The Color Wheel

Ever wonder what art would be without colors? It would be quite boring. Ever tried painting something but ended up with bad results because you had used an incorrect color mix? This color wheel is the solution to those problems.






The color wheel, showing the primary colors in their warm and cold shades, along with their mixes.








As you see above, all three primary colors have a cold shade and a warm shade. Avoid mixing warm colors with cold ones so that your color remains pure. Cold plus cold equals cold, and vise versa.

Each color ususaly has a small amount of biased color, meaning it contains another color in it. Understanding what bias is in each color helps you make a correct mix, therefore not obtaining dirty color.
A good rule of thumb would be to avoid mixing three primary colors, EX cold red(Alizarin Crimson) containing blue, mixed with cold blue(Ultramarine Blue) containing red would give you a pure purple. On the other hand, mixing cold red(Alizarin Crimson) containing blue with warm blue(Phtalocyanine Blue) containing yellow would mean a dirty color for you have mixed three primary colors: yellow, red, and blue.