When we talk about primary colorswe mean those colors that, mixed in different percentages and united with black or white, allow to obtain all the others. THE secondary colors Instead, those obtained by mixing the primaries, and tertiary They always derive from the primaries, but with greater quantity of one or the other color.
If it is true that the “classic” primary colors are the redThe yellow and the blueit is also true that there are also the primary additive and subtractive colors, and that in the rose of the primary there are also green, magenta, cyan and black.
Primary colors: here are all the models
At school we learned that the primary colors are three: red, yellow, blue. And from them, mixed with white and black, you can get all the colors present in nature. True, but not entirely. If it is true that the primary colors are those that mixed the other colors originate, but it is necessary to know that they are not only red, yellow and blue, because i Starting models of primary colors They depend on what you want to get with them.
Let’s see what they are and why they can have different combinations:
- RYB model (Red, Yellow, Blue – Red, yellow, blue): it is the model that we have learned at school. Generally, we start from these primary colors when they are made artistic works, materials and of applied design. These colors are “present in nature”, that is, they cannot be made by combining other colors, but only starting from oneself. The red-yellow-blue model remains the starting one, which defines the primary colors in their essence.
- RGB model (Red, Green, Blue – Red, green, blue): this model considers, to define the primary colors, the light. That is, by combining these three primary colors in equal parts White light is obtained. Precisely for this reason they are defined “Primary additive colors”.
- CMYK model (Ciano, Magenta, Yellow, K To indicate the Black – Ciano, Magenta, Yellow, Black): this model, called dei “Subtract primary colors” Instead, identify the primary colors necessary for printing in quadrichromein four colors. The union of Ciano, Magenta and yellow in equal parts, allows to obtain black and their absence, however, automatically generates white, and their union in different percentages, allows to obtain all the colors necessary for the press.
Secondary colors which are and how they are obtained
The secondary colors are those obtained mixing the primary colors together of the “traditional” model, therefore the red-yellow-blue, in equal parts:
- red+yellow = orange
- red+blue = viola
- yellow+blue = green
The green, in this case, is a secondary color, although in the model seen previously it is considered a primary since it incorporates yellow and blue and therefore allows you to create precisely white light.
Tertiary colors: as they are called and how they are obtained
To obtain the tertiary colors, however, it is necessary to start from the “classic” primary colors, but the percentage in which they are mixed variesand therefore different shades emerge:
- red+blue (with red more red) = purple red
- red+blue (with blue) = bluish purple
- yellow+blue (with blue) = greenish blue
- yellow+blue (with more yellow) = Green Green
- red+yellow (with more yellow) = orange yellow
- red+yellow (with red more red) = orange red
The study of colors is still ongoing, because we come to grasp increasingly in -depth information on the perception of our brain: just think that, recently, thanks to a study, the OLO color has been discovered, a bluish green never perceived before.
The theory of color
The reflections on the color theory They are ancient: the Treaty De Coloribus is attributed to Aristotle And to other philosophers of his current, he then dealt with optics and refraction of the color too Ptolemyand the first colored wheel with the seven colors of the rainbow was developed by Isaac Newton – it is in fact called “Newton’s album” – in 1672. In 1810 Goethe publishes the essay Color theory In which he contrasts his idea to that of Newton: adding all the colors, supports Goethe – who in addition to being a great poet has also dealt with scientific studies – white is not obtained, but the colors are the result of the seaming of light. They asked themselves about the theory of color too Schopenhauer, Kandinsky, Klee, Johannes Itten master of the Bauhausand many other artists and scholars, and today we have come to a synthesis that takes into account both past studies and modern needs of printing and material use of the pigment.
