05/11/2026
Color Schemes and Color Harmony
Color Harmony – The pleasing combination of colors; achieving order and balance.
Color Scheme – The choice of colors used in a work of art; combinations of color to create color harmony.
Color Wheel – The tool used by artists for color selection; the color spectrum in a sectioned circle.
Analogous Color Scheme – Three or four colors that are next to each other on the color wheel and are closely related to each other, such as blue, blue-green, and green.
Triadic Color Scheme – Three colors on the color wheel that are evenly spaced from one another creating a triangle, such as red, yellow, and blue.
Complementary Color Scheme – Colors directly across from each other on the color wheel; yellow and violet are complementary colors.
Split-Complementary Color Scheme – The use of a color and the two colors on each side of its complementary color, such as yellow, red-violet, and blue-violet.
Alternate Color Scheme – The use of three or more colors from the color wheel that skip a color between them, such as red, orange, and yellow (skipping, or not using, red-orange and yellow-orange).
Monochromatic Color Scheme – The use of one color and variations of it through value or intensity changes of it.
Use one color scheme listed above to create a unique artwork that conveys a story or a message to the viewer; using the color scheme to enhance that story or message.
