Use this Real Color Wheel to match pigments that are the correct neutral-dark color mixing complements.
It matches crystal color oppositions.
Use it for mixing shadows and shade colors without using black pigment.
Use it for making 18 different complement sets and 648 split-complement sets.
A color wheel designed by a color artist painting only on location for 30 years and taking color notes.
Cyan is from the copper element and makes Thalo blue,
the copper crystal has cyan's opposite red color.
Lead makes a blue crystal and a yellow oxide.
Quartz makes a long magenta and green crystal.
|
Q. Why is a Real Color Wheel handy?
Q. When you're on location painting or photographing and arranging colors, how do you use it? A. While painting you see an object. Take the brightest local color on it and mix in its opposite color to darken and shadow it. Here are the correct oppositions to make all shadows or colors that look good together. It takes a lot of memorizing to know each colors opposite so it's handy to read the color in nature and see the opposing pigment on the RCW color wheel. http://www.wikihow.com/Use-the-Real-Color-Wheel |
|
Color elements make transparent colored crystals which join light and pigment colors. Real Color Wheel and Red-Green-Blue colorwheels use the same 36 intense rim colors. The Red-Green-Blue RGB light spectrum that the computer uses subtracts light to darken colors so only the pure rim colors and tints are similar to the colors of the Real Color Wheel. The RCW matches the way a transparent crystal elements becomes darker. This RCW comes in CMYK for pigment color reproduction and RGB for computer work. The RCW computer colors now match the CMYK pigment colors used as inks in my giclee printer and pigments for painting with all media, Here are RGB correct tint colors ( 1 ) & ( 2 ) incorrect shadow colors
![]()
![]() |
|
36RCW#36 Yellow-yellow-green and 36RCW#1 Yellow are colors are side by side, each using 9º of the 360º circle.
Transparent magenta and transparent green are opposite, just add any two opposite colors together to get a darker shadow color. |
The old Red-Yellow-Blue colorwheel is inaccurate for any artist, compare them.
This CLICKABLE chip color map below shows the true opposition
pigment colors for mixing neutral darks on the color wheel.
|
THIS IS NOT AN IMAGEIn this table chart of numbers the crystal matching colorwheel darkens yellow to warm brown while cyan darkens to cool ultramarine blue.This chart is available as an RGB image and CMYK image in the Pen Palette Tiff Zip
|
| 00 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
| 01 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 02 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 03 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 04 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 05 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 06 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 07 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 08 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 09 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 |
| The transparent primary color Yellow in pigments can shade to either a yellow-green Cool Dark, like in the RGB/YMC light system or to a red Warm Dark, like my color wheel has it for pigments. The transparent color pigment yellow must be on the warm side for the artist to mix it with any other warm color. Adding a cool yellow-green pigment to a warm yellow color would lessen the intensity of the yellow and make it dirty. |
Yellow to black in the RGB is very similar to yellow-green's dark in both the RGB and CMYK the colorwheel.
The Real Colour Wheel (RCW), is different. Yellow goes to Red's warm dark brown like in nature,
not green's cool dark which is made by subtracting light.
The Titanium crystal has the RCW colors from yellow to brown to blue. Rutile crystal link
|
1,000,000,000 nm to 1 meter. |
(Shortest Wavelengths) Gama Rays - X-Rays - UV - (Violet)- VISIBLE COLORS -(Red) - IR - Microwave - Radio (Longest Wavelengths) Violet, short wave length, high frequency, high energy. Red, long wavelength, low frequency, low energy, radio waves.
Red could be on the left because it has the lowest frequency 400,000,000 MHz Red could be on the right because it has the longest wave length at 700 nm. Blue could be on the left because it has the shortest wave length per second) Blue could be on the right because it has the highest frequency at 700,000,000 MHz |
If you would like the link to this large 600 dpi tif EM image in a Zip file ask for one by Email.
Electromagnetic Spectrum Chart 600 ppi by Real Color Wheel - Email
If you want more information about the electromagnetic spectrum it's on my rainbow page.
|
The RCW Real Color Wheel is also the Crystal Real Color Wheel. It shows the colors of these elements in there natural progression as they get darker. For instance, crystal oxides containing iron, go from yellow to brown, orange to brown or red to brown. Light's RGB colorwheel is inaccurate for plotting pigments or for the artist to use as a color wheel in the field. Ultramarine blue must be opposite yellow and plot opposite yellow, like on this wheel. It is just as accurate as the simple RGB positioning of pure colors, only better because it includes the correct darker path colors. A new opaque Irgazine Yellow is a perfect warm darker yellow, 36RCW#1.6 while the new Bismuth Yellow is the bright full chroma RCW#1.0 The Irgazine Yellow has a very slight dual-tonality and will mix with its complement ultramarine blue to a dark. Look at Real Color Wheel's #36.0, Yellow-green, and compare it to the primary path to dark for Yellow on the RGB wheel. They look the same even though they are two different colors. There is no warm yellow path to dark in the RGB, only the cool Yellow-green path. On the RCW, I properly put them side-by-side. I use the warm path of yellow as the path of pure primary Yellow and the cool path as Yellow-green's path because this is exactly how the pigment crystals darken. Dual-toned Irgazine Green is a transparent Yellow-green and it mixes a neutral-dark with Dioxzine Purple. Here are some crystals that could interest the artist since crystals are pigments and chemicals are made with the same elements. The Calcite crystal, [CaCo3], makes the perfect Cyan color with the Copper element in the Iceland Spar Crystal which changes color when viewed from different directions (PLEOCHROISM) to the color Ultramarine Blue. The Iceland Spar's copper content causes the color to appear in a span of colors from cyan to ultramarine blue depending on your viewing position to it.
|
|
Note that Transparent Indian Yellow and translucent Gamboge are synthetic hue/color names, these colors as "genuine" pigments are not available or used today. PERMANENT TRANSPARENT YELLOWS
7-10-9, Dual-toned Indian Yellow color chip images, new window. Yellow-Brown-Oxide hue to Lemon Yellow, PY:150 (Nickel Azo Brown - Lemon O.H.)
Dual-toned Indian Yellow-Greens;
Yellow-Brown-Oxide hue to Lemon Yellow, PY150 Nickel Azo Complex (Nickel Azo Brown - Lemon by O.H.) Yellow-Orange to Lemon Yellow, PY:153 Org/s, Dioxine Nickel Complex by O.H. PR122 quinacridone = Magenta PV23.1r carbazole dioxazine = Purple PV23 dioxazine nickel complex = Permanent Violet Blueish transparent secondary blue PB60 anthraquinone and indanthrone = Blue Deep to Turquoise PB15.3 copper phthalocyanine (BEST) and PB33 manganese Barium Manganate= Cyan (Thalo Blue and Manganese Blue transparents) PB7 Chlorinated copper phthalocyanine = Turquoise to Green PY83 stable di-arylide + PG7 chlorinated copper phthalocyanine = Sap Green Yellow/Side PY83 stable di-arylide HR + PG7 chlorinated copper phthalocyanine + PO43 perinone orange = Sap Green Orange/Side 2002, Liquitex has some nice new dual-toned transparent colors, Acra Gold = yellow to brown, darker than Indian Yellow Brown Side. A Burnt Orange that's brown to orange and Van Dyke Brown, a brown to red color. 2006, Golden Artist Colors added Indian Yellow Golden Hue, Arylide Yellow PY7, Nickel Complex Azo PY150 and Quinacridone PR206, transparent, very nice Indian yellow. Also added, a green/brown Indian yellow hue called Nickel Azo Yellow, PY150.
Used in addition to the transparent primary and secondary pigments for their opaqueness and brilliance. PY35 cadmium Zinc sulfide = Cadmium Yellow Lemon
HOW TO USE THE REAL COLOR WHEEL TO MAKE NEUTRAL-DARKS#1, to reach a dark neutral use the darkest form of yellow, orange or red (all of which are burnt umber) and mix it with its opposite color.
To darken a yellow object first use the mass-tone of transparent yellow, from that point add the graduated color oxides like yellow ocher light, medium or dark to brown oxide. Green oxides and umbers are sometimes needed.
Cyan first darkens to blue, like the sky, cyan at the horizon and ult/royal blue at the azimuth.
The rest of this color wheels colors will darken by adding the opposite color until it reaches neutral dark.
Therefore, anyone working with pigments can reliably find truly opposite colors, which will always mix to a neutral dark without using black pigment.
OIL PIGMENT PALETTEThere is a space for each of these colors on my 37 COLOR OIL PALETTE although I may not fill them all every time I paint. White is in the middle of the palette. The top of my palette on the left is Dioxazine Purple, Ultramarine Blue, Cobalt Blue, Thalo Blue, Turquoise, Opaque Green and Thalo Green Y/s on the right. The left side goes from Dioxazine Purple to Burnt Umber, Bt. Sienna, Red Oxide, Yellow Ochre, Naples Yellow (or lead-tin Yellow) to Quinacridone Magenta at the bottom. The bottom row of colors is Quinacridone Magenta, Rembrandt Rose, Cad Red, Cadmium Orange, Indian Yellow Golden, Cadmium Yellow Medium, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Yellow Pale, Lead Yellow Lemon is in the bottom right corner of the palette. The right side is from Thalo Green Y/s on the top, than Permanent Green Light, Green Gold, Yellow-Green Transparent & Opaque with Yellow Light at the bottom. I keep all 37 of these oil pigments below on hand with me, they all have their special color and pigment properties. |
36 RCW OIL COLORS ON THE REAL COLOR WHEELRCW#1.00.1, Chrome Yellow Light, Lead Chromate, Opaque PY34
|
|
I think a spectroscope of dried pigment color would show all colors to be impure but this can't always be shown on the web. The percentage of CMYK was from a mathematically printed chart and matched to the tube colors by eye. I also matched the dried chip color to the computer by eye. It's close enough to paint with a computer tablet, for comercial artwork, interior design, etc. and compare the relationships of similar colors in pigments.
Each color's first number relates to its position on the 36 color Real Color Wheel.
Red, Blue, BlueViolet, Brown, FireBrick, YellowGreen, Green, DarkGreen, Red, Yellow, Gold, Magenta, LightSkyBlue, etc. Top-tone is adding White to the color. Under-tone is adding clear, like water or oil. Mass-tone is thick out of the tube pigment. Click the radio button to change the background to the matching tube color. | |
All dots are clickable links to each pigment's description page.
The center links to the photo pigment color chip chart pigment page. Pigment artists, don't miss it!
Real Color Wheels are 360, 36, 12, 6 or 3 colors.
| The color "arcs" or "wedges" of color are numbered from 1 to 36, the 360RCW shows 360 colors.) |
|
#00. Outer tint rings are two digits, they are lighter pigments and tinted hues of this full color. #0. All wedges main colors are digit zero, that's 100% full chroma for opaque pigments and a 50% top-tone tint for transparent pigments. #1.01 The first tint of the 1st color yellow arc/wedge, two digits. #1.0 the full chroma opaque yellow or a 50% tint of a transparent Indian yellow, both are in Block 0. #1.0.1 the coolest of 9 colors within that 10º arc/wedge of the 36RCW and VariableRCW. #1.1 the first dark of 10 divisions to dark of this first color yellow. #1.2 the second dark #1.3 the third dark #1.4 the forth dark, Gold Ocher opaque or mass-tone Indian Yellow PY150. #1.5 the fifth dark of 10 divisions to dark of this first color, also the mass-color of some transparent pigments #1.6 the sixth dark of 10 divisions to dark of this first color, also the mass-color of some transparent pigments #1.7 the seventh dark of 10 divisions to dark of this first color. #1.8 the eighth dark of 10 divisions to dark of this first color. #1.9 the ninth dark of 10 divisions to dark of this first color. #1.10 the tenth dark, 10% intensity of the 1st pure-color. |
C l i c k a b l e A r t i s t s R e a l C o l o r W h e e l : f i n d m a t c h i n g p i g m e n t s
|
The main ring represents either the full-chroma (100%) opaque pigment, or a 50% top-tone tint of darker transparent pigment. All of these colors are indicated by appending from ".1" to ".9" to the end of its wedge number. So, pure yellow is the middle of the 9º Variable RCW and is written as 36RCW#1.0.5. Cooler would be #1.0.1, warmer would be #1.0.9. This RCW is made up of thirty-six 10º "wedges," (wedge-shaped stacks of "blocks,") which are arranged top to bottom and side-by-side, around the RCW logo. A wedge depicts specific intensities or values of a single color. Darker versions lie below and tinted versions lay above the pure-color block zero. 10º WEDGE-ARC-PIE NOTATION
BLOCK NOTATION
RELATIVE TEMPERATURE NOTATION
REVIEW:
CYAN, RCW#25.0 (the mass-tone) darkens in intensity to RCW#25.8, dark blue. It's exactly the same as Ultramarine Blue's darkest blue RCW#19.8 Both cyan and blue add their complement color there to get to a neutral dark in two blocks. So Cyan and Blue use three mass-tone pigments to get to neutral dark, or three primaries.
The color wedges from yellow to red and cyan to blue have this similar characteristic while the other colors are darkened with only their opposite color.
Yellow makes neutral-darks by using dark brown and its opposite color ultramarine blue. Here is a photo of the dark brown liquid (made from dry pigment) Tartrazine. Tartrazine is not a pigment for sale in tubes yet, but it should be. The photo is for proportions to use it as ink in my plotter. The third swatch from the bottom end is what I use in my yellow transparent ink. Here is the permanent transparent ink color in my plotter, it's called Tartrazine Acid Yellow 23, an Azo pigment, PY:100.
|
THIS IS WHAT TRANSPARENT INDIAN YELLOW SHOULD LOOK AND BEHAVE LIKE. IT'S BETTER, CLEANER AND BRIGHTER THAN ANYTHING ON THE MARKET TODAY. 5-20-10
|
|
RCW#25 transparent cyan and opaque red RCW#7 are opposite colors. By using similarly-numbered blocks of these wedges to represent pairs of complements they will make neutral-darks when mixed.
36RCW#25, CYAN TO DARK BLUE matching the printed RCW #25.0 cyan = 40% mass-tone intensity in a clear media + 00% ult. blue.
36RCW#19, (FRENCH ULTRAMARINE) BLUE TO NEUTRAL DARK
#19.0 = French Ultramarine Blue
36RCW#1, YELLOW TO DARK BROWN
Hooray for Iron's opaques and Nickel Azo's transparent oils and Tartrazine Azo for water-based paints. Congratulations to the winners of the Yellow Color Award from the RCW. I know it's been done before by the Byzantine's in the Dark Ages durning their First Golden Age of Byzantine, Pictura Translucida paintings but these winning pigments are permanent and tested in buon fresco. So there are many ways for yellow to reach brown when you include the transparent and opaque yellows plus the dual-toned transparent browns that tint to ochers and yellows. |
|
ACCURATE SPLIT-COMPLEMENTSThe 36 "real color wheel" will give you accurate split complements. Between #1yellow and #19ultblue are eighteen 10° spaces on each side of the colorwheel. From one to nine colors on each side of the opposite color makes the designers' split complements. Expect perfection; it happens all the time in nature. "YELLOW AND BROWN ARE DIFFERENT DEGREES OF THE SAME COLOR". Earth colored with the the iron element traverses yellow, yellow ochers, red ochers, brown ochers and brown green ochers. The Nickel element makes the yellow to orange dual-toned transparent colors and yellow to ocher dual-toned transparent colors. Nickel Azo is from transparent or translucent yellow, orange and red. The Cadmium element can make a opaque light yellow-green, yellow, orange and red, always opaque. Lead makes yellow, orange, red, brown warm, brown cool, blue and cyan, always opaque. The Copper element will make opaque or transparent cyan including green and makes a red transparent crystal, the opposite color of cyan. Quinacridone is best making transparent magenta to transparent rose. The elements Iron, Magnesium and Carbon will also make all colors.
|
DON'T EAT THE PIGMENTS
Check a box of strawberry Nutri-Grain bars sold in America and youll notice that the treats
contain synthetic food dyes like Red 40, Yellow 6, and Blue 1. Shoppers on the other side of the
pond buying the same products, however, will see that their bars get their colors from
all-natural beet root, annatto, and paprika extract. As a consequence, the Kellogg Company,
Kraft, McDonalds and other American companies that do business in Europe use safe, natural
colorings there but harmful, synthetic petrochemicals here in the USA.
NEXT, Other Color Wheel
PREVIOUS, Tube Oil Colors matching the RCW
Painting on Location Join Painting on Location forum, show your location paintings. Email Don Jusko
Free printable Real Color Wheel, CYMK and RGB
Free RCW tif CMYK and RGB printable zips.