What are complimentary colors?

Answer 1

Complementary colors are pairs of colors that are in some way opposites of each other.


[edit] Color science

On the HSV color wheel opposite colors are complementary colors, that when mixed produce a shade of gray.In color science, two colors are called complementary if, when mixed they produce a shade of grey (including white, or even black in a subtractive system). In most perceptual color models, white is towards the center of the color space, and complementary colors will lie roughly opposite each other. The clearest example is the HSV color space, in which complementary colors lie opposite each other on the wheel (or on any circular cross-section).

In most discussions of complementary color, only fully saturated, bright colors are considered. However, under the formal definition, brightness and saturation are also factors. Thus, in the formal CIE 1931 color space, any color of a particular dominant wavelength can be balanced to create white/grey by adding a particular amount (i.e. brightness) of the complementary wavelength, or a different amount of less saturated versions of the complementary wavelength.

Primary colors and secondary colors are typically paired in this way:

red and cyan ( red cyan ) (where cyan is the mixture of green and blue)
green and magenta ( green magenta ) (where magenta is the mixture of red and blue)
blue and yellow ( blue yellow ) (where yellow is the mixture of red and green)

[edit] Art and design

a Blue-Yellow-Red color wheel. Opposite colors are called complementary.Because of the limited range of colors that was available throughout most of the history of art, many artists still use a traditional set of complementary pairs, including:

red and green
blue and orange
yellow and purple
The complement of each primary color (red, blue, or yellow) is roughly the color made by mixing the other two in a subtractive system (red + blue = purple; blue + yellow = green; red + yellow = orange). When two complements are mixed they produce a grey or brown.

The use of complementary colors is an important aspect of aesthetically pleasing art and graphic design. When placed next to each other, complements make each other appear brighter. On an artistic color wheel, complementary colors are placed opposite one another. Although these artistic complements may not be precise complements under the scientific definition, most artistic color wheels are laid out roughly like the HSV color wheel discussed above.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_color"
Category: Artistic techniques

ViewsArticle Discussion Edit this page History Personal toolsSign in / create account Navigation
Main Page
Community Portal
Featured articles
Current events
Recent changes
Random article
Help
Contact Wikipedia
Donations
Search
Toolbox
What links here
Related changes
Upload file
Special pages
Printable version
Permanent link
Cite this article
In other languages
Deutsch
Français
Magyar
Nederlands
Norsk (bokmål)
中文

This page was last modified 04:07, 19 October 2006. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details.)
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers

hope this helps