Basic Principles of Color

There are three primary colors:  red, blue, and yellow.  These are the building blocks of all other colors.  The secondary colors are violet (mix blue and red), green (mix blue and yellow), and orange (mix red and yellow).  All other colors are called tertiary, because they are mixtures of a primary and a secondary color.  Pictured here is the standard color wheel,  colors across from each other are called complementary colors.  When complementary colors are mixed together they produced neutral colors, like grays and browns.  Mixing the three primary colors, red, blue and yellow, gives you black.  There are many books and videos on color theory, but the best way to learn about color mixing is doing it yourself, experimenting and having fun.  Enjoy!