixes.
- The cool split primary palette tends to yield more subdued and cooler mixes.