The Color Wheel Is Wrong

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Color wheels are used to explain color theory in schools and books. But I think that sometimes they create confusion because they have a few flaws.
The first problem with the while is that the names of the colors are very generic. On the outside of the wheel there are basic names like red,, orange, yellow, blue etc.
So it's not clear which colors you should use. If the wheel calls for blue, which blue are they referring to? Is it Phthalo Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Cerulean Blue etc.The same goes for the red and the yellow.
There are hundreds to choose from and they have complicated names.
The bigger problem though is that the color wheel doesn’t work as expected. When you try to mix the purple that you see on the wheel, you end up with muddy colors that aren’t very saturated.
Most color wheels list red as being a primary color but it should really be magenta.
As I demonstrate in the video, you can mix red from Quinacridone Magenta and yellow. So if the red can’t be a primary color because you can mix it.
The other color wheel that I use in the video is more accurate because it includes magenta. What you have to consider though is that when you add an extra color to the wheel, it shifts the other colors over.
I compare the complimentary colors and they're different. For example, green is the compliment of red on the red, yellow, blue color wheel. However, the compliment of red on the CMY color wheel is blue.

[@LeftBrainedArtist]

This is crazy. Once I figured out that I needed magenta to make colors I wanted my world changed.

[@thecalicoheart7946]

Me too!!! 😳🤓

[@roseeartworksnl7992]

Chris, I found you today and have watched a few of your videos on colour mixing, I'm thrilled at your care, explanations and hard work creating exciting and teaching moments. I'm not a tik toc person therefore I'll catch you on KZbin. Thank you. I've subscribed!

[@KStx565]

Great video, thanks for your content you make for us artists and teachers

[@traveller225]

Omg it was so useful to know i am now in the beginning of learning painting. How much frustration spared, thank you so much!❤️

[@babycakes9337]

Thank you for saving me the time and trouble. I was about to order the larger colour wheel from Amazon

[@SuperSky9]

We paint to depict the lights we see bouncing off of surfaces. RGB *IS* is the correct color wheel, the problem lies with quality of paint to mix with one another.

[@ChrisBreier]

Do you mean RYB instead of RGB? Because RGB is for light and doesn't work with paints.

[@drrodopszin]

I never considered painters regarding the color wheel, great to add that in. My problem with the color wheel is that it is, in my opinion, a pop-science oversimplification. It just cannot work, because it is too simplimistic to think you can grab a couple of colors that by axiom we take as complimentary and then we extrapolate _every other color_ on a 360 degrees wheel. And then the color wheel suggests that every 180 degrees would work the same as it works as the green and red complimentary colors. It is then a false promise, because unless you really mute your inner voice, you will always adjust the "mathematically" calculated color combinations to your liking, to where they should really be.

[@ChrisBreier]

When it comes to mixing colors with pigments, you're right....there's no set of 3 colors that will mix every color that you need. You can use those colors as a limited palette to make a painting but the idea that you can mix a wide range of vivid colors from just 3 colors is a fallacy. Even the printing industry relies on spot colors for creating colors that are more vivid that what you can achieve from CMYK. This is similar to painting where you can mix orange from red and yellow, but cadmium orange is still more vivid. The only color model that seems to work logically and with precision is the RGB color model. Even the complementary colors can be determined with a mathematical formula which is how software like Adobe Illustrator calculates complementary colors.

[@gibbytravis]

This confused me so much as a kid. I didn't think my teachers could be wrong about color theory. Eventually though I did just come to the conclusion that they were wrong. I'm sure a lot of kids are confused about the way that they're taught color and how it conflicts with their experience.

[@ChrisBreier]

I think it's a case of teachers and authors just repeating what they've been taught. It's weird that in printing and graphic design they teach CMYK but painting is still RYB.

[@wolfman210]

I really wish experts would settle on whether Cyan is Blue or not it would be so much easier. I've seen Cyan referred to as Blue and what we call "Blue" referred to as "Indigo" before. Indigo used to be considered a color of the Rainbow before it was decided it was actually just Blue. I've also seen Blue-Violet called "Indigo" like Nintendo's Gamecube.

[@ChrisBreier]

The problem is that your eye is capable of seeing millions of colors but most people have about dozen color names memorized. The Pantone system uses numbers instead of names (with a few exceptions such as Reflex blue etc). And there are thousands of colors in the Pantone system. In painting, most of the colors are named after the pigments there made from, or they're named after people and places. None of it is really standardized....which can be confusing.

[@wolfman210]

@@ChrisBreier It's more me gripping about how people can't make up their minds on whether Cyan and Indigo are distinct colors or just different shades of Blue. Red/Magenta and Green/Yellow don't have this problem only Cyan, Indigo and Blue.

[@ryantaco5776]

i liked the experiment, so i was wondering if you could you try mixing with colors from the CMY color wheel instead of the RYB one to see how accurate it is compared to the RYB color wheel?

[@ChrisBreier]

Phthalo blue, quinacridone magenta, and hansa yellow (or any other transparent yellow) are basically CMY. 🙂

[@Mr_Art.]

🤔 Do you think CMY is better or RYB ? And what model are you using? I personally use CMY, because in RYB it is impossible to make magenta and cyan and green, greenish black is only obtained by mixing azure-blue and yellow . . .

[@ChrisBreier]

I kind of use both. I mainly think of color in terms of CMY but I add red to my palette for the opacity. I also use other pigments like cadmium orange because it’s more vivid than what you can mix. As you mentioned, if you only use RYB, you’ll be missing magenta and cyan and will have trouble mixing certain colors.

[@salvatorecau1837]

Le tue argomentazioni sulla mescolanza dei colori è molto interessante, complimenti, fondamentale conoscere per potersi approcciare adeguatamente alla pittura, un argomento spesso non spiegato in modo soddisfacente cosi come molti pittori non trasmettano in modo chiaro e semplice la capacità procedurale o tecnica di saper mescolare i colori per poter giungere al colore preferito sia in natura che da una foto. Chiedo se è possibile avere le spiegazioni in italiano della ruota dei colori..grazie di tutto

[@ChrisBreier]

Thanks! I'm looking into how to add subtitles in different languages. 🙂

[@salvatorecau1837]

@@ChrisBreier un ottima idea, grazie mille..purtroppo non conosco l'inglese, per capirci qualcosa utilizzo il traduttore google

[@disenfranchisedrealist4433]

I don't think there is any question that a solid foundation in color theory is far more valuable than any of the "information" printed on the color wheels, but the problem with trying to compare the two wheels is a bit like comparing apples and oranges.

[@ChrisBreier]

Apples and oranges is a way to say a comparison is invalid because they’re two completely different things. But both color wheels aim to do the same thing- define the primary colors and demonstrate how they interact with each other. The CMY color wheel is closer to achieving this goal than the RYB wheel. 🙂🎨

[@timkase7283]

Would you say that the standard color wheel is how the mind sees the relationship of colors and the CMY color wheel is good for mixing? But how about the complimentary colors on the CMY wheel? What about color theory?

[@ChrisBreier]

I think the standard color wheel was just inaccurate, but for whatever reason it’s still taught in schools even though the results aren’t so great as I show in the video. As I say in the video, the complementary colors are a little different on the CMY color wheel because it has magenta as a primary color so it shifts the position of the colors. The exact complementary colors are easier to define when using the RGB color model on a computer because they can be figured out with math, and they create gray when mixed together. It’s not so straightforward with pigments. I’m not sure what specifically you’re asking about color theory but I think that any insight that helps to make color mixing predictable and produces good results is what color theory is all about.

[@kosmaukaszczyk8401]

look at one thing there wasnt any magenta like dye avaible for painters up untill mid 1800s when magenta was synthesised and names after battle of magenta in 1859 and only violet dye avaible was very pricy

[@ChrisBreier]

I Googled it and I guess Winsor & Newton was the first brand to offer Quinacridone Magenta as a paint for artists in 1958. The theory for CMYK has been around since the 1800s. I just find it interesting that art instruction books still teach RYB.

[@t.pisani8239]

So basically don't use any wheels for mixing colors. You should create your own wheel that works!

[@ChrisBreier]

I thought the CMY was more useful than the RYB. 🙂

[@keithjackson9042]

you can't use a warm red to make purple it have to be a regular red are cool red

[@grzegorzbrzeczyszczykiewic8158]

"Cool red" = magenta 🙂 Hope that helps

[@Lacroix999]

Yes and this color wheel isn’t meant to be taking as a visual literal example, only as one to be used in theory. To add to this, it’s a known fact that printing errors where colors can be off can throw off color theory. A warm red would not produce a violet color when added to blue since a warmer red has yellow in it and when adding red, blue and yellow together, it WILL make for a more brown color.

[@shahmatjf2]

Ok, maybe I will look harsh here but really, if you are looking at a color wheel to know how to mix your colors you are a long way from the solution you need! The wheel is not meant for color mixing but color relationship. Though I am really starting on my art path, this I understood right from the start. Color mixing is a completely different concept and depends on so many variables that no color wheels in the world will describe it correctly... warm colors, cool colors and the way they interact should be the subject of a completely different vidéo. Sorry.

[@ChrisBreier]

It says right on the color wheel “A guide to mixing color.” 🙂

[@FinessenceSL]

A lot of teachers use it to teach color mixing though. I'm glad you caught on immediately but it's still being taught as a color mixing tool. I'm not surprised if a person is confused about it's purpose.

[@ImeldaFagin]

It was painful watching the color mixing. All that wasted paint.

[@ChrisBreier]

I don't like to waste paint either. Funny you should mention this because I just posted a short where I clean this palette and save the paint from this video. kzbin.infoQTPI0_f4aVI?si=xOtbtZoOTut5Q604