Best Color Theory Masterclass

 Understanding Color and the Color Wheel

Hello dear friends,

Beauty can happen when you understand
and use a little bit of color.

Welcome to another masterclass...our masterclass on understanding color. 

Be sure to check out our masterclass on tips for hand embroidery and common mistakes to avoid.

Understanding color is very important in the embroidery world. The beauty in the pieces you create depends on what each eye can see, and what the eye sees is always better in color.

“In design school, the color wheel drove me crazy...There was so much to think about that I preferred to do without it and rely on my own sense of color. However, as a new embroidery artist, I soon found out that while we can rely on our own sense of color; we limit ourselves without it; and so, use it we must.” Deonne D.

Let’s face it; not all are brilliant at unraveling things the first time. Some of us need to zip around a few times before discernment dawns; which, in this case, is no surprise when you consider who invented the color wheel.

In my article, I will attempt to make the complexity of color and the color wheel as easy to understand as possible.

The Beginning of Color in a Wheel

The color wheel has long been considered useful in fashion, film, interior design, and fine art.

Designers and artists use color wheels to create color palettes to achieve the desired artistic effect. Yet, where did the concept come from? 

Sir Isaac Newton created the first color wheel in 1704. It was an asymmetrical wheel with seven colors… red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.

Then in 1810, German poet and artist, Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe developed a symmetrical color wheel that consisted of six colors; eliminating indigo. 

This one was similar to the one we use today.

Putting Things into Perspective

Let’s put away the idea of a wheel for the moment and concentrate on the colors.

Simply put, color is arranged into three divisions.

1. Primary colors;

2. Secondary colors; and

3. Tertiary colors.

Yes, here begins the scary words. However, don’t tune out just yet; it’s really quite easy.

The traditional color model, the one embroidery artists still use today is the Red, Yellow, and Blue (RYB) model.

This diagram by Sarah Renae Clark 
is ideal as a basic color visual. 

Primary colors are the very first colors that you combine to make all other colors, and there are three primary colors...Red, Yellow, and Blue.

Secondary colors are the colors that result from combining two primary colors. 

In the (RYB) model yellow plus blue gives you green; yellow plus red gives you orange; red plus blue gives you purple.

Tertiary colors are the combination of one primary color and one secondary color. 

For example, red plus purple gives you magenta, and yellow plus orange gives you amber.

Simple, isn’t it? However, let’s not stop here. Let’s go on to discuss complementary colors; analogous colors and other aspects of color theory.

The Color Wheel

We now come to the concept of the color wheel. In the color wheel, the primary colors occur as a triad and each of the secondary colors will have its related primary colors on either side of it.

For example; the secondary color orange will be in the middle of its primary colors red and yellow. 

The Tertiary colors occur in the center of the wheel or in the middle of the primary and secondary colors that made it.

The Woolnest gives a fully 
comprehensive color visual.

Complementary colors are the colors that occur opposite each
other on the color wheel. 

They are contrasting colors such as blue paired with orange; red with green and yellow with purple. 

The complementary colors make bold statements in fashion and embroidery.

Analogous colors are colors that are next to each other on the color wheel; primary, secondary, and tertiary. 

For example: red with orange and vermilion; or blue with violet and teal.

Forms of Color

Here is where you will have endless enjoyment in the creation of your art. 

The idea that you can have so many variants to color just by adding another color to change it is astounding!

With the forms of color, you can now create variants with brightness or dull them down just by adding a little white, black, or grey.

Hues (vibrant) Hue is the name of a specific color… e.g.: baby blue or leaf green. With hue, you can achieve playful, happy, festive pieces.

Tone (muted) describes how light or dark something is and includes light tones called tints, mid-tones, and dark tones called shades.

The mid-tones give you a natural, organic color. A degree of Grey is added to your color for this effect.

Tints (light) This will help you achieve soothing, soft, misty colors. Tints are attained by mixing any hue with white.

Shade (dark) This gives you a mysterious, sophisticated, rich, elegant color. For this, a degree of Black is added to your hue and you’re good to go.

In any embroidery project, you do well to have all forms of color present. This will ensure a project that is pleasing to the eye and you will see more of it in our future workshop on creating color palettes.

Other Elements that Effect Color

Now that this is all very understandable, there are a few expressions in the world of color that we need to get used to. Words like color harmony; color temperature and color context.

Color harmony is pairing colors that are pleasing to the eye and provide a sense of order. To achieve this we choose color schemes based on complementary and analogous colors.

Color temperature. All color has a temperature; either warm, which is associated with the sun and daylight; or cool, associated with overcast light.

Color context; placing colors next to others will make the colors behave differently. They might look dull or bright depending on the color it is paired with.

Learning to Use Your Sense of Color

Now that you have a stronger knowledge of color, the way to reach a certain confidence is to experiment. 

Play around with concepts of hues, tones, tints, and shades. An artist would experiment with paint; mixing colors in these four forms to discover different color schemes.

In hand embroidery, the four forms are worked out for you when the threads or ribbons are dyed. Embroidery thread and ribbons come in all hues, tones, tints, and shades. 

Understanding what makes the colors you see will help you put together color schemes for your embroidery patterns.

Tips for Building Your Embroidery Color Collection

The forms of color give you an endless variety of ribbons, yarn, and thread (floss) to choose from.

My advice is; after reading this article,

• Jot down a few colors based on what you read and from the nature outside your window.

• Then go shopping for embroidery skeins or ribbons to build your collection.

• Practice pulling together different color schemes for your embroidery projects.

The color visuals I have provided in this article give us a wonderful idea of color. Whichever color wheels you choose to use is okay just as long as you understand the concept behind it. 

 

The key to acquiring a good sense of color is understanding color and practicing it.

The Conclusion of the Matter

Creating color schemes for your embroidery projects, based on an understanding of color is easy and enjoyable. Nevertheless, it does take practice.

“Learning to look at color in nature and the world around helped me gain a strong sense of how color worked. However, understanding color gave me an even stronger sense, because when I combined to two my palettes were endless. 

The key is practicing with the forms of color. Get it right and you're on your way.” Deonne D.

I hope you have enjoyed this color theory masterclass and that your understanding of color is a lot less daunting than when you started reading this article. Feel free to bookmark this article for future reference.

Don't forget to leave your thoughts and questions in the comments below and join me for another good read next time. 

Until next time... Happy Sewing!