Colour Theory: Opticks and Colour Wheels

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Isaac Newton's Opticks

Our basic understanding of colour made a breakthrough back in 18th Century when Isaac Newton was researching into his discovery of prisms, light and colour. Through a series of experiments, Newton found that when he refracted white light through a glass, triangular prism, that a rainbow light of colour was created. Revealing that light was able to breakdown into colour that includes:

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo and Violet. 

Newton then reversed this process by placing the colours back through the prism to create another white light. This then proved that light is the source of all colour.

Colour Wheels

Three of the basic categories of colour theory are:

• The colour wheel.
• Colour harmony.
• Context of how colours are used. 

Colour wheels are circles, with sections, that have different colours. Colour wheels are used to show relationships between colours. You are able to find many different colour wheels.

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colours 

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Primary colours are the colours that are mixed together to create secondary colours. This colour wheel shows that:

Yellow + Red = Orange

Yellow+ Blue=Green

Red+Yellow=Purple

Orange. Green and Purple are the secondary colours made up from Red. Yellow and Blue.

These primary colours are technically the starting points to other hues.

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Tertiary colours are primary and secondary colours mixed together. A double barrelled type of colour is then formed. Example: Blue-Green. A mixture of two different colours. Creating more shades.

Blue-Green Examples
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