Sunday, July 13, 2008

More Watercolor Terms

Color Basics in a Nutshell

QUESTION: Susie, what's the definition of hue vs color? Are they the same? Thanks! Sally K.


SUSIE'S REPLY: Hi Sally! Simply speaking yes, they are the same.
Here is a list of definitions of commonly used terms as they relate to watercolor.

  • Hue -- The name of a color, such as red, blue, yellow, green, orange, etc.
  • Intensity -- The strength, brightness, or purity of a color; its chroma.
  • Saturation -- The measure of brilliance or purity of a color.
  • Value -- The lightness or darkness of a color; pure colors will vary greatly in value.
  • Temperature -- The warmth or coolness of a color; also relative terms in comparison to other colors in context.
  • Primary Colors are those hues that cannot be mixed from any other colors-- red, yellow, and blue. From these primaries, most other colors can be mixed.
  • Secondary Colors are the resulting hues of mixing two prima ries in equal amounts.
    (R+Y =Orange, Y+B=Green, B+R=Purple)
  • Intermediate Colors are products of mixing one primary and a secondary.
    (R+O=Red-Orange, Y+O=Yellow-Orange, etc.)
  • Tertiary Colors are products of mixing two secondary colors.
    (O+G, O+P, G+P, etc)
  • Complementary Colors are two hues directly opposite each other on the color wheel.
    Complement to a primary color is the combination of other two primaries.
    Complement to Red is Green (Y+B),
    to Yellow is Purple (R+B),
    to Blue is Orange (R+Y).
  • Neutral Hues are the results of combining all three primaries in various amounts, thus neutralizing the intensity and saturation of a hue. Combining a primary with its complement results in a neutral hue.

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