Mixing Colours using a Colour Palette
An artist’s color palette is a collection of paint colors that an artist chooses to use when creating their artwork. It’s a tool that helps the artist mix and combine colors to achieve the desired effects and tones in their piece. The palette can be physical, like a flat board where paints are placed, or digital, in the case of digital art.
In a traditional palette, the artist typically works with a range of colors, including:
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Primary Colors: Red, blue, and yellow. These are the building blocks for all other colors.
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Secondary Colors: Green, orange, and purple. These are made by mixing two primary colors.
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Neutral Colors: White, black, and various grays. These are used to lighten, darken, or tone down other colors.
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Earth Tones: Browns, ochres, siennas, and other muted colors that are often found in natural landscapes or realistic portraits.
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How to use a Colour Palette
The colors on a color palette work in a way that corresponds to how colors are arranged on a color wheel. The color wheel shows how colors are related to each other, which helps when mixing them or choosing complementary colors. Here’s how it works:
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Primary Colors (Red, Blue, Yellow):
These are the starting points on the wheel and can’t be made by mixing other colors. They are spread out across the wheel, and all other colors are created by mixing these.
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Secondary Colors (Green, Orange, Purple):
These are made by mixing two primary colors together.
For example,
red + yellow = orange,
blue + yellow = green, and
blue + red = purple.
On the wheel, these colors sit between the two primary colors that made them.
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Tertiary Colors:
These are made by mixing a primary color with a secondary color.
For example,
red + orange = red-orange, or
blue + green = blue-green.
These fill in the gaps between the primary and secondary colors on the wheel.
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When using a palette to mix, you can think of the color wheel as a guide:
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Complementary colors: These are colors that are opposite each other on the wheel, like red and green or blue and orange. Mixing complementary colors can create contrast or make a color “pop.”
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Analogous colors: These are next to each other on the wheel, like blue, blue-green, and green. These colors work well together and create harmonious, calming palettes.
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Triadic colors: These are evenly spaced around the wheel, like red, yellow, and blue. These colors offer a balanced mix of vibrancy and contrast.
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When you mix colors on your palette, keep the wheel in mind to understand how they relate and what kind of effect you’ll get when they combine.
