What Are Color Schemes?

A color scheme is a calculated, planned effort to coordinate the colors of a piece of artwork, an interior location, or digital image so that they are limited in some way. Artists challenge themselves to stay within the limits of specific color schemes while depicting real imagery. Interior designers use color schemes to coordinate painted walls with curtains, drapes, carpeting and furniture in order to make a statement or express a specific theme.

Monochromatic Color Schemes

Monochromatic color schemes use variations of one color to create the image or scene. A value scale is created, mixing white with the basic color to achieve light tints and black to achieve dark shades. An artist uses the tints (the color mixed with white) to create highlights and points of direct light around the basic color, then shades (the color mixed with black) to create various degrees of shadow. Monochromatic color schemes are used to convey a mood, based on the color used.

Triadic Color Schemes

Triadic color schemes involve three colors which are in a triangular formation on the color wheel. The four triadic color schemes are red, blue and yellow; green, orange and blue; red-violet, blue-green and yellow-orange; and red-orange, blue-violet, and yellow-green. The artist may choose to add tints or shades to each of the colors, adding more of a range of values, or may choose to use the pure colors as a personal statement.

Complementary Color Schemes

Complementary color schemes involve using opposing or complementary colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. The color wheel places yellow opposite to violet, red opposite to green and blue opposite to orange. On an artist's pallet, when a color's complement is added to itself, the color begins to turn gray. When orange is added to blue, the blue moves away from blue, through various stages of blue-gray, until the two colors neutralize each other. Complementary color schemes, however, help enhance the color. A yellow scene with purple shadows intensifies the color yellow, for example.

Split-Complementary Color Schemes

Split-Complementary color schemes are similar to triadic color schemes in that they form a triangle. The specific rules for split-complementary color schemes state that the primary color must use the two colors on either side of its complement. For example, a split-complementary color scheme using red requires yellow-green and blue-green because the complement of red is green, and the two colors on either side of green are yellow-green blue green.

Analogous Color Schemes

Analogous color schemes are the easiest of all the color schemes. An analogous color scheme requires three or four adjacent colors on the color wheel. Some examples of analogous color schemes are red-orange, orange, yellow-orange and yellow. Analogous color schemes are used to convey a specific mood like monochromatic color schemes, except analogous color schemes use temperature to convey mood. Red-violet, red, red-orange, yellow and yellow-orange are warm colors, expressing happiness and warmth, where blue, blue-violet, violet, blue-green, green and yellow-green are cool colors, expressing life or coldness.

References

• Color Matters