How to Teach Art Students About Color by Making a Color Wheel Using the Three Primary Colors

Learning the basics of color is essential for any art student. Color plays a vital role in the creation of artworks. Variations and combinations of colors make it possible for artists to create more interesting visuals, suggest certain meanings or symbolism or even evoke certain emotions about their works. Making a color wheel allows students to gain the basic knowledge of colors. This wheel features the three primary colors and their combinations, which include the secondary and tertiary colors.



This project is geared towards art students, whether children, teens or adults. A color wheel can be used as part of an art lesson regardless of students' ages. While young art students can simply learn the basics of color with a color wheel, the discussions of color theories and other high-level concepts are often discussed with teen and adult students as well.

Instructions

1

Require the students to bring materials for making a basic color wheel. The students should bring a white circular board or any thick piece of white paper that works well when using watercolors. While any size will do, a circle with a diameter of 7 inches can provide a decently large color wheel that clearly shows the primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Students should also bring a paint brush, painting palette, water, and red, blue and yellow watercolors, preferably those that are contained in separate tubes instead of those that are already laid out together with non-primary colors.

2

Divide the circular board into 12 equal parts or sections by marking each one with a ruler and a pencil or pen. This makes it look like a whole pie with a total of 12 equal pieces. Instruct your students to do likewise.

3

Color the top part of the circular board with one of the primary colors. Although you can actually start with any of the primary colors, color this top part with a red watercolor, inviting students to do the same.

4

Count three parts clockwise out of the 12 parts starting from the red-colored part, then color it with another primary color. Paint and guide students to use the blue watercolor for it.

5

Count another three parts clockwise from the blue-colored part of the color wheel, then color it with the final primary color, which in this case is yellow. Ask students to follow you. Students should follow you in the subsequent steps as well.

6

Combine two of the primary colors, then apply the mixed color, which is now called a secondary color, to the middle of the primary colors in your color wheel. For instance, if you combine equal parts of red and blue, the result will be violet. Use this color to fill the part of the color wheel in between the red and blue parts. This would mean skipping one part on the blue and one part on the red to get to the middle of them. The two empty spaces beside blue and red will be later on used for the tertiary colors, which would be the result of mixing one primary color and one secondary color.

7

Combine two other primary colors, then apply the mixed color the same way as the previous combination. For instance, mix equal parts of blue and yellow to make the secondary color, green. Color the middle part in between blue and yellow with green.

8

Combine the last set of primary colors that can make the secondary color orange by mixing equal parts of yellow and red. Color the middle part in between yellow and red with orange.

9

Make new combinations by using the primary and secondary colors to create tertiary colors. Use the color wheel as a guide on how to make each color combination. At this point, the color wheel alternately has filled up and empty parts. Each empty part is meant to be filled up by combining one primary and one secondary color. For each empty part, use the primary and secondary colors beside it to create the tertiary color that should fill it up.

Using equal parts for each combination, color each empty part of the color wheel accordingly. This makes the students better understand how the primary colors result to more colors through varying combinations. The tertiary colors that will be produced for the last six empty parts of the color wheel are red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange and red-orange.

10

Discuss the complementary colors in your color wheel. Ones' complementary color is located directly opposite its location on the color wheel. For instance, the primary color red's complementary color is the secondary color green. The primary color blue's complementary color is the secondary color orange. The primary color yellow's complementary color is the secondary color violet.

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Learning the basics of color is essential for any art student. Color plays a vital role in the creation of artworks. Variations and combinations of colors make it possible for artists to create more interesting visuals, suggest certain meanings or symbolism or even evoke certain emotions about their works. Making a color wheel allows students to gain the basic knowledge of colors. This wheel features the three primary colors and their combinations, which include the secondary and tertiary colors.



This project is geared towards art students, whether children, teens or adults. A color wheel can be used as part of an art lesson regardless of students' ages. While young art students can simply learn the basics of color with a color wheel, the discussions of color theories and other high-level concepts are often discussed with teen and adult students as well.

Instructions

1

Require the students to bring materials for making a basic color wheel. The students should bring a white circular board or any thick piece of white paper that works well when using watercolors. While any size will do, a circle with a diameter of 7 inches can provide a decently large color wheel that clearly shows the primary, secondary and tertiary colors. Students should also bring a paint brush, painting palette, water, and red, blue and yellow watercolors, preferably those that are contained in separate tubes instead of those that are already laid out together with non-primary colors.

2

Divide the circular board into 12 equal parts or sections by marking each one with a ruler and a pencil or pen. This makes it look like a whole pie with a total of 12 equal pieces.

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. Instruct your students to do likewise.
3

Color the top part of the circular board with one of the primary colors. Although you can actually start with any of the primary colors, color this top part with a red watercolor, inviting students to do the same.

4

Count three parts clockwise out of the 12 parts starting from the red-colored part, then color it with another primary color. Paint and guide students to use the blue watercolor for it.

5

Count another three parts clockwise from the blue-colored part of the color wheel, then color it with the final primary color, which in this case is yellow. Ask students to follow you. Students should follow you in the subsequent steps as well.

6

Combine two of the primary colors, then apply the mixed color, which is now called a secondary color, to the middle of the primary colors in your color wheel. For instance, if you combine equal parts of red and blue, the result will be violet. Use this color to fill the part of the color wheel in between the red and blue parts. This would mean skipping one part on the blue and one part on the red to get to the middle of them. The two empty spaces beside blue and red will be later on used for the tertiary colors, which would be the result of mixing one primary color and one secondary color.

7

Combine two other primary colors, then apply the mixed color the same way as the previous combination. For instance, mix equal parts of blue and yellow to make the secondary color, green. Color the middle part in between blue and yellow with green.

8

Combine the last set of primary colors that can make the secondary color orange by mixing equal parts of yellow and red. Color the middle part in between yellow and red with orange.

9

Make new combinations by using the primary and secondary colors to create tertiary colors. Use the color wheel as a guide on how to make each color combination. At this point, the color wheel alternately has filled up and empty parts. Each empty part is meant to be filled up by combining one primary and one secondary color. For each empty part, use the primary and secondary colors beside it to create the tertiary color that should fill it up.

Using equal parts for each combination, color each empty part of the color wheel accordingly. This makes the students better understand how the primary colors result to more colors through varying combinations. The tertiary colors that will be produced for the last six empty parts of the color wheel are red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, yellow-green, yellow-orange and red-orange.

10

Discuss the complementary colors in your color wheel. Ones' complementary color is located directly opposite its location on the color wheel. For instance, the primary color red's complementary color is the secondary color green. The primary color blue's complementary color is the secondary color orange. The primary color yellow's complementary color is the secondary color violet.

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