Introduction to Color Theory

Color. It is a powerful tool for an artist to express mood, environment or form. For a new artist, learning color theory can be challenging - not only understanding the meanings, but also how to create the right color on paper or canvas. Over the course of my art education, I took several color theory classes to gain a better comprehension of its application. In this blog, I am sharing some of those helpful resources to lend a hand with your creativity. 

Example of a homemade color chart using watercolors.

To begin, let’s start with some general color theory terms. Color theory is a study of how colors interact, complement or subtract from each other. Here are some terms that I will be using throughout:


  • Color - reflection of a specific wave of light from an object

  • Hue - a property of color that describes a specific wavelength of light. Example: green, blue, red.

  • Chroma - describes the intensity of color. More commonly described as saturation.

  • Value - a property of color to indicate the lightness or darkness ranging from 0 (for black) to 10 (for white)

One of the easiest methods to determine color of an object or scene is to strip away the color and start with values only. This may seem backward for getting the color right, but values are critical to building form. Without the correct combination of light and dark, your painting will appear unrealistic with light sources and shadows coming from the wrong directions.

Munsell Student Color Set.

While attending Columbus College & Design, they taught me color theory using the Munsell Color Set. This has been an invaluable book that I’ve used of years, because it has a comprehensive dictionary plus hue and chroma exercises. It has been one of the most effective methods to train my eye when evaluating value and saturation for a painting. Munsell provides a set of color chips in which you manually arrange the colors by lightest to darkest and least saturated to most saturated (noted as Chroma for this exercise). 

Munsell Hue Value & Chroma Chart exercise.

Munsell Yellow Hue Chroma & Value exercise.

Before getting out my paints, I start any project simply with a black and white drawing. If you are having trouble determining the right values for your reference(s), then one trick is to make a black & white copy of the image(s). A second trick is to purchase a value chart - these are easy to find at your local art store, and usually cost under $10. 

Grayscale charts can be found at most any art store.

Your challenge for this week is to create a drawing using either pencil, charcoal or black colored pencil only on white paper of an image. Did you successfully match the values of the picture? Best way to check is to hold the reference image and your drawing side by side, or take a picture of the image and review it on your phone or computer. 

For the next blog post, I am going to explore more about incorporating color into your work and color mixing. 

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