What Is Color Vocabulary

Additive Color The process of mixing the colors of light together

Afterimage A reaction seen when the observer’s brain supplies the opposite or complementary hue after the observer stares at a particular hue.

Arbitrary Color The effect of color as produced by the artist imposing feelings on an object’s color. This effect abandons natural color.

Color Wheels A circular model showing color relationships.

Complementary Hue Hues directly across from each other on the color wheel

Cones Cells in the retina that are sensitive to bright light and color

Fovea The area at the back of the retina that contains only cone cells and therefore is the area of sharpest color definition

Hues The identification or name of a color

Light Wheel A color wheel arrangement of hues that are the result of projected colored lights. Its primaries are red, green, and blue, and this wheel is the basis for additive color

Local Color The effect of color as seen in clear daylight

Munsell Wheel A color wheel with hues arranged based on afterimaging Its principal colors are yellow, red, violet, blue, and green This wheel is the basis for partitive color

Neutral A color such as black, white, or gray that does not contain any pure hue

Optical Color The effect of color as seen in lighting conditions other than white daylight, such as rain, sunrise, sunset, candlelight, etc

Partitive Color The process of placing colors side by side to produce different reactions

Pigments A powder that is in a binder which covers a surface or adheres to a surface They provide color

Primary Colors A hue that cannot be obtained by mixing Mixing these colors forms other hues and colors

Principal Colors One of the five primary hues in Munsell’s color model (yellow, red, violet, blue, and green)

Process Wheel A color wheel based on primary hues of yellow, magenta, and cyan The wheel works with subtractive color and is used for color printing, photography, and certain types of ink manufacture

Retina The light-sensitive inner lining of the back of the eye

Rods Cells in the retina that are sensitive to dim light, but not to color

Saturation The relative purity of a hue All pure hues are fully saturated

Secondary Color A hue resulting from the mixing of a primary hue and an adjacent primary hue Also termed intermediate hue

Subtractive Color The process of mixing pigments together

Tertiary Colors A hue that results from the mixing of a primary hue and an adjacent secondary hue

Texture The quality of surface and its relative smoothness or roughness It may be actual or implied

Values The lightness or darkness of a color

Visible Spectrum The range of colors that can be perceived by the human eye When light is projected through a prism, the array order is: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and Violet

Visual Wheel A color wheel arrangement with the primaries yellow, red, blue and green It is based on partitive color

Wavelengths A measure of light The distance between crests in a wave of energy