Finding your colour palette

Finding Your Colour Palette

Molly empowers you to find your colour palette and choose colours that speak to you in this lesson.

Lesson Summary

• I have mixed colours over time to create the colour palette I prefer.
• Paint half-circles of your favourite colours on a piece of paper, gathering as many colours as you like.
• When designing a particular item, you can use the half-circles to see which colour feels right.
• Blue, yellow, and red are your primary colours. All colours are derived from mixing these colours.
• Begin with your primary colours and work your way up from there to create a complete colour palette.
• The colours in your palette should give you a feeling of joy.
• Make a note of the measurements of each colour when mixing them.
• Chalk paints, as well as screen printing and block printing paints, are excellent for mixing.
• Colours can be toned down by using white and built up by adding black.

Further Reading

For further reading about colour theory and colour mixing, I recommend the following books:

• Living with Colour by Rebecca Atwood
• Colour Mixing Bible by Ian Sidaway

Your Assignment

Using the knowledge gained from the lesson buy paints and start experimenting with colour mixing. Make half-circles and spots like Molly and start experimenting with colour combinations. Choose colours that speak to you and make you happy.

Key Colour Concepts

Hue

A hue is a pure colour without the addition of any tint, shade or tone. This includes primary, secondary and tertiary colours that can be found on the colour wheel.

Tint

A tint is a hue of a colour where white is added. Pastel colours are examples of tinted colours. A tint is lighter than the original colour.

Tone

A tone is the hue of colour with which pure grey is added. A tone is softer than the original colour.

Shade

A shade is the hue of colour with which black is added. A shade is darker than the original colour.

The Colour Wheel

The colour wheel consists of twelve hues and is broken down into, primary, secondary and tertiary colours.

Primary Colours

Yellow, red and blue.

Secondary Colours

These are colours that are made by mixing together primary colours (orange, purple and green).

Tertiary Colours

These are colours that are obtained by mixing together the primary and secondary colours.