Color Wheel
The color wheel is the ultimate basic for every color scheme and compliment. Color is one of the most power-packing design concepts to learn. Color is everywhere - shouting at us from the vibrant red of stop signs, enchanting us with sunrises and sunsets, glaring at us from the neon advertisements in city streets...
The image to the left is an expanded color wheel, detailed to include hexidecimal color codes for reference in case of monitor discrepancies. (Note: Colors listed vary slightly from true #RRGGBB values for visual clarity.)
I'll start at the 12 o'clock position and move clockwise:
Yellow: #FFFD00, Yellow-Orange: #FFCB01, Orange: #FF9800, Red-Orange: #FF6600, Red: #FB0200, Magenta: #9A005B, Purple/Violet: #9C00FF, Indigo: #660298, Blue: #0000FE, Teal: #009999, Green: #059732, Lime Green: #67CD00
There are also different variations of a color. Hue is the purest form of the color (and what is typically shown in a color wheel). Tint is the pure color with white added to it in a gradient. Shade is the pure color with black added to it. A monochromatic color scale shows all versions of a color, from adding white to the pure hue, to adding black. Grayscale is a black to white gradient.
Grayscale
This is a grayscale gradient, showing the full range of colors from white to black. A true grayscale is very cold compared to common misconceptions of "Black & White" because most B&W photos have a slight sepia tint. (Sepia is a very muted peach-tan color, often associated with aged photos, or used to soften the harsh contrast of typical black and white.)
Monochromatic
If you were to lay a color over the top of the above color scheme, such as the blue pictured here, this is what you would end up with. This is a blue monochromatic gradient. As with the above gradient, several middle steps between the colors have been purposefully left out to show the distinction between the different shades in a digital media.
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