COLOR THEORY BASICS: Use the Color Wheel & Color Harmonies to Choose Colors that Work Well Together

Learn color theory and how to choose colors that work well together: with the color wheel, color harmonies and color palettes.

Have you ever wondered how some artists are able to find perfect color combinations that just seem to work, every time? In this video, I’m going to show you how to use the color wheel and color harmonies to choose color combinations that look GOOD.

Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Basic color theory: What is the color wheel?
- What are the primary colors?
- What are secondary and tertiary colors?
- What is the difference between hue, color saturation, color value, and color temperature?
- What is the difference between warm red and cool red?
- What are color harmonies?
- What are monochromatic colors?
- What are complementary colors?
- What is a split-complementary color scheme?
- What is a triadic color scheme?
- What are tetradic colors?
- What are analogous colors?
- How can I use color harmonies to choose colors?
- How can I use color palettes?

We’ll cover the 6 different types of color harmonies, including plenty of example color palettes:
1. Monochromatic colors
2. Complementary colors
3. Split-complementary colors
4. Triadic colors
5. Tetradic colors
6. Analogous colors

We’ll be using the traditional RYB color wheel throughout this video, with the primary colors Red, Yellow and Blue. There are other color wheels (RGB and CMY) that are often used for better color mixing, but the RYB color wheel is still the best for working with color harmonies.

#sarahrenaeclark #colortheory #colorharmony
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[mortenlund]

Wow, just wow. How can you compress so much great information in such a comprehensive way. Thank you for this - thank you.

[drkuniverse_]

She is the art teacher we all needed but never had

[jmminion]

THIS IS THE BEST, SIMPLE YET COMPREHENSIVE AND CREATIVE WAY OF DISCUSSING COLOR THEORY🥰🥰🥰 I UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING JUST IN 7 MINUTES 💕

[BTS-eva]

My art teacher is forcing me to watch this

[EthanMckennaMusic]

This is prolly out of left field, but I'm a songwriter and this is giving me new ideas for using the circle of 5ths like a color wheel. Very cool

[PichuElric]

This is going to be so helpful for not only drawing, but also determining what colours go well in an outfit! Thank you, you packed so much information into a clean cut video!

[cinderblockstudios]

Even as an experienced painter, I found this really refreshing to go back to listen to!

[okellocarlsonedwin]

So far the best color lesson i have ever watched in YouTube, every explanation is on point. Thanks..

[PeacockPigment]

In scrapbooking, color matching is always the hardest thing for me! I'm going to try referencing these various color wheels. Thank you for the tips!

[nathaliacalmon]

Totally the best explanation on the subject I've seen so far. I feel I'll never forget it anymore :o Thank you!! <3

[theHoneyandAbsinthe]

This is so important for beginner creatives to learn and experienced ones to review! Awesome video!

[realMartinHamilton]

The best video on the basics and foundational building blocks of actionable uses of color coordination. Thank you!

[projectiledreamz]

Blown away by the simplicity in the explanation!

[jaSon]

Been doing photography, specifically wildlife with a spritz of nature/landscapes mixed in for a couple of years now. I'm always trying to learn more and think about things from other angles and perspectives to improve my work, and this video just blew my mind. Obviously it can be a bit tougher to incorporate specific colors into every photo than it is for an artist to just make another color on their wheel, but I still took a lot away from such a short and concise video.

Now that it's spring, I've been focusing a lot more on getting a nice array of colors in my images to improve the dynamic range of them, which makes them more visually appealing most of the time. Going to be coming back to this one a number of times to refresh on it.

[silver]

can't thank you enough, I'm a mobile app developer who deals with colors a lot, I always resort to color sites for inspirations, but now I have new way to look at it.

[YuliaTarbath]

Thank you for explaining it so well with great visualization! Hope to start using it!

[eamoroso]

Thank you, I’ve always struggled with color with all crafts, knitting crocheting, quilting and now jewelry beading.

[maisiecat]

Excellent comprehensive video Sarah. Thank you. ❤

[BNJewelryandArtwork]

As a hair colorist for the last 30 years I can totally relate to this. I use this for my jewelry and paintings as well.

[AvalynGirl]

Best explanation I have seen for this EVER. Thank you!