Tertiary colors, also known as intermediate colors, are created by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color on the standard RYB (red, yellow, blue) color wheel. They are the colors that lie between the primary and secondary colors and help provide a bridge and gradation between the colors. Tertiary colors possess qualities of both parent colors but are softer and less intense. Learning about tertiary colors can help artists better utilize color relationships in their work.
How Tertiary Colors Are Formed
On the traditional RYB color wheel, there are 3 primary colors – red, yellow and blue. When you mix two primary colors together in equal portions, you get the 3 secondary colors – orange, green and purple.
Tertiary colors are formed by mixing a primary color with an adjacent secondary color. For example:
– Red (primary) mixed with orange (secondary) makes red-orange
– Yellow (primary) mixed with orange makes yellow-orange
– Yellow mixed with green makes yellow-green
– Blue mixed with green makes blue-green
– Blue mixed with purple makes blue-purple
– Red mixed with purple makes red-purple
So there are 6 tertiary colors within the RYB color wheel. The hue is named after the primary color first. These colors have qualities of both the primary and secondary parents but are less intense than either.
Color Wheel Showing Tertiary Colors
Here is a color wheel showing the relationship between the primary, secondary and tertiary colors:
| Red | Red-Orange | Yellow | Yellow-Green | Green |
| Blue-Green | Cyan | Blue | Blue-Purple | Purple |
| Red-Purple | Orange |
As you can see, the tertiary colors sit between the primary (corners of the wheel) and secondary colors (sides of the wheel).
Examples of Tertiary Colors
Here are some specific examples of tertiary colors and how they are created:
Red-Orange
Formed by mixing red and orange. Red-orange contains more red than orange and less intensity. It sits between the primary red and secondary orange on the color wheel.
HEX code: #FF5349
Yellow-Orange
Formed by mixing yellow and orange. Yellow-orange is comprised of more yellow than orange. It lies between yellow and orange on the wheel.
HEX code: #FFAE42
Yellow-Green
Created by mixing yellow and green. Yellow-green contains more yellow than green. It sits between yellow and green.
HEX code: #C5E384
Blue-Green
Formed by blue and green. Blue-green possesses more blue than green. It lies between blue and green.
HEX code: #0095B6
Blue-Purple
Mixing blue and purple makes blue-purple, which has more blue than purple. It falls between blue and purple.
HEX code: #818CFF
Red-Purple
Red and purple combine to make red-purple with more red than purple. It sits between red and purple.
HEX code: #CC66CC
So in summary, the hue of the tertiary color comes from the primary color, and it lies between that primary and its adjacent secondary on the wheel.
Uses of Tertiary Colors
Tertiary colors have a variety of uses for artists. Here are some of the main ways they are utilized:
– Color gradation – Tertiaries can be used to create subtle gradations between the primary and secondary colors. This helps blend the colors smoothly.
– Tones – Tertiary colors act as soft, low intensity tones. They lower the vibrancy of the parent colors.
– Shading – Artists use tertiaries when shading objects. They can create gradual shifts in shading from light to dark.
– Realism – Tertiary colors appear commonly in nature, helping add realism since pure primaries are rare. Skies, plants, animals and minerals contain lots of tertiaries.
– Muting – Mixing a tertiary with a pure primary or secondary mutes and dulls the color. This is useful for muted color schemes.
– Highlighting – Tertiaries make excellent highlight colors when you want a softer highlight that isn’t too intense.
Mastering the use of tertiary colors gives artists much greater control over the color relationships in their artwork. The more colors they have to work with, the more versatility they have.
Tertiary Color Harmony
Tertiary colors have their own kind of harmony and relationships. Some tips for creating tertiary color harmony include:
– Use adjacent tertiary colors like yellow-green and green for smooth color flow.
– Try complement tertiary color schemes – for example, red-orange and blue-green which complement while being less intense.
– Use split complementary by combining a tertiary with the two tertiaries on either side of its complement – like yellow-orange with blue-purple and blue-green.
– Create triadic harmony with three tertiary colors equally spaced on the color wheel like red-orange, yellow-green and blue-purple.
– Tetradic (rectangle) and square color schemes also work with four tertiaries spaced evenly around the wheel.
– Analagous schemes use three or more neighboring tertiary colors.
Experimenting with these types of tertiary color harmonies can create really interesting, subtle results in artwork and design.
Tertiary Colors in Art
Many famous artists incorporated tertiary colors into their paintings to create visually stunning works of art:
– Vincent Van Gogh used tertiaries like blue-greens and yellow-oranges extensively in his paintings like Cafe Terrace at Night and Sunflowers. The tertiaries helped create striking contrasts and vivid night scenes.
– Claude Monet’s Impression Sunrise which gave rise to the Impressionist movement used yellow-oranges and blue-purples to capture the mystical atmosphere.
– Georges Seurat employed pointillism using vivid dots of pure color including tertiaries. Mixing tiny tertiary dots created shimmering color and light in his paintings like A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
– The swirling skies painted by Van Gogh and other post-Impressionists used tertiary colors like blue-greens, yellow-oranges and red-violets to create bold, expressive effects.
From traditional landscape painters to modern abstract artists, tertiary colors have served an important role in art. Painters mix them on their palettes just like the colors appear mixed naturally in the environment.
Tertiary Colors in Design
Tertiary colors also see extensive use in design fields:
– Web designers use tertiaries as background gradients, borders, banners, buttons and link colors. They add subtle interest without being overpowering.
– Graphic designers incorporate tertiaries into logo design, advertisements, posters, brochures and branding. Tertiaries work well for companies that want softer, more natural colors.
– Interior designers include tertiary wall colors, textiles, carpeting and furnishings. They can give a laidback, relaxed feel to a space.
– Fashion designers and stylists utilize tertiary colors in clothing, accessories and makeup. Soft tertiary hues complement a wide range of skin tones.
– Product designers use tertiaries in anything from electronics to appliances to sports gear. Tertiaries give a vibrant yet natural high tech look.
From user interfaces to furniture to clothing, tertiary colors are widely valued in design work.
Conclusion
Tertiary colors provide artists and designers with a useful bridge between the primary and secondary colors. Mixing a primary with an adjacent secondary on the RYB color wheel creates these soft, low-intensity hues with the qualities of both parents. Mastering the use of tertiaries gives much greater control over color mixing, shading, harmonies and gradation in artwork and design. Paying attention to these often overlooked intermediate colors opens up many exciting possibilities.