Do you ever struggle with which colors to pick when coloring your mandalas? Do you find yourself reaching for the same colors? In this week’s post I share with you an introduction to color design theory.
I personally think it is really cool to see how the colors are mapped out on a color wheel and to see the relationships of colors. In this post, I use the same mandala design throughout to give an easy side-by-side comparison. For your own color study, I recommend drawing a mandala and then scanning and printing copies of it (or hit a photocopy machine). It is fun to see the same design colored in different ways.
Any study of color begins with the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. What makes them primary? Well, you can’t create them. No mixing of other colors will produce these three. From these three colors all of the other colors are made. Cool, isn’t it?
The mandala pictured above is colored with the pure hues of red, blue, and yellow. It’s pretty intense, don’t you think? It reminds me of the logos for fast food chains and in other products like the one’s pictured below.
The color scheme is designed to be bold and eye catching. Good qualities for some product images, but it’s not necessarily the feeling that we want from our mandalas.
Don’t write off the primaries just yet.
Here we see how tinting the colors can “tone it down.” When painting, to tint a color use white paint and use gray paint to tone the color. If you are using markers or colored pencils, you may reach for a lighter version of the colors.
Compare and contrast each of these mandalas. The top example uses the pure hue for each of the three colors. In the example in the bottom left mandala, notice how using a light yellow softens the overall feeling. What a difference!
Let’s play with tinting some more. The mandala on the bottom right uses a light yellow and includes a tint of blue along side the pure blue hue. Here we see how many more coloring options we have with just three colors when we add “tints” of the colors.
The secondary colors, orange, violet, and green are made by mixing two primary colors.
Orange = Yellow + Red
Violet = Red + Blue
Green = Yellow + Blue
Just as we saw with the primary colors, the secondary colors can be bold and striking when using the pure hue. With the primary color example, we used a tint of some of the colors. Here I used shades (darker version) of violet and green. In painting, shading is achieved by mixing black with the color.
By darkening the violet, notice how the orange looks brighter. Don’t see it? Sit back from the computer and squint your eyes as you look at these two mandalas. Try it!
Nature is an incredible artist. Here is a photo that I took of orange pansies and violets. It’s a perfect example of a secondary color scheme. I sampled the colors from the photo and applied them to the mandala. >
Here we can see a few variations using the same palette of secondary colors. Notice how you can change the look and feel of the mandala depending on which color dominates.
There are six tertiary colors derived from mixing a primary and a secondary color. Notice how the primary and secondary are next to each other on the color wheel to create the tertiary color.
In the mandalas above you can see how I mixed and matched the various tertiary colors. There is so much fun to be had with these tertiary colors.
The color wheel is a great road map to exploring different combinations.
In the Color I course you’ll explore these combinations with over sixty examples applied to mandalas in the gorgeous color guide.
You’ll also get access to sixteen videos. It’s a great resource to add to your learning library.
Kathryn Costa is an instigator of soulful and creative living. Her passion can be summed up in three little words: “create and connect.” Kathryn’s programs help people to find clarity, let go of fear, embrace their dreams, and explore their creativity. Kathryn has been an online community developer, teacher, and soulful guide for 12 years. Her unique teaching and coaching style integrates tools and practices from her training in Kaizen-Muse Creativity Coaching, Soul Coaching, The Virtue’s Project, and Jaguar Path Shamanic Apprenticeship Program.
wow, what a wonderful , informative and very inspiring post Kathryn , thank you so much.
Thanks Angella. It is truly a pleasure to share what I know. Have fun coloring your mandalas.
Wow! This is the simplest, yet most comprehensive over view of the color wheel.that I’ve ever seen. What a gift! Thank you Kathryn!
gittemay says