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The purpose of creating this chart is to familiarize those of you with not painting experience in the process of creating colors from a limited palette. It is also a methodical approach to understanding and controlling the value (amount of light and dark) and saturation (intensity of color).
This chart consists of the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) and white, which in this exercise is the bare paper. With transparent media, such as watercolors or inks, the color temperature of your paper will affect the overall appearance. You will notice that many watercolor papers are available in a cold white (by comparison, appears somewhat more blue) or warm white (rather like sand). The color temperature of the images below are affected by the shifting natural light in my studio as the clouds come and go.
Step One:
Step One:
Draw a grid with 5 columns and 5 rows. Label the corners: Top left is Yellow; Top right is Blue (I am using Prussian Blue) ; Bottom Left is Red; Bottom right is white (bare paper)
Step Two:
Step Two:
Paint undiluted/fully saturated primary colors in the designated corners.
Example shows: Prussian Blue, Process Yellow, and Process Magenta
Step Three:
Step Three:
Paint gradients of color, beginning with blue to white, then red to white.
Step 4:
Step 4:
Paint gradients of yellow on the row and column originating at yellow and ending at blue and red.
NOTE: The fully saturated primary colors are 4 times more saturated than the least saturated, so you will consider the gradients as 4B, 3B, 2B, or 1B for blue, 4R for red, 4Y for yellow, etc.
Step 5:
Step 5:
Paint gradients of blue on the row beginning with pure blue and ending at yellow.
Example 1: space D1 is three parts blue (3B) to one part yellow (1Y) or (3B+1Y).
Example 2: space A3 is (2R +2Y)
Example 3: space 4B would consist of (3R+3Y+1B)
Step 6:
Step 6:
Fill the interior with the gradients of a single primary color first that correspond with their position on the chart.
Example 1: Column D and Row 4 are the least saturated yellow (1Y), so you will fill those in accordingly.
Example 2: Column C and row 3 correspond with 2Y (two parts yellow). Fill accordingly.
You will eventually do the same with the other primary colors, as demonstrated in the following steps.
Step 7:
Step 7:
Fill in the gradients of blue as you did with yellow. Imagine that you are overlapping the gradients as seen to the right.
example of
example of
yellow gradients
yellow gradients
example of
example of
blue gradients
blue gradients
Step 8:
Step 8:
Add the red gradients (as pictured separately to the right) to your color chart.
Pictured here:
Pictured here:
Base layer of sepia in 5 gradiants. Washes of primary and secondary colors in solid bands are laid on top.
Picture here:
Picture here:
Base layer of black in 4 gradients with column of white on the right. Fully saturated colors are laid on top in solid bands (no gradients of color)
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