Welcome to Basic Color Theory - Section 1

An Introduction to Color and Mixing Oil Paint, Lecture on Color and Exercises 1 and 2.

This is Section 1 of my Basic Color Theory course, where you are introduced to “What is Color?” through a short lecture. The lecture is followed up with the first two exercises in the course, exercise one, you will mix and paint the “Six Primary Color Biased Twelve-Step Color Wheel,” using a warm and cool of each primary color. In exercise two, “The Six Primaries Inherent Value Scales,” you will mix and paint the value scales for each of the primary colors you used to make the previous color wheel. These exercises will leave you with valuable tools to use for the rest of your painting career, plus you will have gained first-hand knowledge of how color works and mixes.

In section 1 of this course, you will:

Watch my “What is Color? Lecture and…

• Learn about the science of color and additive and subtractive color synthesis to better understand how color works, giving the foundation to build your color knowledge.
• Learn the difference between a three-color primary and a six-color-biased primary color wheel and why it is essential to know and use warm and cool colors in your mixing. So you will know what tube of paint to use to mix the color you see.
• Learn what secondary and tertiary colors are and what color temperature means. What analogous and complementary colors are to help you better describe what and how you are using your colors in future paintings.
• Gain an understanding of the three dimensions of color space and why they are essential, which will help you visualize where the color you want to mix resides in color space.
• Learn about the difference between observed and pigment colors, which will remove some of the frustration when trying to mix a color you see in life.

Mix and paint the colors for the first exercise, the “Six Primary Color Biased Twelve-Step Color Wheel” of this course by…

• Carefully draw out the color wheel template through clear and precise instructions, which will give the foundation to create your first color tool.
• Mixing and painting the primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries onto the outer ring of your color wheel while working alongside me, allowing you to watch how I mix, handle and apply the paint onto the template.
• Mixing and painting all of the complementary color strings and painting them onto the inner two rings again, working alongside me in real-time video, allows you to pause and rewind the instruction, allowing you to learn at your own pace.
• Finally, proving subtraction color synthesis by mixing black from all the colors and placing it in the center of the color wheel provides hands-on experience, giving you a greater understanding and confidence with working in color.

Mix and paint the value strings for the second exercise, the “Six Primaries Inherent Value Scales” of this course by…

• Learning that every color in a tube of paint has an inherent value gives you a better understanding of values' importance when working with color.
• Mixing and painting all six primary value strings from your color wheel, working right alongside me, making you aware that colors also have a value, and gaining more hands-on experience to help you mix the colors you see in the future.

By the end of this intensive course, you will understand how color works and have firsthand knowledge and experience in mixing the primary pigments. Most importantly, you will have put your new knowledge to work by painting and creating the first two exercises, which give you your first two tools in your color toolbox.