• Paint cans full of basic primary and secondary colorspaint pots image by Christopher Hall from Fotolia.com
  
  Many types of art classes require basic colors. Teachers of painting and drawing need to provide their students with basic colors, and instruct them on mixing primary and secondary colors to create new hues. Color wheels illustrate fundamental color theory and provide the basis for some color schemes.
  
  

Primary Colors

• Colored pencils in primary colors.Primary Colours image by Mart61 from Fotolia.com
  
  Red, yellow and blue are traditional primary colors.
  
  

Secondary Colors

• Secondary colors are combinations of two primary colors. Yellow and blue combine to make green, red and blue combine to make purple, and yellow and red combine to make orange. Green, purple and orange are secondary colors.
  
  

Tertiary colors

• Tertiary colors are combinations of three colors created from one secondary and one primary color. Yellow-green, blue-green, blue-purple, red-purple, orange-red and yellow-orange are tertiary colors.
  
  

The Color Wheel

• A color wheel.Primary Secondary & Tertiary Colour Wheel image by Sophia Winters from Fotolia.com
  
  Art teachers arrange colors in a wheel shape to demonstrate basic color theory. Colors opposite from each other on the wheel are complementary: when used together they create a sense of excitement or disharmony. Colors neighboring each other on the wheel are analogous, when used together they create a sense of harmony.
  
  

Subtractive Colors

• Artists create subtractive colors by mixing pigment. Subtractive color is the basis for both secondary and tertiary colors, but artists use color mixing to explore a much wider variety of colors. Mixing pigment creates colors such as magenta, cyan and teal.
  
  

Aggressive or Warm Colors

• A mosaic of warm colors.warm stained glass background image by Piter Pkruger from Fotolia.com
  
  These colors are on the "louder" side of the spectrum. Shades of yellows, oranges and reds are warm colors.
  
  

Passive or Cool Colors

• Eye shadow in cool colors.cool colors image by nutech21 from Fotolia.com
  
  These colors are "quieter" to the eye. Greens, blues and purples are cool colors.
  
  

Color Schemes

• Monochromatic butterflies.butterfly experience image by feisty from Fotolia.com
  
  There are many ways to arrange colors besides complementary, analogous, warm and cool color schemes. Achromatic schemes use white, black, and shades of gray. Monochromatic schemes use light and dark shades of the same color.