Color theory fundamentals — primary, secondary, tertiary colors and RGB/CMYK models
A quick reference on color fundamentals — primary, secondary, and tertiary colors, the RGB additive model, the CMYK subtractive model, and the color spectrum.
Understanding color theory is foundational to pigment formulation and color matching. Here's a breakdown of the core concepts, from basic color mixing to the RGB/CMYK models used across print and digital media.
What are Colors?
Answer: Color is the perception of light by the human eye.
What are Primary Colors?
Answer: There are three primary colors — Red, Yellow, and Blue. These colors cannot be made by mixing any other colors. These three colors are mixed to create all other colors.
What are Secondary Colors?
Answer: Green, Orange, and Purple/Violet are secondary colors resulting from the mixture of primary colors:
- The mixture of Yellow and Blue makes Green
- The mixture of Yellow and Red makes Orange
- The mixture of Red and Blue makes Purple/Violet
What are Tertiary Colors?
Answer: Tertiary colors are intermediate colors made out of secondary and primary colors. A tertiary color is a color made by mixing one primary color with one secondary color — for example, Red-Orange, Yellow-Green, Blue-Violet, and so on.
What is the RGB Color Model?
Answer: The RGB color model consists of Red, Green, and Blue light colors. These colors can be added together to produce the secondary colors of light — this is called the Additive (light) model.
By contrast, the Subtractive (paint) model works with Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow, which combine differently to produce colors when applied as pigments/inks rather than light.
What is CMYK?
Answer:
- Cyan is produced by Green plus Blue
- Yellow is produced by Red plus Green
- Magenta is produced by Red plus Blue
Colour Spectrum
The colour spectrum shows the continuous transition between Yellow, Red, Blue, and Green — moving "redder" or "yellower," "bluer" or "greener" as you travel around the wheel.
Source: Sudarshan — Color Theory, "I know better campaign" – 86 (For Internal Circulation Only)