The Color Wheel
I find the easiest way to understand Color Theory is to understand the Color Wheel. The Color Wheel lays out all the theory in a perfect visual but first you need to understand the wheel itself. The wheel is laid out with the primary colors red, yellow and blue evenly spaced around the circle. In between the primary colors are secondary and tertiary colors, as shown below.
Color Mixing
To get secondary colors you mix two primary colors together. To mix tertiary colors you mix a secondary color with a primary.
Warm vs Cold Colors
If you divide the color wheel in half you will get a warm and cold half. The warm half extends from yellow to red-violet, while the cold half includes yellow-green and violet. Warm and cold colors are closely tied to color psychology. When a series of people stand in a blue room at the same temperature as another room painted red they are more likely to feel cold in the blue room.
Mixing Colors with Black, White and Gray
When you have a color at its peak brightness this is called full chroma. When you mix a color with black, white or gray you now have a tone, tint or shade. When you mix a color with white it is now a tint. Mixing with black will give you shade and mixing with a gray will give you a tone.
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