Colour Theory: Hue and Saturation

COLOR THEORY TUTORIAL: The Color Wheel
Basic Colour Theory

Lecturer and landscape artist Scott Naismith explains concepts of hue and saturation using the color wheel. Concepts behind complementary colours revealed with a demonstration.

This video is intended as an educational aid for artists, graphic designers and illustrators to better understand the concepts of colour balance in terms of hue and saturation in order to assist colour mixing.

Reference is made to the work of both Henri Matisse and Mark Rothko.

DISCLAIMER: This video shows an inaccurate colour wheel. While it is widely accepted and taught this way, it is massively flawed. If you want to pull the wool from over your eyes, take a look at my video 'The Truth About The Colour Wheel'. RYB are not primary, however all other theories about using colour and saturation are valid.

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[bernardyeo]

The best lesson on hue and saturation I have ever learned. I have not heard any one explain these concepts with such clarity, simplicity and accuracy. Thank you Scott. Appreciate. God bless

[zens]

What is it with people and these rude comments? Chill and stop talking about the guys looks - we're not here for a face but for what he's saying. And what he's saying happens to be quite knowledgeable and insightful. Taught me a lot today and I'm very appreciative about that.

[neko-sama-iru-no]

Thank you!! I always mixed black and white to desaturate my colours, and the intensity just disappeared. So, I just started to paint with a lot of thinner added. I finally understand what I did wrong. I am so grateful. I love painting but I am quite bad at understanding colours. I have searched for tutorials everywhere and I finally found something useful.

[AdamWelch]

This is one of the explanations of hue and saturation I've ran across. I'm a photo maker working on a book over Adobe Lightroom. This information translates very well to photography. Thank you for such a great video!

[JustNieman]

He knows color theory, but does he know focus theory?

[palmernoah]

Amazing tutorial! Color theory is a vital part of art. Very useful tutorial. Thanks for the time and effort you invest in creating this very useful tutorial

[rutherenberg]

Thank you. This is great. I teach(volunteer) a class and need all the help I can get.This tutorial is concise, clear and accurate. 

[HappyQuailsLC]

I wish the repetitious note in the background was muted or quieted entirely.

[suzannewilson]

Thank you Scott, I am gaining an understanding of colour due to your inciteful explanation.

[margitcampbell]

this is really helpful and informative. I am not an artist but enjoy playing and don't often like the colours I pick together. And your video is making me understand why. I had no idea about the grey and about mixing complementary colours together and about everything else you talk about in your video. It's perfect for me. I am now going to watch it again as there was too much to take in the first time. And then I may even look up Matisse .... Thank you Scott.

[aimeelawrence-bespokefurni]

I can't believe I got this far without knowing what hues are. It is difficult for me to understand how things are explained . Because I have Dyspraxia. A mild form of Dyspraxia. Though it never feels mild.
I understand when you say that saturated colours need a bland background to take centre stage. That made perfect sense to me. I just tend to get so confused when I hear other terms for the colours in between the others on the colour wheel. I'm currently trying to learn also about what colours to use in shadows .

[judymooreperezful]

awesome. it is almost midnight, I am going to watch as many of your videos as I can, and start practicing hour principles. thank you.

[bru]

This is wonderful, so glad I came across this video. 😊👍😊

[lueezycancino]

Thanks Scott. I was looking to understand the difference between value and saturation. I was confused until I watched this video.

[ruchitdalwadi]

great video ! Can this be applied to clothes-pairing ? I mean using this theory can we know which color's tops goes well with what color of skirts?

[paulmurphy]

Scott you are my colour Guru. I am loving these tutorials, thank you.

[gregwood]

beautiful presentation....what a charming like the sophistication and elegance in your explanations

[annabellegachagirl]

Scot, you are a very good teacher and amazing artist. Thank you.

[PSWeddingPhotography]

first comment in 10 years of using youTube, great tutorial

[onbuxpu]

im learning light room for my photography and this really helps me understand so much more about color thank u x