The primary colors are blue, red, and yellow. By mixing the primaries it is possible to obtain secondary colors. Thus, the mixture of red and blue produces a violet, a blue and a yellow creates a green and the yellow with the red forms an orange. All these ranges of colors are reflected in a chromatic circle, which goes from red to violet in a progressive way.
Thus, a complementary color is one that is opposite another color on the chromatic circle. In this way, the complementary color of red is green, the complementary color of blue is orange, and violet is the complementary color of yellow.
The usefulness of complementary colors
In the chromatic circle are the primary and secondary colors and in this circle it is possible to check the complementarity of each of them. This serves to know the harmony and contrast between the different tones.
If two complementary colors appear combined in a painting, this combination produces an intense visual impact, since both colors are opposite. In this way, in an illustration where red appears and its complement is green, the resulting image has an obvious contrast. The same would happen in an image in which blue and orange were predominant.
An analysis of the color wheel
The order of the colors on a color wheel is not random. Thus, each color has an opposite color in front of it, which we could call "its enemy". The knowledge of the complementarity of colors is essential for any creative activity, since it must be taken into account that two complementary colors mixed together would form a color that does not exist in nature, which would produce a rejection in our brain.
In the jargon of painters, when two complementary colors are mixed, they speak of a dirty color
Suppose we mix a yellow with an indigo with the same proportion of paint. A kind of brown would be obtained and its appearance would cause a rejection in the observer's brain. Therefore, knowledge of the color wheel is very useful to avoid improperly combining colors.
However, if the complementary colors are mixed moderately, the end result can be satisfactory (for this to be possible, the proportion of both colors must be correctly measured). In this way, if a little indigo is added to the yellow, a duller yellow is obtained.
In short, complementary colors do not get along when mixed in the same proportion, but they are compatible and create harmony when mixed correctly and in the right proportion.
Photos: Fotolia - darsi / carlosgardel
