Tertiary color

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Page from A New Practical Treatise on the Three Primitive Colours Assumed as a Perfect System of Rudimentary Information by Charles Hayter. Color diagram Charles Hayter.jpg
Page from A New Practical Treatise on the Three Primitive Colours Assumed as a Perfect System of Rudimentary Information by Charles Hayter.

A tertiary color or intermediate color is a color made by mixing one part of a primary color with half part of another primary (or one part of a primary color and one part of a secondary one), and none of any other primary color, in a given color space such as RGB, [1] CMYK (more modern) or RYB [2] (traditional).

Contents

Tertiary colors have general names, one set of names for the RGB color wheel and a different set for the RYB color wheel. These names are shown below.

Another definition of tertiary color is provided by color theorists such as Moses Harris [3] and Josef Albers, [4] who suggest that tertiary colors are created by intermixing pairs of secondary colors: orange-green, green-purple, purple-orange; or by intermixing complementary colors. This approach to tertiary color relates specifically to color in the form of paints, pigments, and dyes.

Comparison of RGB and RYB color wheels

The RYB color wheel was invented centuries before the 1890s, when it was found by experiment[ citation needed ] that magenta, yellow, and cyan are the primary colors of pigment, not red, yellow, and blue.

The RGB color wheel has largely replaced the traditional RYB color wheel because it is possible to display much brighter and more saturated colors using the primary and secondary colors of the RGB color wheel. In the terminology of color theory, RGB color space and CMY color space have a much larger color gamut than RYB color space.

RGB or CMYK primary, secondary, and tertiary colors

Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors of the RGB (CMY) color wheel. RBG color wheel.svg
Primary, secondary, and tertiary colors of the RGB (CMY) color wheel.

The primary colors in an RGB color wheel are red, green, and blue, because these are the three additive colors—the primary colors of light. The secondary colors in an RGB color wheel are cyan, magenta, and yellow because these are the three subtractive colors—the primary colors of pigment.

The tertiary color names used in the descriptions of RGB (or equivalently CMYK) systems are shown below.

red (●)+ yellow (●)= orange (●)
yellow (●)+ green (●)= chartreuse (●)
green (●)+ cyan (●)= spring green (●)
cyan (●)+ blue (●)= azure (●)
blue (●)+ magenta (●)= violet (●)
magenta (●)+ red (●)= rose (●)

Tertiary-, quaternary-, and quinary- terms

The terms for the RGB tertiary colors are not set. The names for the twelve quaternary colors are more variable, if they exist at all, though indigo and scarlet are standard for blue–violet and red–vermilion.

HSV colors produced by mixing equal amounts of secondary and subsequent colors
Tertiary hues
   (0°) red
Quaternary HSV
   (0°) red
Quinary HSV

Traditional painting (RYB)

A traditional RYB color wheel. Color star-en (tertiary names).svg
A traditional RYB color wheel.

The primary colors in an RYB color wheel are red, yellow, and blue. The secondary colors — green, purple, and orange — are made by combining the primary colors.

In the red–yellow–blue system as used in traditional painting and interior design, tertiary colors are typically named by combining the names of the adjacent primary and secondary. [5] [6]

red (●)+ orange (●)= vermilion (red-orange)(●)
orange (●)+ yellow (●)= amber (yellow-orange) [7] (●)
yellow (●)+ green (●)= chartreuse (yellow-green)(●)
green (●)+ blue (●)= teal (blue-green) [7] (●)
blue (●)+ purple (●)= violet (blue-purple)(●)
purple (●)+ red (●)= magenta (red-purple)(●)

Tertiary- and quaternary-color terms

The terms for the RYB tertiary colors are not set. For the six RYB hues intermediate between the RYB primary and secondary colors, the names amber/marigold (yellow–orange), vermilion/cinnabar (red–orange), magenta (red–purple), violet (blue–purple), teal/aqua (blue-green), and chartreuse/lime green (yellow–green) are commonly found. The names for the twelve quaternary colors are more variable, if they exist at all, though indigo and scarlet are standard for blue–violet and red–vermilion.

In another sense, a tertiary color is obtained by mixing secondary-colored pigments. These three colors are russet (orange–purple), slate (purple–green), and citron (green–orange), with the corresponding three quaternary colors plum (russet–slate), sage (slate–citron), buff (citron–russet) (with olive sometimes used for either slate or citron). [8] [9] Beyond that are shades of grey (blue grey and brown greys), which approach but never quite reach black.

The RYB color terminology outlined above and in the color samples shown below is ultimately derived from the 1835 book Chromatography, an analysis of the RYB color wheel by George Field, a chemist who specialized in pigments and dyes. [10]

RYB colors produced by mixing equal amounts of secondary and subsequent colors [11]
Secondary
  red
  orange
  yellow
  green
  blue
  purple
  red
Tertiary
  green
  slate
  purple
  russet
  orange
  citron
  green
Quaternary
  russet
  buff
  citron
  sage
  slate
  plum
  russet
Quinary
  sage
  mocha
  plum
  brass
  buff
  khaki
  sage
RYB hues produced by mixing proportional amounts of primary colors/hues
Tertiary RYB [11]
  red
  vermilion
  orange
  amber
  yellow
  chartreuse
  green
  teal
  blue
  violet
  purple
  magenta
  red
Quaternary RYB [11]
  red
  scarlet
  vermilion
  persimmon
  orange
  orange peel
  amber
  golden yellow
  yellow
  lemon-lime
  chartreuse
  apple green
  green
  viridian
  teal
  cerulean
  blue
  indigo
  violet
  amethyst
  purple
  aubergine
  magenta
  crimson
  red

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cyan</span> Color visible between blue and green; subtractive (CMY) primary color

Cyan is the color between green and blue on the visible spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a predominant wavelength between 490 and 520 nm, between the wavelengths of green and blue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primary color</span> Sets of colors that can be mixed to produce gamut of colors

A set of primary colors or primary colours consists of colorants or colored lights that can be mixed in varying amounts to produce a gamut of colors. This is the essential method used to create the perception of a broad range of colors in, e.g., electronic displays, color printing, and paintings. Perceptions associated with a given combination of primary colors can be predicted by an appropriate mixing model that reflects the physics of how light interacts with physical media, and ultimately the retina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Magenta</span> Color

Magenta is a color that is variously defined as purplish-red, reddish-purplish, or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located precisely midway between red and blue. It is one of the four colors of ink used in color printing by an inkjet printer, along with yellow, cyan, and black to make all other colors. The tone of magenta used in printing, printer's magenta, is redder than the magenta of the RGB (additive) model, the former being closer to rose.

Pantone LLC is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey. The company is best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, notably graphic design, fashion design, product design, printing and manufacturing and supporting the management of color from design to production, in physical and digital formats, among coated and uncoated materials, cotton, polyester, nylon and plastics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Complementary colors</span> Pairs of colors losing hue when combined

Complementary colors are pairs of colors which, when combined or mixed, cancel each other out by producing a grayscale color like white or black. When placed next to each other, they create the strongest contrast for those two colors. Complementary colors may also be called "opposite colors".

In the visual arts, color theory is the body of practical guidance for color mixing and the visual effects of a specific color combination. Color terminology based on the color wheel and its geometry separates colors into primary color, secondary color, and tertiary color. The understanding of color theory dates to antiquity. Aristotle and Claudius Ptolemy already discussed which and how colors can be produced by mixing other colors. The influence of light on color was investigated and revealed further by al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham (d.1039). Ibn Sina, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, and Robert Grosseteste discovered that contrary to the teachings of Aristotle, there are multiple color paths to get from black to white. More modern approaches to color theory principles can be found in the writings of Leone Battista Alberti and the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. A formalization of "color theory" began in the 18th century, initially within a partisan controversy over Isaac Newton's theory of color and the nature of primary colors. From there it developed as an independent artistic tradition with only superficial reference to colorimetry and vision science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Subtractive color</span> Light passing through successive filters

Subtractive color or subtractive color mixing predicts the spectral power distribution of light after it passes through successive layers of partially absorbing media. This idealized model is the essential principle of how dyes and inks are used in color printing and photography where the perception of color is elicited after white light passes through microscopic "stacks" of partially absorbing media allowing some wavelengths of light to reach the eye and not others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Color wheel</span> Illustrative organization of color hues

A color wheel or color circle is an abstract illustrative organization of color hues around a circle, which shows the relationships between primary colors, secondary colors, tertiary colors etc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RYB color model</span> Subtractive color model

RYB is a subtractive color model used in art and applied design in which red, yellow, and blue pigments are considered primary colors. Under traditional color theory, this set of primary colors was advocated by Moses Harris, Michel Eugène Chevreul, Johannes Itten and Josef Albers, and applied by countless artists and designers. The RYB color model underpinned the color curriculum of the Bauhaus, Ulm School of Design and numerous art and design schools that were influenced by the Bauhaus, including the IIT Institute of Design, Black Mountain College, Design Department Yale University, the Shillito Design School, Sydney, and Parsons School of Design, New York.

Color printing or colour printing is the reproduction of an image or text in color. Any natural scene or color photograph can be optically and physiologically dissected into three primary colors, red, green and blue, roughly equal amounts of which give rise to the perception of white, and different proportions of which give rise to the visual sensations of all other colors. The additive combination of any two primary colors in roughly equal proportion gives rise to the perception of a secondary color. For example, red and green yields yellow, red and blue yields magenta, and green and blue yield cyan. Only yellow is counter-intuitive. Yellow, cyan and magenta are merely the "basic" secondary colors: unequal mixtures of the primaries give rise to perception of many other colors all of which may be considered "tertiary".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Secondary color</span> Colour made by mixing two primary colours

A secondary colour is a color made by mixing of two primary colours in a given colour space.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red-violet</span> Overview of color term

Red-violet refers to a rich color of high medium saturation about 3/4 of the way between red and magenta, closer to magenta than to red. In American English, this color term is sometimes used in color theory as one of the purple colors—a non-spectral color between red and violet that is a deep version of a color on the line of purples on the CIE chromaticity diagram.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shades of red</span> Varieties of the color red

Varieties of the color red may differ in hue, chroma or lightness, or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a red or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these various colors are shown below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Color mixing</span> Producing colors by combining the primary or secondary colors in different amounts

There are three types of color mixing: additive, subtractive, and average. In first two cases, mixing is typically described in terms of three primary colors and three secondary colors. Subtractive mixing with all three primaries will result in black, while additive mixing with all three primaries will result in white.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shades of magenta</span> Varieties of the color magenta

The color magenta has notable tints and shades. These various colors are shown below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shades of yellow</span> Overview about the shades of yellow

Varieties of the color yellow may differ in hue, chroma or lightness, or in two or three of these qualities. Variations in value are also called tints and shades, a tint being a yellow or other hue mixed with white, a shade being mixed with black. A large selection of these various colors is shown below.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line of purples</span> Edge of visible color

In color theory, the line of purples or purple boundary is the locus on the edge of the chromaticity diagram formed between extreme spectral red and violet. Except for these endpoints of the line, colors on the line are non-spectral. Rather, every color on the line is a unique mixture in a ratio of fully saturated red and fully saturated violet, the two spectral color endpoints of visibility on the spectrum of pure hues. Colors on the line and spectral colors are the only ones that are fully saturated in the sense that, for any point on the line, no other possible color being a mixture of red and violet is more saturated than it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shades of violet</span> Varieties of the color violet

Violet is a color term derived from the flower of the same name. There are numerous variations of the color violet, a sampling of which are shown below.

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  11. 1 2 3 RGB approximations of RYB tertiary colors, using cubic interpolation. "RYB RGB conversion". Archived from the original on 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2012-12-29. The colors are paler than a simple mixture of paints would produce. For the darker, true secondary colors, see secondary color. Pure tertiary colors would still be darker.