a k mac wrote:
A word of caution - avoid any colour theories that are based on the premise of Red, Blue and Yellow as the three pigment primaries.

Interestingly that's the opposite of what is in the Natalia T video. She seems to think RYB are somehow more psychologically useful. At least that's what I got from it.

Also I think RYB primaries make more sense if you assume by R they mean M and by B they mean C, the way [painter James Gurney sees it. And the way printers see it.

Augustine wrote:
Also I think RYB primaries make more sense if you assume by R they mean M and by B they mean C, the way [painter James Gurney sees it. And the way printers see it.

Your above statement is a good example of how easy it is to become confused.
If you're working on the basis of R meaning M and B meaning C, what hope can you have of making sense of things?

That's why i said previously, "Above all - If you want to develop a firm grasp of matters relating to colour, the relationships of Red-Cyan, Green-Magenta and Blue-Yellow should be firmly embedded in your consciousness. This is the basis of modern colour theory."

PS Natalia isn't always right.

a k mac wrote:
Your above statement is a good example of how easy it is to become confused.

I'm sorry if I confused you.

a k mac wrote:


The one on the left is the accurate model. The one on the right is the flawed traditional model.

And if the "red" you casually tell people to use is quinacridone red and the "blue" you tell people to use is cerulean blue then you are pretty much giving them the wheel on the left. Which is what I said earlier.


A red close to magenta


A blue close to cyan

Augustine wrote:
I think RYB primaries make more sense if you assume by R they mean M and by B they mean C

Augustine wrote:
Extremely talented painters work with the wrong color wheel all the time. When they try to mix a particular color their theory gets them in the ballpark and from there they make the necessary adjustments without thinking too deeply about it.

What you say is perfectly true. The whole of the European art tradition was based on the Red/Blue/Yellow model. Up to fairly recently the palette available to painters was limited and imperfect, and the anomalies inherent in the RBY model (e.g. the fact that IN REALITY you couldn't mix a pure green from blue and yellow, and the fact that IN REALITY you couldn't mix a pure purple from blue and red) were accepted as just the way things were in this imperfect world.

Nowadays we work with devices based on the RGB colour model, and produce images to be printed using CMY(k). If you believe that colour theory is important, then surely you should adopt a model which reflects the realities of the world you live in.

A good theory is one that gets you good results.

PS -  Photoshop's Color Balance is a handy visual reminder of the three pairs of complementary primaries.