Color Theory and Composition Flashcards
Grade 6 · Art · Flashcards
Review key vocabulary and concepts for color theory and artistic composition.
Flashcards
- Primary colors
- Red, yellow, and blue — the foundational colors that cannot be mixed from other colors.
- Secondary colors
- Orange, green, and violet — created by mixing two primary colors together.
- Tertiary colors
- Colors made by mixing a primary color with a neighboring secondary color, such as red-orange or yellow-green.
- Complementary colors
- Colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel (e.g., red and green) that create high contrast.
- Analogous colors
- Colors that are adjacent on the color wheel, such as blue, blue-green, and green, creating visual harmony.
- Color wheel
- A circular chart organizing colors in order of their relationships, used to identify primary, secondary, and tertiary colors.
- Warm colors
- Reds, oranges, and yellows — colors associated with heat and energy that visually advance toward the viewer.
- Cool colors
- Blues, greens, and violets — colors associated with calm and distance that visually recede from the viewer.
- Composition
- The arrangement of visual elements — shapes, lines, colors, and textures — within an artwork.
- Rule of thirds
- A compositional principle dividing an image into a 3x3 grid to guide placement of key subjects.
- Focal point
- The dominant area of interest in a work of art that first attracts the viewer's eye.
- Contrast
- A principle using strong differences (light/dark, warm/cool) to create visual interest and emphasis.
- Balance
- The equal or intentional distribution of visual weight in a composition, creating stability.
- Hue
- Another word for color — the pure form of a color before white or black is added.
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