How to Make Yourself a Color Reference Booklet
First make a color wheel (round or triangular) by following the instructions in How to Construct a Color Wheel., Make a page for each hue., Staple all the pages together with the color wheel on the front and the hues in order, as they are around the...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: First make a color wheel (round or triangular) by following the instructions in How to Construct a Color Wheel.
To make yours a triangle, change the shape of only the outer circle into a triangle.
Then make sure to paint magenta, yellow and cyan in the corners.
Each straight side of the triangle contains colors which were made by mixing the two primaries in the adjacent corners.
A straight line drawn between colors on opposite sides (or nearly opposite like red and blue) will take you closer to the black in the middle, which represents what will happen if you actually mix such colors. -
Step 2: Make a page for each hue.
On each page, you will draw a triangle, one straight side to the left, the opposite corner to the right.
If making pages for all twelve colors is too much work, you can start with just magenta, yellow, and cyan, and perhaps red, green, and blue.
Draw a circle (or a space of any shape) at each corner, one in the center of each side, and one in the middle of the triangle.
Paint the top corner white, the bottom corner black, and the right-hand corner the bright version of the hue for that page.
Paint the space between the black and white gray.
Paint the tint between white and your original color, and paint the shade between black and your original color.
A tint is your original color mixed with white.
A shade is your color mixed with either black or its complement (the opposite color on an accurate CMY/RGB color wheel).
For more on mixing colors, see How to Mix Colors.
Finally, paint your muted color in the middle of the triangle.
This is the one that has both white and black (or its complement) added to it.
The triangle now shows differences in saturation (colorless to colorful) from left to right, and value (dark to light) from bottom to top. , -
Step 3: Staple all the pages together with the color wheel on the front and the hues in order
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Step 4: as they are around the color wheel.
Detailed Guide
To make yours a triangle, change the shape of only the outer circle into a triangle.
Then make sure to paint magenta, yellow and cyan in the corners.
Each straight side of the triangle contains colors which were made by mixing the two primaries in the adjacent corners.
A straight line drawn between colors on opposite sides (or nearly opposite like red and blue) will take you closer to the black in the middle, which represents what will happen if you actually mix such colors.
On each page, you will draw a triangle, one straight side to the left, the opposite corner to the right.
If making pages for all twelve colors is too much work, you can start with just magenta, yellow, and cyan, and perhaps red, green, and blue.
Draw a circle (or a space of any shape) at each corner, one in the center of each side, and one in the middle of the triangle.
Paint the top corner white, the bottom corner black, and the right-hand corner the bright version of the hue for that page.
Paint the space between the black and white gray.
Paint the tint between white and your original color, and paint the shade between black and your original color.
A tint is your original color mixed with white.
A shade is your color mixed with either black or its complement (the opposite color on an accurate CMY/RGB color wheel).
For more on mixing colors, see How to Mix Colors.
Finally, paint your muted color in the middle of the triangle.
This is the one that has both white and black (or its complement) added to it.
The triangle now shows differences in saturation (colorless to colorful) from left to right, and value (dark to light) from bottom to top. ,
About the Author
Claire Cruz
Brings years of experience writing about creative arts and related subjects.
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