The process of mixing complementary colors has a specific name in color theory. Complementary colors are colors located directly across from each other on the color wheel, and when mixed together in the proper ratios, they create a neutral gray color. The name for this process is color cancellation. When complementary colors are mixed, they effectively “cancel” each other out by covering up or neutralizing the hue and intensity of the original colors. This results in a muted, desaturated gray, black or brown. Understanding color cancellation is important for artists and designers who want to deliberately dull colors or create gray tones by mixing paints or digital colors.
What Are Complementary Colors?
To understand color cancellation, it’s important to first understand what complementary colors are. On the standard color wheel used in art and design, colors are arranged according to their hue and temperature. Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel. Some examples of complementary color pairs are:
- Red and green
- Yellow and purple
- Blue and orange
These colors occupy opposite positions because they contain completely different wavelengths of light. When complementary colors mix together, those opposite wavelengths effectively cancel each other out.
Red and green, for example, contain completely different light spectra. When they mix together, the red neutralizes the green and vice versa. This cancels out the hue and vibrancy of both colors, resulting in a neutralized gray. The same effect occurs with other complements like blue and orange or yellow and violet.
The Color Wheel
To visualize how this works, it’s helpful to take a closer look at the color wheel. The basic color wheel used in art and design looks something like this:
| Color | Degree on Wheel |
|---|---|
| Red | 0° |
| Orange | 60° |
| Yellow | 120° |
| Green | 180° |
| Blue | 240° |
| Purple | 300° |
On this color wheel, complementary colors occupy positions directly across from each other at 180° angles. Red (0°) and green (180°) are complements, as are yellow (120°) and purple (300°), and blue (240°) and orange (60°).
When complementary colors mix, the opposite positions cancel out the hue and intensity. Red pigment added to green pigment cover up their distinct colors. This results in a neutralized gray or brown, depending on the exact pigments used.
Why Does This Happen?
On a scientific level, complementary colors cancel each other out because of how our eyes perceive color. The cells in the human eye called cones absorb different wavelengths of light that correspond to red, green and blue. All other colors are perceived by combinations of these three cone types.
Complementary colors stimulate these cones in opposite ways. Red light, for example, highly stimulates the “red” cones while minimally stimulating the “green” cones. Green light works in the opposite way. When red and green light mix in equal proportions, the cones are stimulated evenly. This results in the brain perceiving a neutral color.
The same principle applies to paints, pigments and dyes. Complementary paint mixtures create a balanced stimulation of the eye, canceling out the original hue. The more complements are mixed, the closer the mixture gets to a neutral gray or brown.
Color Cancellation in Painting
Understanding color cancellation is an important skill for painters. Often, artists mix complements to dull the saturation of a color and make it appear more natural. Adding small amounts of the complement can also create subtle variations in hue, making colors more complex.
For example, a painter creating a landscape might mix a small amount of green into a bright red pigment to dull it down into a more natural brick red. Or blue added to orange can turn it into a more muted clay color. More extreme mixing of complements produces neutral grays useful for shading and detailing.
Painters must understand how to mix colors in the proper proportions to cancel or neutralize them. Mixing pure complementary pigments in equal amounts will produce a pure gray. Shifting the balance will result in warmer or cooler grays and intermediate muted tones. Mastering color cancellation allows artists great control over color saturation.
Uses in Design
In graphic design and digital art, understanding color cancellation enables designers to intentionally make colors less saturated. This technique is commonly used to design color palettes where vivid accent colors are paired with duller grayed colors.
Using muted complementary schemes creates visual interest through contrast while keeping designs from looking garish or neon bright. It is also used to make vivid photos look more natural and professional. Strategically desaturating colors with complements is an important tool for artists and designers in all visual fields.
Styles that Use Complementary Contrasts
Many art styles intentionally make use of complementary colors and contrasts. Color cancellation is not always taken to the extreme of creating grays; artists often use small amounts of complements to generate intriguing color mixtures. Here are some examples of stylistic uses of complements:
- Impressionism: Impressionist painters used complements like blue with orange in landscapes and still lifes. They opted for muted rather than pure colors to capture diffused natural light.
- Fauvism: While this style emphasized pure vivid color, fauvists like Henri Matisse also utilized complement contrasts to intensify their palettes.
- Pop Art: Andy Warhol and pop artists mixed bright complements like red and green to create eye-catching combinations.
- Abstract: Modern abstract painters mix complements in varying degrees for visual interest in their compositions.
Even when not going fully to gray, using complements allows artists to strategically mute and neutralize colors to build their desired effects.
Creating Gray with Digital Color Mixing
The same principles of mixing complements to create grays and muted tones apply to digital color mixing. Design programs like Photoshop use the RGB color model, meaning all colors are created through combinations of red, green and blue light.
In digital color picking, gray tones can be easily created by having equal values of R, G and B. For example:
- R = 127, G = 127, B = 127 makes a medium gray
- R = 34, G = 34, B = 34 makes a dark gray
- R = 237, G = 237, B = 237 makes a light gray
These RGB combos stimulate the eye’s cones evenly, resulting in pure grays. Altering the values creates tints and shades of gray.
Designers can also mix colors and use the Color Picker to preview how adding the complement modifies the color into a grayed muted tone. This allows digital artists to fine tune colors to precisely the saturation needed.
Colour Theory Lessons
There are a few key lessons that color cancellation illustrates about color theory and perception:
- Complementary colors contain opposite wavelengths of light that effectively cancel each other out.
- The human eye perceives color through the stimulation of cone cells in the retina. Complementary colors stimulate these cones in opposite ways.
- When complementary colors mix, they balance each other into a neutralized gray or brown tone depending on pigments.
- Artists can exploit this for intentionally muting colors and creating natural or harmonious color schemes.
- The same principles apply to both paint mixing and digital color mixing for print, web, video, etc.
Understanding how and why complements interact to neutralize color unlocks new techniques for visual designers in all fields. Mastering color relationships remains a key skill for graphic artists.
Practical Applications
Here are some ways that artists and designers can use color cancellation strategies:
- Mute overly bright colors that look unnatural or garish
- Create cohesive color schemes built around complement pairs
- Strategically gray down selective parts of an image or design to draw attention
- Generate muted earth tone colors like grays, browns and olives for natural palettes
- Create neutral black and white effects by desaturating images
- Craft retro-inspired designs using black, white and gray with pops of color accents
- Shift hue and value by subtly mixing complements like red with green or blue with orange
Controlling saturation through complementary mixing gives designers flexibility and nuance in how they employ color. Matching the desired effect to the appropriate technique makes good use of color theory knowledge.
Experimenting with Complements
For artists and designers interesting in exploring color cancellation, here are some recommended ways to experiment:
- Using paint, mix varying ratios of complements like red/green or blue/orange to observe resulting grays and mutes
- Start with a vivid primary like orange and incrementally add blue while noting changes
- Use Adobe Color CC online tool to preview complement mixes digitally
- In Photoshop, practice desaturating portions of photos using Hue/Saturation sliders
- Download or create color study reference images and modify in Photoshop using complements
Play and exploration lead to deeper intuitive understanding. Trying techniques out is the best way to master color cancellation.
Benefits of Learning Color Cancellation
Understanding how to mix and cancel colors provides many advantages:
- Better ability to manipulate saturation levels for intended effects
- Enhanced color correction skills for images/film
- Improved skills creating cohesive palettes and harmony
- Greater overall knowledge of color relationships and perception
- Increased range and nuance for using color artistically
Mastering color cancellation is like gaining a whole new primary color of neutral grays and mutes. It unlocks new depths of visual expression.
Conclusion
The mixing of complementary colors to create grays and muted tones is referred to as color cancellation. This phenomenon occurs because complements contain opposing light wavelengths that neutralize each other in the eye, canceling out hue and chroma. Understanding color cancellation gives artists and designers greater intentional control over color for their work. Mastering the versatile techniques involved allows fuller use of colors’ potential in visual media.