Is Black a color or a shade?

Answer 1

Color

Answer 2

I'd agree black is a color. The different intensities of it (dark black vs. faded black) could likely be considered "shades of black" My cat is black and I definitely have always considered it the color of her fur, not the shade of her fur.

Answer 3

If you are asking about a pigment or coating, then it is as much a color as red, blue, or yellow. Same is true of white. Hold up a can of black paint and ask the clerk, "What color is this?" He will say that it is black.

In physics, black is not a color. In fact, it is a total lack of color, either generated or reflected, while white is a mixture of all colors of the visible spectrum. This is called an "additive" color gamut. Color is built up by "adding" various pigments. In this gamut, the primary colors are red, blue and yellow. The CMYK gamut is similar. The cyan, magenta and yellow pigments are printed, along with black to create most printed media.

In a computer monitor, it works in an opposite fashion, compared to optics. It is a "subtractive" gamut. Colors are generated by REMOVING color elements. White is the absence of projected color while black is the equal combination of the, primary, red, green, and blue (RGB) gamut.

Any discussion outside these terms is, merely, semantics.

Also, one more piece of advice. NEVER accept an answer that has "I think" as a preface. At least, never accept it as a factual, accurate, response.

Answer 4

I do believe it is a shade but i refer to it as my favorite color, it is technically a shade though.

Answer 5

Neither black nor white are considered colors. Black absorbs all color. White reflects it.

Answer 6

Black is indeed a colour... when you're talking about paint.

When you mix black paint with another colour, that mixture is known as a Shade.

Answer 7

Nah f.u.c.k color black is straight up shade....**** that niqqa mr.k 60 and still a virgin

Answer 8

According to the artistic world of thought (such as art schools, academics, etc...) Black is technically a shade. It may be considered as a "colour" by the general public, but the term is not so highly prefered in use by traditional artists. One of the many reasons as to why could be on how they actual use and see "colour" in the world of art, in whatever medium they are being used.

In the traditional sense, the world of "colour" are considered of what artists call them as "hues". The most basic of all hues would be Yellow, Red, and Blue (considered as "primary"). By mixing any one of these colours (or "hues"), you get secondary colours (Green, Orange, Violet). Mixing these colours will get you tertiary colours, and so on and so fourth... creating a range of colours in widespread variations.

What does this got to do with the "black" anyways? No MATTER how much you mix those variations of hues as mentioned above, whether it be paint, pastels, watercolour, etc, you can NEVER EVER achieve "black". This also holds true with white. It can be achieved with something as relatively close as black (which is a mix of what appears to be a very extreme dark purplish hue that resembles black), but not as pitch dark to the tee (such as "Jet" Black, or "Carbon" Black).

With that said, in the school of artistic thought, black CANNOT be considered as a colour. The same being white. They are both part of another catagory known as "shades". A valid explaination as to why they are on their own catagory is because both white and black mixes various tones of greys. As an artist, adding black to a hue (colour) creates a variation of tone of that hue (this is known as tinting and shading a hue). The same being with white.

Another way to look at colour philosophically would be looking at them as light. When light (white) goes through a prism, the light bends and transforms into various colours (technically a rainbow). However, none of those colours are black. With that said, the dark (being black) is the absence of light (the absence of white), considered as an opposite.

Answer 9

black is not a colour black is not a shade
black is the lack of colour and has no shade
*seems like i should expound in some sort of cat in the hat sam i am rhythm and rhyme here, but i can't for the life of me think of anything.*

Answer 10

i think its a shade....like white.....