So… what’s your verdict? What caught you by surprise?

@heminadias5025

3 жыл бұрын

I am still in shock that we can make red with magenta and yellow!!

@mpetersen6

3 жыл бұрын

And magenta is red and blue in the correct ratio with red being the dominant color in the mix. There actually is no specific wavelength of light that corresponds to magenta. The whole field of color theory and the primary color wheel is based on the fact that a light souce when shined through a prism and split into its constituent wavelengths. If the red, yellow and blue are then shined through a second prism they will not split into other colors. Its basic physics and optics. Wishing that magenta and cyan are actual primaries will not make it so. But in the world of color mixing yes it is possible to consider them as such and use them. But really you are just using a mix of the true primaries to get the magenta and cyan. Note this is only true for the actual wavelengths of the primary colors. If we take the reddish portion on the spectrum we will wind up with some blue and yellow. I'll put my virtual soapbox away for now.

@snakedaemongaming6590

3 жыл бұрын

I've known this for the longest time

@snakedaemongaming6590

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry didn't finish writing my comment I was always taught with the cmy as primary, this was due to my uncle being an artist for years and between him and my step father being a photographer They would often argue over it

@snakedaemongaming6590

3 жыл бұрын

Sorry 1 more point to add Although I was taught this from a young age, it actually doesn't mean much to me, I'm slightly colour blind, I don't understand colour at all

I'm an advocate for teaching the CMY colorwheel in school. It's mostly because here in Germany (where I'm from) we learn the color wheel with watercolor and the teachers tell us to only use red, blue and yellow. Therefore all students always end up with muddy purple. But when you ask the teacher why that is, they always tell you that you have to had made a mistake. And it discourages a lot of kids from making art, because they think that they can't make it right, when the actual mistake was the color choice from the teacher. It's just heartbreaking to see young children get frustrated about art and often even quit it completely. Thats not only my experience - every one I talk to about this has the same experience.

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

I think it’s a shame that some art teachers aren’t aware of the more complex sides of color. I don’t expect kids to be taught CMY in primary school, but it would be beneficial for teachers to at least understand what they are teaching and how/why colors mix the way they do

@harukastorm4

3 жыл бұрын

The way we were taught the RBY colorwheel was also with very specific shades of red and blue. So it wouldn't make a difference changing them to magenta and cyan other that you could mix way more vibrant colors.

@jesterparty6947

2 жыл бұрын

Actually she right the problem is she didn't teach you about temperature. Most blues used in school are cool tones while most reds used in school are warm tones. Thus making a muddy purple what you teacher should have done was talk about split palettes on how colors come in more then one tone.

@MusicalRaichu

2 жыл бұрын

@@jesterparty6947 in my school we used a cool red and warmer blue, so a bit closer to cmy, which broadened the gamut a bit. but greens still turned out yucky. but alas my teacher told me it was my fault for not mixing properly, not because it was impossible to get vivid colours by mixing only three primaries.

@qwmx

2 жыл бұрын

It gets worse when society leave untrained hypocritical teachers to teach art. My year 6 teacher (this is in Australia) used this art idea textbook and told everyone in the class to ONLY use two colours JUST like the picture in the textbook (she even pointed at the areas of the picture) but the one kid that was away on that day, came to class the next day, got told to make the artwork and she made it with rainbow colours and the teacher showed it off, as if like what she did was a masterpiece. The teacher was right, it was beautiful BUT, the teacher herself emphasised to everyone that we're only allowed to use TWO colours (just like the text book), so we had our creativity quashed because we're worried about pissing off a psychotic teacher and the one kid who had no idea what happened, she ended up looking like the most creative kid in class LOL.

Another factor that isn't talked so much about is that magenta and cyan are fairly recent colors, coming from the era of synthetic dyes, and even now the very bright ones are only available as dyes (like ink in printers or makers), not pigments (like watercolor, oil and pretty much all other traditional art media). So when historical color theories were created, cyan and magenta weren't actually available.

@AllyFin

Жыл бұрын

Yes, and the fact that they don't occur in nature much along with the fact that red and blue came much earlier in language.

@bryanriolo6217

Жыл бұрын

​@@AllyFin 🐂💩

@jaakkotahtela123

Жыл бұрын

@@AllyFin look above, the sky is cyan

@AllyFin

Жыл бұрын

@@jaakkotahtela123 it's between cyan and blue and that's only one instance

@jaakkotahtela123

Жыл бұрын

@@AllyFin that is a very large instance. And the color depends on where you are located. Near the equator it’s a deeper blue but the closer you are from the poles the lighter the color. The color also depends on the time of the day. At the blue hour everything can look pretty cyanish if there is snow on the ground

I like to use a split primary palette where you use a warm and cool version of each primary. I have. Notices that cool colors are more transparent and mix with less mud.

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

That’s another approach that I was thinking of bringing into this video, but I’ll save it for a video specific to color mixing. I like it too, but I haven’t used it much personally!

@reneedixonart

3 жыл бұрын

@@SarahRenaeClark That's something I'd like to learn more about. Hope you can come out with a video soon!!

@Gwenluvsmusic

3 жыл бұрын

I was coming to the comment section to say similar.

@justacatwhocantype

3 жыл бұрын

Agreed. I find that for traditional media, a split primary is definitely the best solution.

@justtheletterV274

3 жыл бұрын

Well split primary is exactly like a CMY but with a cool yellow instead of green. And the cool and warm blue. Now, personally, violet blues are cool and cyans are warm but that is a matter of opinion. They’re both cool colors (duh, they’re blues) and when you mix Cyan and magenta, you get a violet blue. This violet blue’s hues can be either French Ultramarine (PB29), Indanthrone Blue (PB60), Ultramarine Violet Blue (PV15 BS), or Cobalt Blue Deep (PB72). Meanwhile, for Cyan, Phthalocyanine Blue Yellow Shade (PB15:3), Phthalocyanine Turquoise (PB16), or Manganese Blue (PB33). Note these are all hue choices, there’s no right or wrong choice. Also, if you mix neutral yellow w/ Cyan or magenta, you get the warmer and cooler versions. Warm Red by Cool Red and Yellow and Cool Blue by Warm Blue + Cool Red (since Turquoise = Tropical Sea and Indigo = Early Night Sky). Credit: SoulKeever

I am absolutely blown away by the fact, you've managed to make a cohesive and understandable video explaining this enormously complex subject. Just wow.

@kayturs

Жыл бұрын

The thing is, it doesn't have to be this complex. It's complex because most people can't let go of traditional theories and so we're left with conflicting ideas. If you follow CMY, color mixing is really straightforward

@adhdbookworm

Жыл бұрын

​@kayturs sure, it shouldn't be so complex, but it still is, isn't it?

My 4 year old just asked me if white was a primary color. I had to ask Google and immediately became confused by the various color theories and strong opinions (I am not an artist). Thank you for your clear and concise video that pulled me out of this internet quagmire!

@user4241

2 жыл бұрын

That depends on the color system, in the substractive color model (CMY) white is a primary color.

@kenfleisher3139

Жыл бұрын

In CMY, the primaries are Cyan, Magenta and Yellow. White is “not” a primary. In fact, white is never a primary color.

@fdytdtdtfyfuft1045

Жыл бұрын

my name is glenn *quagmire* and i say giggity giggity giggity giggigigiggiigtytty

@ThePapaja1996

Жыл бұрын

Primary colors is a color setup where there you mix to make new colors. A setup that you choose set up either own youre own or where you buy your paint.

@arcyarcanine

10 ай бұрын

White is technically not a color, so there's your answer right there. It's a shade, much like black, to lighten or darken actual colors/hues. Obviously this is only correct when talking about pigments, light is a whole other discussion. Think of black and white like the brightness setting on a monitor.

In high school physics, a 3-bladed fan is often used to demonstrate RGB. When each blade is covered with a primary color and the fan is started, you see white light. Which, of course, cannot be duplicated with pigments. Thank you Sir Isaac.

@keylimepie3143

Жыл бұрын

Issue was that from what I observed at least, this stuff was taught in a Physics 2 class, which isn't required, and a lot of folks get deterred from Physics 1 which deals with Kinematics, the stuff like acceleration, forces, energy, friction, etc. As a result, very few decide to continue on to Physics 2 which covers the stuff like electricity, magnetism, and light.

@magentamonster

Ай бұрын

@@keylimepie3143 I think teaching kids about light early on would be a good idea since it's particularly interesting due to the connection to colours. The Physics 2 stuff seem more interesting than the Physics 1 stuff. After all, electricity and magnetism seem like magic. Perhaps that's actually why they teach them later though, they think they're too hard to understand because they seem like magic. But students are also likely to be more interested in them. Does the education system even consider what students are interested in as a factor? Because if they don't, that's a shame. They need to consider interest as well as difficulty and importance. Boring subject matter can turn students off. Teaching the interesting subject matter first might even make the otherwise boring subject matter more interesting, just because the students will be more interested in the subject.

I remember having to draw a grey rectangle for art theory in woodsculpting school. The catch was we had to do it with a red, a blue and a yellow pencil. It was next to impossible to get it to be actually grey because the pencils weren't CMY. But I still did learn a lot in that class. Nonetheless it's always good to remind oneself about color theory is really helpful to just have that in the back of your head.

Theoretically, CMY makes the most sense as subtractive primaries. Cyan only absorbs red light. Magenta only absorbs green light. You mix the two and you get a color that absorbs red and green, and so you're left with blue light reflecting back. On the other hand, you simply can't make cyan with RYB. Red absorbs green and blue, yellow absorbs blue, blue absorbs red and green. What combination of these can be mixed to absorb only red? If you think about it, it's impossible That's why in theory CMY works best for subtractive colors. Each color only absorbs one primary color of light, and so it has the most flexibility to construct any ratio of R:G:B

@nickytembo4112

2 жыл бұрын

And the color schemes are better too

@MusicalRaichu

2 жыл бұрын

you can get the same hue as cyan by mixing blue and yellow. it just won't be as saturated so it won't look vivid.

@leonardodeangelis4403

2 жыл бұрын

Yes, it is the same thing I thought, but this works best only in the theory (as you said). In real life it is really hard to create perfect pigments that when mixed together block 100% of the white spectrum they receive. Most of the times there are unwanted subcolours that arise when the pigments are mixed that lead to the appearance of dark tints. I'm not able to explain this super well in 3 lines, but there is another super clear and useful video that does this much better than me (kzread.info/dash/bejne/Z45ok5mhfZC4caQ.html).

@JNCressey

Жыл бұрын

> "absorbs only red light" light isn't just made up of red light, green light, and blue light. it's a spectrum. yellow light, orange light, and red-orange light all exist and would be absorbed at various amounts by the cyan pigment. two different pigments could appear to be the same exact cyan when under daylight, but then look different to eachother when under a different kind of light-source.

@BryanLu0

Жыл бұрын

@@JNCressey The point is our eyes only see the world in red, green, and blue and all the other colors are interpreted by our brains.

Sarah, this is probably the best explanation and summary of color theory I’ve seen. You did a marvelous job of explaining how the main models came about, their strengths and weaknesses, and the science behind it all without getting too technical, but still getting the point across. I was honestly ready to throw out the traditional color wheel altogether, but your points about teaching children (and non-artistically inclined folks) about general color mixing are very well put. I do think, however, that at least cmy should be introduced much earlier than it is, and probably rgb as well.

@SarahRenaeClark

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you. And yes, I agree!

I can’t wait to share this with my senior high art students!! It came up one day in class as a bit of an aside and I sort of threw out the idea that RBY aren’t the only “primary colours” and they all looked at me like I had 3 heads LOL.

I have used your RBY CMY colour wheel theories with polymer clay and was very impressed with the colour mixes of the CMY mix. Much nicer richer colours opposed to the colour mixes of the RBY wheel.

@janicenelson4235

Жыл бұрын

Color line but it is numbers:1,3,2,3,1,3,2,3,1,3,2,3

I have a PhD in astrophysics, and spent four years analysing spectra and identifying specific colours. People putting pink in a rainbow is a guaranteed way to make me fly into an irrationally OTT rage.

@SarahRenaeClark

2 жыл бұрын

Red and yellow, pink and green, purple and orange and blue, I can sing a rainbow! …right?

@rytheguy1800

Жыл бұрын

Interesting. When i was studying astrophysics we looked at the spectrum for hydrogen and i could see 2 lines below 400nm and beyond the normal 4 with one of my eyes, but not the other. The only way i could describe the first line was a violet marroon color. The 2nd one was too faint to guage its color and that was headache inducingly intense to begin with. I believe there is likely more to color behavior on the wave length than we realize. We have harmonics and octaves and such with sound waves perhaps light behaves in the same way and we just cant see the bridge that connects blue back to red as wave length gets smaller, but our brain already has those colors.

@JNCressey

Жыл бұрын

@@rytheguy1800, Those would be the ultraviolet parts of hydrogen's spectrum called the Lyman series. The lens of the eye is responsible for filtering out UV light, but the retina can see ultraviolet. I think one of your lenses is letting a bit of UV through. Ultraviolet would look similar to the hues around magenta because the L-cones have a secondary peak in their sensitivity around ultaviolet, so the UV stimulates S-cones and L-cones more than M-cones. The artist Claude Monet had a lens removed because of cataracts. The hues in his later paintings are considered to be because of UV vision.

@rytheguy1800

11 ай бұрын

@@JNCressey you've now put the thought in my head to have a lens removed... thank you. Fasinating information

@sunnyquinn3888

9 ай бұрын

It makes more sense than indigo being in the rainbow. I said what I said. 🎤⬇️

‘Magenta is a pigment of our imagination’ 😅😂

I actually teach my kids cyan and magenta along side blue and red because the common way to use these words has you percieving cyan as a light blue, but it isn't and magenta as a light red, but it isn't. Separating them helps you understand how the colors work better.

Colors are just WONDERFUL

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the comment! I think trying to limit ourselves to just 3 colors is mostly unnecessary, other than for the initial learning of color theory, mixing or to challenge or skills. Why not use more colors when they are available? I love your final option!

@robinjones631

2 жыл бұрын

by

The 1st time I came across the primary colour mixing theory problem was when I first replaced my inkjet printer’s colour cartridges...couldn’t understand how magenta, cyan, yellow & black cartridges could produce such realistic coloured prints without any red, yellow & blue!!! Now I have a better idea. Thanks 👍

As an art teacher, I teach traditional rby, cmy and rgb as color models. I can't stand people who discredit the rby model without knowing how it came to be and how it's a valid color model as much as cmy and rgb. No color model is perfect. And each are useable and useful to their own extent. Also a common problem that most students face is that cyan and magenta pigments and paint are not always readily accessible in stores as compared to red and blue paint.

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

Yes! I actually found it incredibly hard to track down a proper magenta in multiple mediums, even just for the simple example I wanted to show in this video. Even paints called “magenta” were not a true magenta.

@archive2500

2 жыл бұрын

So, by that logic, there should be "CYB color model" too as an additive color model to match the RBY color model.

@SarahRenaeClark

2 жыл бұрын

@@archive2500 it’s a different way of organizing color, so no.

@kayturs

2 жыл бұрын

I mean theoretically, CMY makes the most sense as subtractive primaries. Cyan only absorbs red light. Magenta only absorbs green light. You mix the two and you get a color that absorbs red and green, and so you're left with blue light reflecting back. On the other hand, in theory, you simply can't make cyan with RYB. Red absorbs green and blue, yellow absorbs blue, blue absorbs red and green. What combination of these can be mixed to absorb only red? That's why in theory CMY work best for subtractive colors. Each color only absorbs one primary color of light, and so we could mix them into "any" combination (again, in theory)

@StephanieFameli

2 жыл бұрын

I learned about cmy last year and cannot find any cyan paint

My teacher in my university in 5 hours was not able to teach me half of what you did in this 17 min video. Super useful! Thanks :D

As a former journalist/sub-editor working in print media, my colour choices are heavily influenced by the CMYK colour theory, although I also believe that Sir isaac Newton's (light prism theory) Colour Wheel is a very useful tool for beginner colourists to see "how" colours work in harmonies etc. ETA: Trying to remember what I was taught in art at secondary school, pretty sure we did do work using both the RYB colour wheel and the CMY one though back in the 1980s in the UK.

You are my new HERO! This is the best explanation of the color wheel debate I've heard. I taught a class recently and I stressed "That's why it's called Theory!" None are "wrong."

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

Admittedly, I found myself more confused when I first started down this rabbit hole, but I found it so interesting I couldn’t help myself! I’m glad I was able to make it simpler for everyone else (I hope!) and bring a different perspective to the topic.

@tookitogo

Жыл бұрын

Jewel: please don’t do that again, at least not without understanding, and explaining to your students, the huge difference between the scientific meaning of a “theory” and the everyday, colloquial meaning. (A scientific “theory” is something with a near-complete degree of certainty. The colloquial meaning of a theory as “something I think might be the case but I’m not sure” is more like a “hypothesis” in science.)

The Renaissance artist's "basic colors" (as described by Alberti or Leonardo) were not three but four - red, yellow, green and blue. Nickel dioxine yellow (PY153), quinacridone rose (PV19), phthalocyanine blue GS (PB15), phthalocyanine green YS (PG36).

@ColonelSandersLite

Ай бұрын

This is just wildly factually incorrect. These are all modern synthetics. For instance, PV19 wasn't even invented until the late 1930s and wasn't commercially available until the late 1950s. While there is some debate and wiggle room as to when the 'renaissance' ended, 1958 is definitely well past *anyone's* definition. What red pigments available during the renaissance? It's a pretty short list. Madder Root (AKA Alizarin Crimson). Red Lead Oxide. Cinnabar (AKA Vermilion). Carmine. Red earths such as red ochre and burnt sienna. Additionally, a few very fugitive lakes may have been used. Marble dust dyed with boiled red onion skins for example.

I haven't seen a mention of the YURMBY wheel in your video or post, which is growing more popular among artists (especially realist painters and fantasy illustrators). It's based on 6 primaries, but you're never trying to mix them all at once. It's used in conjunction with the gamut mask to create atmospheric, more natural looking color palettes. At the center of your gamut is your neutral color, and depending on the shape of your gamut a "neutral" may actually be a warm or a cool color (not a gray) because colors are relative. This way of thinking about color can really shift our art. I recommend the book "Color and Light" by James Gurney which has taught me more about color in art than any other book or course (and I've taught graphic design so my knowledge of color theory was already pretty solid).

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

I haven’t actually heard of the YURMBY wheel- but I’ve just looked it up and it looks fantastic! Also like the split-primary palette (which I also didn’t talk about) this looks to use 6 main colors instead of 3, which I think is a much better approach for artists. I think I’ll do a future video aimed at color mixing and will explore both wheels, as they both offer a far bigger variety of colors than any 3 set of primaries. Thanks for the recommendations!

@NelaDunato

3 жыл бұрын

On a different note, I don't really see the point of using any 3 primary color system in art. CMYK and RGB are limited because of their industrial use, but there's never a reason to stick with such a limited selection of pigments in art. Just because some color can be mixed, doesn't mean it should. Teaching kids that you can mix with CMYK? Yeah, let's do that in one lesson and then drop it. Color harmonies work better based on the 6 color wheel. Painting palettes limited to any number of "primaries"? Completely unnecessary. Everyone picks their own favorite pigments based on the subject matter they draw or paint.

@NelaDunato

3 жыл бұрын

@@SarahRenaeClark I'm glad, you're very welcome! :) I was writing my follow up comment at the same time and yes basically I agree that 3 color system is unnecessarily ascetic for art. 6 colors are better for sure, but still it's pretty arbitrary. When it comes to choosing pigments for a limited palette, I'm following the guideline: "Which colors need to be the most saturated? Get that as a single pigment, mix the rest." So I don't use lemon yellow at all (primary cool yellow), but I have a really nice green gold watercolor which is a tertiary color in most systems. Also no portrait palette is complete without one brown!

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

+Nela Dunato exactly! I completely agree! The primaries are helpful to teach kids the basics about how colors work together. Beyond that, let’s not limit ourselves!

Good discussion of a complex topic. As both a traditional artist and someone who has a degree in photographic technology, I am annoyed that this discussion doesn't come up more. I shifted myself to cmy ages ago because of how we worked in the darkroom on color photography correction. But even I recognize that it isn't a perfect system and some flexibility is involved. I just wish more elementary school teachers would start exposing their kids to the various systems and elements. I have had some good lively discussions with the art teacher on our campus. 😉

I encourage you to find "Exploring Color" by Nita Leland. She brilliantly demonstrates using different triads to create a variety of colors and moods. This book has been a great inspiration for me. I do agree that the CMY system has been neglected by educators and remember being very confused when first challenged with the thought that the traditional primaries had faults. Thanks for putting such an interesting video together.❤

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! I’ll see if I can find it!

@reneedixonart

3 жыл бұрын

Is it a book or video???

@rgrdesigns

3 жыл бұрын

@@reneedixonart book

@reneedixonart

3 жыл бұрын

@@rgrdesigns Thanks!!

I love this video. As someone with over 3 decades in graphic design, printing, print-making, video editing, and computer graphics, I REALLY enjoyed your presentation. I taught color theory using CMYK in several universities, and it was met initially with skepticism by the students, until they started using it with real paint, and then they understood...

Am I the only one that is not a artist and just watches this because it’s interesting

many artists these days recommend six primaries, warm and cool varieties of R, Y and B, in addition to black and white. how you divide colours is partly perceptual, partly cultural. in Greece, they don't call the sky blue, they call it galazio = azure. while they have a specific word for orange, they usually classify shades of orange as either red or yellow. they call mauve anything between violet and magenta.

@rachelstone3079

8 ай бұрын

Yes I was going to mention the idea of six primaries, warm and cool varieties of R, Y and B, in addition to black and white... in paint, to yield a wider variety of mixed colours.

All I can say is WOW! This is the most informative explanation of Color I’ve ever heard. I’m blown away. Thank you. I’m just getting started with colored pencil and I really love your videos. Keep making them.

the markers shelf on the wall behind you is so satisfying! very interesting video:)

I've learned the CMYK years ago, but as a personal stylist and image consultant I had to "unlearn" (most) of the CMY system since it doesn't totally work for this field, and traditional RBY works the best for analizing people's skin color, undertone and their best colors Need to add that my work consists on analizing the content/ balance of primary colors within any color, especially neutrals (brown, beige, even grey). It's not about colors themselves or painting nor creating/mixing colors

@SarahRenaeClark

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting!

Color theory and color wheels are tricky, just the other day i started searching google for color information, warm/cool tones, because i want to learn how to mix my colors better, knowing what blue i should mix with what yellow to get green etc. funny this video would pop up just now because i was like "what are all of these strange color wheels, where are the real ones" when trying to find the information, turns out I've just lived under a rock since i left school xD

It's funny, I've been meaning to do my own thread on Twitter about color mixing, and knew I'd run into additive and subtractive mixing fast, and the whole thing just gives me a headache. I don't know if you've run into Kids These Days (TM) calling cyan, magenta, and yellow the "modern" primaries, but they are. The explanation seems to be 'because that's what's in the printer' and I kind of hold my head and think "no..." but I don't open the can of worms. Add in I'm a history nerd who's studied the history of pigments. I feel that's a huge factor with all this; until the last hundred-odd years we haven't even had these colors to play with, to form the argument. Let alone the light-based media from televisions forward that begin the - additive? subtractive? I CAN NEVER REMEMBER - discussion. And did I mention, I paint? And love brights, so the CMYK palette is much more my speed, even though I know traditionally it wouldn't even exist. I would give a LOT of money to see what VanGogh would have done with modern paint. You did a great job on a bonkers topic. If you want to make your head swim further, look into tetrachromacy; we now have genetic documentation that yes, some women really do see more colors. Bonkers. The whole thing is utterly bonkers. You did great. Sorry for the screed. Have a nice night.

@SarahRenaeClark

2 жыл бұрын

It’s definitely a can of worms! And I just stayed on the surface. I had to stop myself going deeper because it just got more complicated, very quickly! Too much for a short video 😬

When I paint I use the 8 colors to basically mix all other colors cadmium red med, quin magenta, hansa yellow, lemon yellow, phthalo blue, ultramarine, mars black and titanium white. Basically the RYB and CMY primaries working together. Great video Sarah.

@psrosemary

Жыл бұрын

I came up with a similar palette. It includes opaque and transparent pigments. Also ultra+phthlo+white=cyan.

@ColonelSandersLite

Ай бұрын

@@psrosemary "phthlo+white=cyan" phthalo *IS* cyan Both are shortened forms of 'naphthalocyanine'.

Even though I'm someone who adores the cmy color wheel and have my beef with the ryb wheel, I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to teach both to students. But instead of it being the idea of "RYB for children, CMY for teens and up", it could instead be explained as "If you don't have access to Cyan and Magenta, Blue and Red is alternate option" since cyan and magenta are harder to find in certain mediums. Of course, there's more nuance than that to color, but honestly I think it'd be easier for kids to grasp color theory and colors in general if they were taught this from the start. Wonderful video!

Thanks for the enlightening and educational tutorial that also made me smile re: math and color. As a newbie watercolor artist, I am struggling with color wheels and the whole RYB, CMY business but your video cleared up so much and actually allowed me to breathe a little easier. Color in itself is so life affirming so let's just embrace it all. 🙂

You're good! Really really good! Love it all: voice inflection, fast pace, know your content, Great visuals, etc. etc. Best I have ever seen and helps this color luddite better understand. Thank you, thank you!

This was very interesting & your presentation was understandable & engaging. Thanks

the imaginary colour system actually does exist It's all to do with with the amount of cones in your eye, these cones is sensitive to light and colour Certain animals for instance have more cones so see more colours and even different light Rays but others like ferrets only see in red or only black and white and pixelated

@user-gg9jy1oi2n

2 жыл бұрын

The Mantis shrimp!

@JimmothyGibbons

2 жыл бұрын

so we have to 'imagine' the pigments using maths.

@madeleine363

2 жыл бұрын

@@JimmothyGibbons yup math, concepts, and most of all Humility that we are not perfect specimens

@tookitogo

Жыл бұрын

Biological eyes, no matter what kind, do not have pixels and cannot see “pixelated”. There are differences in visual acuity (resolution), but it’s not pixels. The same goes for photographic film: it has grain, but not pixels.

My favouite book on colour was Blue and Yellow Don’t Make Green. My favourite way to may greens with paint was with black and yellow.

This is really useful info for a relative novice of a painter like me! Thanks. Look forward to checking out your blog.

wow, one of the best videos on color theory and colors wheels i have ever found :) thank you so much. i learned soooo much

This video pulled so much together for me - thanks! New subscriber 😁

This might just be the best video on this subject! I thought I knew most of it already but I learned a lot! 😊

Dang that got deep. Recent subscriber, and I’ve been binge-watching all your videos! Thanks for being such an inspiration!

The basic issue is: how our eyes see color. Then adding what the color is made of and that influence. What alters the entire scope is 1) every eye is different, 2) light & chemicals vary in behavior. Understanding and education is essential to understanding all the possibilities. It's not an EASY answer. And it's SILLY to pick one over another. It's the entire gamut of possibilities available that is exciting.

Thank you so much for captioning your videos!

Holy freaking cow! Happened upon this video when as a relative newbie the sliders in Photoshop started getting to me and KZread's suggestions on "color theory" landed me here. I know I'm late to this particular party, but already subscribed for the education and entertainment so beautifully blended. Thanks for helping me getting gears unstuck. And for a total (and completely platonic) tangent, you have very striking eyes. Thanks for getting me unstuck and cheers!

Great video. I personally didn’t understand the cyan, magenta, yellow theory until a couple of years ago. Getting a better understanding will help me grow as an artist. Just happy I have a large array of colored pencils. I did a color wheel with three colors and made my secondary and tertiary colors with the three pencils. Yes it’s doable and helped me understand color theory. Do I want to purchase a few colors and mix them for everything I color? A big no!

This is the most interesting, and educational video I have read in months. Thank you Sarah :)

@SarahRenaeClark

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Thank you so much for explaining this! I am a passionate passionate lover of color and I have been told by artists that I really understand colors and know how to work them. The truth is, I don't even know how to use a color wheel beyond the very very basics!! I need to push myself further to improve my art and KZread videos have been assisting me a great deal, including yours!

Reading about the Munsell system was the start of a better understanding for me. The 'handprint' web site was also very useful.

I learned RBY in high school and I've had so many issues now trying to pick up paint as a hobby. Specifically not being able to get good pinks. I wrote that about pink before the video started and felt so validated!

This video is awesome! I love how you broke this down and provided an objective and constructive way to understand.

There are more various hues that can be used to describe cyan. Cyan can be either closer to green or closer to blue. It can be used to describe any blue-green color like turquoise, teal, aqua, etc. There is also a wide range of colors used to describe Magenta. It can either be closer to reddish-pink or it can be closer to purple. I still believe kids should be taught the difference between cyan and blue. They are quite different from each other.

@Fb_Sim_Spring_Friend

11 ай бұрын

Yeah! Between Green and Cyan is Spring Green and between Cyan and Blue is Azure, both of these colors are tertiary colors and are separate distinct colors that has many shades, tones and tints!

@user-zq7dk4fk2y

11 ай бұрын

@@Fb_Sim_Spring_Friend Well with yellow, you could have a goldish yellow and a lemon yellow. There isn't just one specific hue of yellow. Yes, yellow-green/lime green is different than plain old yellow, but yellow could have a tiny bit of green in it and still be considered yellow. Cyan can also have a little bit of green in it and still be considered cyan. It could also have a tab bit of blue in it and still be considered cyan. There is a difference between additive cyan and subtractive cyan. Subtractive cyan is a bit more blueish and one could say additive cyan could be a bit more greenish. Ideally additive cyan is pure cyan, with equal amounts of green and blue light. However, the cyan that the printer uses tends to be more blueish than additive cyan. All around cyan can be used to describe different colors other than one specific hue. Just like there is not one specific yellow.

@Fb_Sim_Spring_Friend

11 ай бұрын

@@user-zq7dk4fk2y Mhm! There are many shades of cyan very distinct to each other as the "blue-green" colors like... Teal, turquoise, celeste, blue-green, caribbean current, dark cyan, electric blue, keppel, light cyan, light sea green, midnight green, moonstone, myrtle green, peacock blue, robin egg blue, skobeloff, sky blue, tiffany blue, verdigris and many more! Many family of cyans!

@user-zq7dk4fk2y

11 ай бұрын

@@Fb_Sim_Spring_Friend that is basically what I was trying to say.

@user-zq7dk4fk2y

11 ай бұрын

​@@Fb_Sim_Spring_Friend I would say that while a lot of those have blue in the name, they aren't actually blue or green. As my art teacher put it, there are an infant amount of colors it might seem. So people come up with bizarre names for them. She said the term fashion names. Chartreuse, cerulean-blue, maurve, those are all fashion names for colors. Since children are not taught about cyan in school, they just call it blue. While they might call it shades of blue or green, it's still cyan. You could take a red crayon and call it whatever you want. You could call it scarlet, candy apple, rudy, poppy, or whatever. It's still red no matter what you call it. You could call it pretty purple and it would still be red. Cyan and its different hues are still cyan regardless of what you call it. Companies like Crayola will do the same thing with fashion names. I had a robin's-egg-blue crayon from Crayola. It had way too much green to be considered blue even though it had blue in the name. True blue mixed with red makes a dark purple. Cyan mixed with red makes brown or some ugly color. Sometimes an ugly brownish green. If I took that robin's-egg-blue and mixed it with a red, it would still produce a muddy color because the robin's-egg-blue was still cyan even if Crayola named it blue. I did mix the crayon with red and it produced an ugly muddy brownish green color. There is still a wide range of cyan colors even if they have fashion names containing blue.

BY FAR the best video i've seen on this topic

I agree that the sky is not just blue, but I don't think it's cyan. To me it's azure, my favorite color. There's a reason my name begins with Azure.

Nicely done. I believe that students of all ages will benefit from this information about colour. In turn, people can make individual, informed decisions about colour use.

This might be a country thing, but we definitely learned CMY in art class and RBY in physics in middle school, and this was a good 15 years ago

I love this video! I'm now trying to make a mixing chart with my Faber Castells using the CMYK wheel.

Thank you so much for explaining this simply; I was just so confused about everything before

Going to school in the UK during the 70's and 80's, we were only ever taught RGB as the primary colours.

Thanks for the explanation. Now I know why my printer's ink colours are CMYK! I thought they were just being fancy with names for RGB... who knew...

This just blew my mind! I don't remember being taught about colours in primary school, but in my Art classes in Portuguese middle school (year 5, we were 10 years old), we were specifically taught Magenta-Cyan-Yellow. Those were the primaries we used throughout the school system. I'm sure we were also taught about light, because I remember we had to make a paper windmill with the primary colours and then blow on it to see how the colours mixed and were perceived. That was in the 1980s, by the way. It is so heartbreaking to teach English colours and do the supposedly fun "Colour Maths" only to have the kids complain they can't mix the right colours. I usually tell them to use light blue and bright pink to avoid the disappointment (because magenta is NOT red), but now I've been reminded of the science behind it, maybe I'll ask the kids to make a paper windmill... and teach them magenta (which is the same word as in Portuguese) and sky blue for cyan.

I largely agree with what she has to say. I would say that at the high school and college level, magenta and cyan should be taught, and that CMY should definitely be a major part of any art degree, or graphic design degree, or what have you, and I think that to a large degree it's not.

@keylimepie3143

Жыл бұрын

Interestingly enough I encountered learning about RGB and CMY in high school, but it was from a Physics 2 class. Problem was that physics 2 isn't required, and a lot of folks get deterred after Physics 1, due to how math intensive kinematics can be, ya know, dealing with acceleration, forces, energy, friction, etc. So very few decided to continue on to Physics 2 which covers electricity, magnetism, and light n stuff of that sort. I also loosely came across RGB and CMY in a graphic design class in high school, but once again, it was an elective and not required, and it wasn't so much discussed but more so an observation when using Photoshop.

Thank you so much for this video! Still confused in all this color world but you already helped me a lot!

I use cyan magenta red blue and yellow to mix colors I need with out thinking i got lucky and an art teacher taught me early on that cyan and magenta some times created better colors. He was amazing. He also helped me discover that. Using more then 1 color wheel at the same time was okay too

That was great. Thanks so much for your work and the clear explaination. Great job.

Oh My! Thank You for explaining in so much detail. I gained so much from this video!

Excellent video, with excellent final word and recomendation. It's all about perception, experiment, use all. Great advice.

Oh! A topic close to my heart! I love having the knowledge of both CMY and RBY because it helps me mix a full range of colours from bright, clear and candy-like to muted and moody. I can't really express my consternation when I came from working with fabric to mixing watercolours and my knowledge of RBY colour theory DIDN'T WORK! I was horrified at the "purple" I was able to mix and wasn't happy with the green either. Now I like to have a warm and cool of each "primary" which covers all the RBY, CMY bases and is very versatile for mixing. That, along with mixing complements to get muted colours makes me happy. May I share a pet peeve? It's hearing the phrase, "don't mix X with Y; you will make mud." For one thing it's overused and trite and for another, we need a lot of muddy colours to paint our world, so it's a pretty limiting comment, in my grumpy opinion. Anyway. It's amazing to me how rapidly the theoretical framework gets super confusing and muddy. Just glad there are a few things to cling to that make sense!

I liked your explanation very much. A couple years ago I watched a KZreadr angrily explain how CMY was way better than RYB and made it sound like we were all stupid for thinking red, blue and yellow were the primary colors. No I did not subscribe to her channel. I don't need that kind of negativity in my life. Thank you for your calm, relaxing video. 😁

Awesome video explaining the debate. Thanks.

CMY always looks fresh to me. It gives me a light, happy feeling. Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures is very big on CMY.

I absolutely loved this video! Is so amazing and educational. I was actually taught CMY at school like 20 years ago back in Spain, but I do recognize RYB as primaries and I loved to see the bigger picture on this video

A great video on the subject, might be, which wheels to use with which medium, whilst demonstrating which said medium. You could even link it to some of your products or books. Love the videos.

Thanks Sarah, this is excellent!!

Has everyone forgotten that default "blue" is now a different colour than when the RYB model was designed? What Newton designated as "blue" is what we now call "light blue" or "cyan". What we now call "blue" is what Newton called "indigo" (or "dark blue"). This is why the spectrum has "... green, blue, indigo, violet". If we used out current definitions, the spectrum would be "... green, cyan, blue, violet". Indigo is not some sort of bluish-purpley-violet, it's just plain old "dark blue", or - in our current terminology - "blue". When we remember that Newton's blue is our cyan, his RYB model becomes our RYC. Much better greens, and a closer match to magenta. Newton would have thought of our RYB model as R-Y-indigo. He would probably be a bit bemused.

@SarahRenaeClark

3 жыл бұрын

I think you’re right. I discovered the same when looking into his original wheel. A cyan blue is much better for mixing! I naturally tend to lean towards a lighter rather than darker blue when using something for mixing colors, even when using the RYB model. It just FEELS right.

@tookitogo

Жыл бұрын

Yep! What I’m surprised didn’t make it into the video is the fact that the names of unspecific colors (by which I mean _families_ of colors, like “red” or “blue”) are actually not uniform across languages and cultures, which alone should make clear that they’re shaky foundations for color models. Historically speaking, blue was less likely to be considered its own color, with blues often being considered shades of green. The hypothesis is that color families that were not common were less likely to get their own family name. Why have a “blue” color family when in your environment, it only exists in the sky and deep, clear water? So they’d lump it in with green, and say something like “sky green” or “water color”. In contrast, since flowers and berries and animals, etc. often contain reds and pinks, red is the first color family to be named, after “dark” and “light”. In modern times, all languages in highly developed societies have names for similar sets of basic color families, presumably due to ongoing cultural exchange, trade, etc, but isolated tribal languages often still do not!

Thanks Sarah, this was SO helpful! I've always followed the RYB colorwheel, but I was never really pleased with the results of mixing. And I just realized that the CMY colorwheel exists, and I think that it is going to solve all of my problems. But I haven't tried it yet, this is just what I think...

Huh. I didn't even realize that I've always used the CMY version because I noticed that the magenta and cyan made a prettier purple. Yeah and come to think of it, all the secondary colors are prettier in my opinion. Anyway, thanks for all the info!

"Who let maths get involved?" hehe, love that comment

This video just blew my mind in all the right ways, and I'm loving it! 🤯🥰🤯

When I went to art school we used gauche to create our color wheel for our design classes. Using the RYB Color wheel. We had to make shades and tints too. It was pretty challenging but fun. I learned about cmyk in my Graphic design classes. In our painting classes which used oil paints we used a typical colors like raw sienna, brunt umber etc to make our colors.

Very nicely explained. Enjoyed a lot seeing this video. Thank you very much for providing such a good information. God Bless You.

Thanks for illustrating these theories!💞

Very well spoken! I come from a music background which also has theories and wheels and as a musician you learn to link it all, sharps, flats, letters, and kinds (natural, blues, harmonic, etc). also as a Kid I learned that mixing colors of light gets you a different result from mixing colors of paint. all this together and I'm boggled why someone would saythere is 1 color wheel, and you are using the wrong one.

Sarah, this is great. We can argue all day as artists, however the points you make are valid because the public/non-artists need to understand even more than artists…thank you! Jimm Artist

Fascinating! Always wondered about printer colors vs the "standard" RBY

Nice tutorial my friend..very useful for my art 🖼. Thank you for sharing.

I think "sky color" varies, and often includes cyan, but sometimes here in the New Mexico high dessert on a late summer afternoon, the sky is definitely a deeper blue than cyan. :)

@Fb_Sim_Spring_Friend

11 ай бұрын

Wouldn't that'd be Azure? Since it's between Cyan and Blue...

Saw this go past and at first didn’t realize it was the previous vid I had left a comment on… You’re still very brave. My uncle sells paint, and I mentioned this to him and he thinks making color theory videos on You Tube will result in tears and thrown punches. I told him he wasn’t entirely wrong. 😁 Signing off again, from additive land.

As someone in the newspaper field, CMYK (k is black) is the best. All newspapers use those four colors. And yes the paper is tinted, but the color is still bright enough to get you to buy a copy.

@rachelstone3079

8 ай бұрын

Yes, as Sarah explained, CMY will produce a broader range of brighter colours, however printing inks (as used in newspapers) do mix a little differently to artists' paints. I both paint and design and have long wondered why.

@mercuryascent

Ай бұрын

Yes, except for the muddy blues you get from CMY(K) traditional printing. I guess everyone has gotten used to living with muted approximations of blue in the printing world.

I've been trying to use the color wheel more in my art. I've seen this video in my feed but was hesitant to watch before i had a decent grasp of what exactly the color wheel even is. I have zero training in art. I had no idea! This video was very informative and has given me some ideas. Whenever i saw the Imaginary Colors i said to myself, oh crap, she's gonna talk about math 🤣 and i can just hear my Algebra professor now "see, math IS everywhere" Dang it. 🙂

Really nice video Sarah! Thank you for share your thoughts and research about it. There are some tools similar to Adobe Color where we can use a RYB wheel to create color pallets and find combinations?

Incredible video! Thank you.

This video is phenomenal. Thank you!

Rby frustrated me so much as a kid. It wasnt until i started working in printing that i tried cmy with paint, it was exciting! I now have a travel watercolour palette with only 6 colours (colours close to cmy, burnt umber, raw sienna, black, leaf green) in it and i can mix a WILD number from that. My at home palette has a wild number because i like collecting things ☺️ and its easier to be consistent using manufactured colour. Im fully on team "different colour wheels and theories for different purposes and mediums". Even down to when im mixing a colour im using a different thought process to when i chose that colour and how it sits against others. I sincerely think its important to learn at least about cmy, rgb, and ryb by the end of primary school.

Thanks so much for this video...I learned so much...glad I found your channel...subscribed to enjoy more!!!

@SarahRenaeClark

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Thank you Sarah1 You are such a good teacher.

FINALLY- as a lighting designer and filmmaker- an explanation for why RYB makes sense. This is really logical. Within my work- the RGB or secondary system makes sense for me... But I can finally understand why yellow would be a primary... not to mention within lighting design we often have an extra "amber" channel on our color mixing lights because red and green make a really ugly yellow!