The Artist's Reference: Color Definitions Simplified

HUE is the basic name of the color: red, blue, yellow, orange, green, purple.

PRIMARY HUES are Red, Yellow and Blue

SECONDARY HUES are those you get when you mix two primary colors.

ORANGE = Red + Yellow
GREEN = Blue + Yellow
VIOLET = Blue + Red

TERTIARY HUES are those you get when you mix a primary with a secondary color.

YELLOW-ORANGE = Yellow + Orange
RED-ORANGE = Red + Orange
YELLOW-GREEN = Yellow + Green
BLUE-GREEN = Blue + Green
RED-VIOLET = Red + Violet
BLUE-VIOLET = Blue + Violet


VALUE is the relative degree of lightness or darkness of a hue - it's grayness (white to black) - place any color on a black and white copy machine and you'll see it's value.

TONE is created by adding both
white and black to a hue so that
the color is grayed down

SHADE is any hue with black added

HUE refers to the pure color


TINT is any hue with white added

CHROMA refers to the hue's intensity or dullness

The difference between chroma and value is this. . .

with chroma you are considering how pure or intense the hue is.

with value you are paying no attention to the hue and are only considering the lightness or darkness.

Got it? Now go paint!

Still don't have it?
Go paint anyway! The whole idea is to have fun with this.