Showing posts with label primary colors. Show all posts
Showing posts with label primary colors. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Friday, April 25, 2014
Mixing Tertiary Colors The Easy Way
Phew...I survived the holidays!!! I can finally get back to doing what I love...mixing up colors.
Last time, we learned about color bias and how to choose the proper "primary" colors to mix all other colors. Color bias is mainly used for "primary" colors, since pure primary colors don't exist. However, putting secondary colors (orange, green and violet) into color bias groups can make it easier for you to see the difference between each secondary color. Can you see the dominant "primary" color in each set of secondary colors on the chart?
Secondary colors can lean toward a color bias...this is what is known as a tertiary color. We already know that we need to mix a "primary" color and a secondary color to get a tertiary color. But wait...which two colors do we need to mix together? It really doesn't matter!!! What I love about creating tertiary colors is that there is no wrong way to mix them...which means no muddy colors.
Don't forget...you still need to remember your complementary colors, for you don't want to mix those two together unless you plan on making a neutral color (refer to complementary chart).
You need to choose a "primary" red that has an orange bias (refer to "Primary" Color Bias Chart). When it comes to choosing the right orange, you need not to worry. Orange already contains red, so any orange will do. I will let you in on a little secret...it will make life so much easier if you choose the orange that leans towards the red bias. You won't have to add as much "primary" red to your icing. We all know red has an aftertaste and can be harmful to our bodies...so it just makes sense to use less of it when possible. Secondary colors can lean toward a color bias...this is what is known as a tertiary color. We already know that we need to mix a "primary" color and a secondary color to get a tertiary color. But wait...which two colors do we need to mix together? It really doesn't matter!!! What I love about creating tertiary colors is that there is no wrong way to mix them...which means no muddy colors.
Don't forget...you still need to remember your complementary colors, for you don't want to mix those two together unless you plan on making a neutral color (refer to complementary chart).
Red-Orange (Red + Orange)
Let's say you needed to make a specific tertiary color such as Vermillion.Take a look at the icing samples below, which two look the closest to Vermillion?
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| "Primary" Super Red mixed with oranges (1) Terracotta (2) Electric Orange (3) Orange (4) Copper (5) Peach |
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| "Primary" Red Red mixed with oranges (6) Terracotta (7) Electric Orange (8) Orange (9) Copper (10) Peach |
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| "Primary" Tulip Red mixed with oranges (11) Terracotta (12) Electric Orange (13) Orange (14) Copper (15) Peach |
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| "Primary" Xmas Red mixed with oranges (16) Terracotta (17) Electric Orange (18) Orange (19) Copper (20) Peach |
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| "Primary" Holiday Red mixed with oranges (21) Terracotta (22) Electric Orange (23) Orange (24) Copper (25) Peach |
That is right...#1 and 6 match the Vermillion swatch! These icing colors are the most accurate because I used an orange biased "primary" red and Terracotta for my secondary color, which is a red biased orange (See Secondary Color Bias Chart above). If you don't own a food color such as Terracotta you can use any orange and just add more red to your icing.
Quiz time!!! Now that you know what two colors will get you the most accurate tertiary color, let's see if you can find all of them for each color below. The two best answers are listed after each set of icing colors. Remember what you learned and have fun!!!
Answer: #2 and #8 match the Gold swatch above.
Answer: #1 and #7 match the Chartreuse swatch above.
Answer: #8 and #10 match the Turquoise swatch above.
Answer: #1 and #2 match the Indigo swatch above.
Answer: #4 and #11 match the Mulberry swatch above.
Yellow-Orange (Yellow + Orange)
Which two numbers match this Gold?
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| "Primary" Lemon Yellow mixed with oranges (1) Terracotta (2) Electric Orange (3) Orange (4) Copper (5) Peach |
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| "Primary" Electric Yellow mixed with oranges (6) Terracotta (7) Electric Orange (8) Orange (9) Copper (10) Peach |
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| "Primary" Egg Yellow mixed with oranges (11) Terracotta (12) Electric Orange (13) Orange (14) Copper (15) Peach |
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| "Primary" Gold mixed with oranges (16) Terracotta (17) Electric Orange (18) Orange (19) Copper (20) Peach |
Yellow-Green (Yellow + Green)
Which two numbers match this Chartreuse?
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| "Primary" Lemon Yellow mixed with greens (1) Electric Green (2) Mint Green (3) Avocado (4) Leaf Green (5) Forest Green (6) Teal |
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| "Primary" Electric Yellow mixed with greens (7) Electric Green (8) Mint Green (9) Avocado (10) Leaf Green (11) Forest Green (12) Teal |
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| "Primary" Egg Yellow mixed with greens (13) Electric Green (14) Mint Green (15) Avocado (16) Leaf Green (17) Forest Green (18) Teal |
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| "Primary" Gold mixed with greens (19) Electric Green (20) Mint Green (21) Avocado (22) Leaf Green (23) Forest Green (24) Teal |
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| Turquoise mixed with 'primary" yellows (25) Lemon Yellow (26) Electric Yellow (27) Egg Yellow (28) Gold |
Blue-Green (Blue + Green)
Which two numbers match this Turquoise?
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| "Primary" Royal Blue mixed with greens (1) Electric Green (2) Mint Green (3) Avocado (4) Leaf Green (5) Forest Green (6) Teal |
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| "Primary" Electric Blue mixed with greens (7) Electric Green (8) Mint Green (9) Avocado (10) Leaf Green (11) Forest Green (12) Teal |
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| "Primary" Sky Blue mixed with greens (13) Electric Green (14) Mint Green (15) Avocado (16) Leaf Green (17) Forest Green (18) Teal |
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| "Primary" Navy Blue mixed with greens (19) Electric Green (20) Mint Green (21) Avocado (22) Leaf Green (23) Forest Green (24) Teal |
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| Turquoise mixed with "primary" blues (25) Royal Blue (26) Electric Blue (27) Sky Blue (28) Navy Blue |
Blue-Violet (Blue + Violet)
Which two numbers match this Indigo?
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| "Primary" Royal Blue mixed with violets (1) Violet (2) Regal Purple (3) Electric Purple |
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| "Primary" Electric Blue mixed with violets (4) Violet (5) Regal Purple (6) Electric Purple |
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| "Primary" Sky Blue mixed with violets (7) Violet (8) Regal Purple (9) Electric Purple |
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| "Primary" Navy Blue mixed with violets (10) Violet (11) Regal Purple (12) Electric Purple |
Red-Violet (Red + Violet)
Which two numbers match this Mulberry
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| Violet mixed with "primary" reds (1) Super Red (2) Red Red (3) Tulip Red (4) Xmas Red (5) Holiday Red (6) Burgundy |
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| Regal Purple mixed with "primary" reds (7) Super Red (8) Red Red (9) Tulip Red (10) Xmas Red (11) Holiday Red (12) Burgundy |
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| Electric Purple mixed with "primary" reds (13) Super Red (14) Red Red (15) Tulip Red (16) Xmas Red (17) Holiday Red (18) Burgundy |
I hope you got all of them right!!! Next time I will show you all the colors you can make using your pinks and neutral colors.
Have a wonderful and colorful week:-)
Monday, March 17, 2014
Color Bias - Choosing The Right "Primary" Colors
Now that you've all been schooled on the basics of color theory...the fun can begin!!!
First let me say, that I am a HUGE fan of Americolor food colors. Why, you ask? Well, they are readily available in my area, they don't break the bank and they come in MANY colors. Colors make life fun and you can never have too many colors. NEVER!!!
However, there is something that bothers me about all brands of food colors. Have you ever picked up a bottle and added the color to your icing, only to find out that it doesn't look like the swatch or color listed? Colors aren't always what they seem and that can cause frustration and wasted icing. I thought it would be helpful, if I painted a swatch of each color to show you what the color looks like inside the bottle.
Now onto the topic of the week!!! Awhile back, I mentioned that sometimes our secondary colors look vibrant and sometimes they look muddy. The secret mystery to mixing the perfect color is called "Color Bias". If you haven't heard it before, you will be thanking me later...trust me.
Each of our "primary" colors (red, yellow and blue) will lean toward one of the secondary colors (orange, green and violet) that is to the left or right of that "primary" on the color wheel. Red will either be red-violet or red-orange. Yellow will either be yellow-orange or yellow-green. Blue with either be blue-green or blue-violet. The triangle on the color bias wheel (below), shows where the "primary" colors would be located on the traditional color wheel.
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| Color Bias Wheel (Primaries) - Clockwise: Xmas Red (Red-Violet), Tulip Red (Red-Orange), Egg Yellow (Yellow-Orange), Lemon Yellow (Yellow-Green), Sky Blue (Blue-Green), Navy Blue (Blue-Violet |
Red-orange (red + orange) for example, is made up of only two "primary" colors which is red and yellow (red + yellow = orange). This formula is true for each color bias (primary + secondary = tertiary). If we were to add a blue-green or a blue-violet to that red-orange, we would get a muddy color. This happens because orange (red + yellow) and blue are complementary colors. They will always produce a neutral color, such as brown or grey because you are adding all three "primary" colors together. What happens if we mix two colors that have the same color name in the mix, such as red-violet and a blue-violet? We would get a beautiful violet of course!!! Red-violet and blue-violet both carry violet (blue + red) as a dominant color. Here is a helpful chart to help remind you which colors are complementary. Remember...complementary colors produce neutrals, not vibrant colors.
Now, all you need to do is recognize what color bias our "primary" food colors lean towards and you'll get beautiful colors...every time. I took the liberty of making a chart for you, so you don't have to do any guesswork (you are very welcome:) This chart will be your BFF for when you mix your icing. Remember to use the colors with the same name for a vibrant color (Red-Orange and Yellow Orange = Vibrant Orange).
I mixed up some icing swatches using our "primary" food colors (shown in chart above) to show you how color bias works. I had so much fun mixing these colors...for I am such a nerd!!! Each secondary (orange, green, violet) color sample uses two "primary" colors. Take notice to which colors are vibrant, dull and neutral.
Orange (Red + Yellow)
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| "Primary" Lemon Yellow mixed with "primary" reds (1) Super Red (2) Red Red (3) Tulip Red (4) Xmas Red (5) Holiday Red (6) Burgundy |
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| "Primary" Electric Yellow mixed with "primary" reds (7) Super Red (8) Red Red (9) Tulip Red (10) Xmas Red (11) Holiday Red (12) Burgundy |
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| "Primary" Egg Yellow mixed with "primary" reds (13) Super Red (14) Red Red (15) Tulip Red (16) Xmas Red (17) Holiday Red (18) Burgundy |
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| "Primary" Gold mixed with "primary" reds (19) Super Red (20) Red Red (21) Tulip Red (22) Xmas Red (23) Holiday Red (24) Burgundy |
Green (Yellow + Blue)
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| "Primary" Royal Blue mixed with "primary" yellows (1) Lemon Yellow (2) Electric Yellow (3) Egg Yellow (4) Gold |
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| "Primary" Electric Blue mixed with "primary" yellows (5) Lemon Yellow (6) Electric Yellow (7) Egg Yellow (8) Gold |
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| "Primary" Sky Blue mixed with "primary" yellows (9) Lemon Yellow (10) Electric Yellow (11) Egg Yellow (12) Gold |
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| "Primary" Navy Blue mixed with "primary" yellows (13) Lemon Yellow (14) Electric Yellow (15) Egg Yellow (16) Gold |
Violet (Red + Blue)
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| "Primary" Royal Blue mixed with "primary" reds (1) Super Red (2) Red Red (3) Tulip Red (4) Xmas Red (5) Holiday Red (6) Burgundy |
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| "Primary" Electric Blue mixed with "primary" reds (7) Super Red (8) Red Red (9) Tulip Red (10) Xmas Red (11) Holiday Red (12) Burgundy |
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| "Primary" Sky Blue mixed with "primary" reds (13) Super Red (14) Red Red (15) Tulip Red (16) Xmas Red (17) Holiday Red (18) Burgundy |
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| "Primary" Navy Blue mixed with "primary" reds (19) Super Red (20) Red Red (21) Tulip Red (22) Xmas Red (23) Holiday Red (24) Burgundy |
Pretty cool...right?
I used equal parts of each "primary" color using a dropper, but you can make the colors lighter or darker by adding more or less food coloring. Now that you know about color bias and how to use it, you can make every color imaginable!!!
I can't wait to show you all the fabulous colors that you can create with your food colors. More icing experiments to come...so be sure to stop back and check them out!!!
Have a wonderful and colorful week:)
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