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Just like no one challenged the idea that Earth was flat.Īccording to Wikipedia: Color theory was originally formulated in terms of three “primary” or “primitive” colors-red, yellow and blue (RYB)-because these colors were believed capable of mixing all other colors. People didn’t challenge these intellectuals until many years later. The concept that red, yellow, and blue were primary colors started many years ago when scholars explained that there were three basic hues. So why do they teach us that red, blue, and yellow primary colors can’t be made by mixing other colors? If you look at this chart above you will see that if you mix yellow and magenta these two colors make red!īut wait, Red just like Yellow are primary colors!?Īnd we were all taught that you can’t mix any other colors to make a primary color.īut don’t get mad… I’m sure it was all for good reason. This offers you the ability to accurately display the color of your choice within your computer design.Īnother way to explain this is by the Additive Color Chart. This as you probably guess stands for Red, Green, and Blue.īy adding different amounts (or having higher or lower numbers) of each of these colors you can get a wide range of colors to choose from. Notice in the sections in the middle of this screenshot. Well if you’re a graphic designer or web designer, chances are you probably had to reference the color RGB Color Codes Chart. This color chart helps your computer understand what colors you’re trying to display to the naked eye. What does computer colors have to do with anything? The best way to explain this, is to reference computer color charts. The next paragraph below answers that question. This process of color mixing is what you were probably taught in school.īut wait, this still doesn’t explain how you can make yellow by mixing colors. But for simplicity of this explanation I’m going to leave it at is. You can continue this process and achieve almost an infinite amount of color combos. Now you can see that by mixing you can get a wide range of colors for your palette. Notice that we started with the three primary colors, and we mixed them to achieve additional hues “secondary colors” and then lastly we created the tertiary colors. Here is a simple chart below that explains the color combo theory that we just talked about. If you continue to mix the colors adjacent to each with the primary and secondary colors you will get a third set of hues known as “Tertiary Colors” (Aka Intermediate Colors.) What happens when you take it one step further you ask? These newly mixed colors: Green, Violet and Orange are called Secondary Colors.Īs you can see using the primary color palette you can create three new colors. Everything I’ve found online references the word violet)
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(Side note: I’m not sure why they taught us the color purple versus violet. Here is a simple diagram that displays what happens when you mix the primary colors: red, yellow and blue.Īs you can see from this chart, when you mix the two colors adjacent to each other you get a new color. I’m going to explain what 2 colors make yellow, but in order for you to understand I need to give you a little background information. We can mix two colors to make yellow and I’m going to prove it to you. Right?! What colors make yellow paint?Īctually, you CAN make yellow, and everything you have been taught up to this point is actually not completely true. Wait… if Yellow is a primary color… then we shouldn’t be able to mix colors to make yellow. So essentially they’re the starting blocks of color. In school, they teach us that primary colors can’t be mixed by any other color to make them. Your teacher probably taught you using the color wheel chart, and explained that there are three primary colors: Red, Yellow, and Blue. The one’s where you dip your hand in paint and make an imprint on a piece of paper.ĭuring this lesson, I’m sure they incorporated fundamental principles of color. Specifically, I remember when we would do those hand painting artwork. If you think back when you were a little kid in elementary school… the teacher would spend some time teaching you about Arts and Crafts. Traditions are meant to be broken… and this is another case of that. Old school conventional wisdom taught us at an early age that you can’t mix colors to make yellow. Are you wondering, “what colors do you mix to make yellow?” If you’re trying to figure out what two colors make yellow because you’re either mixing paint, mixing colors with makeup, or just simply curious for general knowledge.
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