Artists have a secret map. It is a circle of colours called the colour wheel. It shows which colours are related, and which colours make each other pop.
In this lesson you will mix your own colours, sort warm from cool, and find the pairs that make art shout. Ready? Tap Next.
Step 1 · The three starters
Three colours cannot be made by mixing anything else. Every other colour comes from them. We call them the primary colours:
Tap each paint blob to hear what it does.
Red
Yellow
Blue
Tap a blob to begin 👆
0 of 3 found
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Think of red, yellow and blue as the ingredients. Just like flour, sugar and eggs make many cakes, these three make many colours.
Step 2 · The mixing lab
Mix two primary colours and something brand new appears. These new colours are called secondary colours.
Pick two paints, then press Mix!
Red
Yellow
Blue
empty pot
Choose two colours…
Secondary colours discovered: 0 of 3
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The three secondary colours are orange, green and purple. Try to find all three!
Step 3 · Build the wheel
On the wheel, each secondary colour sits between the two primaries that made it. Drag each colour into the right empty gap. (On a tablet: tap the colour, then tap the gap.)
Orange
Green
Purple
Between Red & Yellow
Between Yellow & Blue
Between Blue & Red
Pick a colour chip to start 🎯
Step 4 · Read the whole wheel
Here is the finished wheel. Tap any wedge to find out its name and family.
Tap a colour…
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The colours in between — like red-orange or blue-green — are called tertiary colours. You get them by mixing a primary with the secondary next to it.
Step 5 · Warm side, cool side
Cut the wheel in half and you get two moods. Warm colours feel like sunshine, fire and chilli. Cool colours feel like the sea, ice and shade.
Tap a swatch, then tap the bin where it belongs.
🔥 Warm
❄️ Cool
6 swatches to sort.
Artists use warm colours to make a painting feel busy and close, and cool colours to make it feel calm and far away.
Step 6 · Opposites pop!
Colours directly opposite on the wheel are called complementary colours. Put them side by side and both look brighter and bolder.
A colour is shown on the left. Tap its opposite on the wheel.
Red
+
?
Round 1 of 3
Step 7 · Add white, add black
You do not only mix colours with colours. Add white to make a lighter tint. Add black to make a darker shade.
Goal: make a tint (lighter) and a shade (darker).
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A tint of blue looks like the morning sky. A shade of blue looks like the deep sea at night. Same colour — very different feeling!
🏅 You did it!
🎨
You can now read an artist's colour wheel. Here is everything you learned:
1
Primary: red, yellow, blue — the three starters.
2
Secondary: orange, green, purple — mix two primaries.
3
Tertiary: the in-between colours, like blue-green.
4
Warm (red, orange, yellow) vs cool (green, blue, purple).
5
Complementary: opposites on the wheel make each other pop.
6
Tint = colour + white. Shade = colour + black.
Try it at home: take one colour — say blue — and paint five patches, each with a little more white than the last. You have made a colour ladder, just like real artists do! 🌟