Datasheet

c h a p t e r 1: UNDERSTANDING LIGHTING, COLOR, AND COMPOSITION ■

and blue light to produce additional colors. Added in equal proportions, RGB pri-

maries produce white. In contrast, the RYB color theory model is subtractive in that

the absence of red, yellow, and blue produces white (assuming that the blank paper

or canvas is indeed white). In this case, if colored paint or ink pigments are present,

they absorb certain wavelengths of light, thus preventing those wavelengths from

being reﬂected back at the viewer. When combined in equal proportions, the RYB

primaries produce black (having absorbed all visible wavelengths of light). Modern

printing techniques follow the subtractive model by utilizing cyan, magenta, and yel-

low primary inks, with the addition of black ink (CMYK, where K is black). Cyan,

magenta, and yellow happen to be secondary colors on the RGB color wheel. Maya’s

Color Chooser window represents the RGB color wheel as a hexagon shape; primary

and secondary colors are located at the corners of the hexagon. (For more information

on the Color Chooser, see Chapter 6.)

Despite the disparity between color theory models, methods of using a RYB

color wheel are equally applicable to RGB color wheels. As such, the goal of color

selection is color harmony, which is the pleasing selection and arrangement of colors

within a piece of art. The most common methods of choosing harmonic colors pro-

duce the following color combinations with the RGB color wheel:

Complementary colors A pair of colors at opposite ends of the color wheel. For

example, in Figure 1.30, the blue-cyan body and red-orange head of a bizarre charac-

ter compose a complementary color set.

Figure 1.30 A blue-cyan body and a red-orange head form complementary colors. This still is taken from

7 Deadly Sins for the 21st Century (2005).

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