Color

[MrGuest]

So today we started painting in 2D design.
I was raised on the RYB (Red, Yellow, Blue) wheel.
Then, computers taught me the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) wheel.

NOW, I have to learn the CMYK wheel. All I can say is wtf. How does Magenta+Yellow=Red.

So yeah, general color discussion. GO!

[Timmeh]

Lol, I studied colors a while ago just for the fuck of it, and I’m entirely fascinated by them too. The reason CMYK works is because it’s subtractive, not additive. This means that they’re defined in terms of light they absorb, not light they reflect.
Yellow absorbs blue light, and magenta absorbs green light. So instead of thinking of it as Y + M, you can think of it as RGB - B - G. Red is left! Easy peasy.
You can also just think about it in terms of RGB color, since each CMYK color consists of two RGB colors.
R + G = Y, right?
And R + B = M.
If you want to mix them, you take the color they both reflect and therefore the result is R.

[Syntax_Man]

That was how I felt about the RGB wheel, like knowing how to mix paints I was dumbstruck that Red+Green=Yellow, I was like wtf haxx?

and now this? why does this wheel exist? real pigments behave like RYB so why?

[Timmeh]

Because the way light behaves and the way pigments behave are totally different

[MrGuest]

You can thank computers for CMYK.

Personally, I like the colors CMYK gives a lot more though. Much brighter, clearer color.

[DeProgrammer]

I have to post because Goofyman was browsing this topic.

RYB is a lie.

@Wikipedia

RYB uses pigments which are not added, so that combining colors using the RYB color system will result in a darker color. Because of this, it is impossible to create magenta, since its value would normally be the combined value of red and blue, but combining them using pigments creates a darker purple color. Similarly, it is impossible to create a true cyan. Therefore, any color between red and blue must be darker than red and blue, and any color between yellow and red or yellow and blue must be darker than yellow.

As I thought, it’s impossible to represent every color in terms of just red, yellow, and blue pigments.

[Pomegranate]

@DeProgrammer @ Nov 12 2009

I have to post because Goofyman was browsing this topic.

RYB is a lie.

@Wikipedia

RYB uses pigments which are not added, so that combining colors using the RYB color system will result in a darker color. Because of this, it is impossible to create magenta, since its value would normally be the combined value of red and blue, but combining them using pigments creates a darker purple color. Similarly, it is impossible to create a true cyan. Therefore, any color between red and blue must be darker than red and blue, and any color between yellow and red or yellow and blue must be darker than yellow.

As I thought, it’s impossible to represent every color in terms of just red, yellow, and blue pigments.

you can if you add white and black to the mix i think…

[DeProgrammer]

You can use white to desaturate the colors (not intensify them)…so you could get a pale pink, but not magenta.

[Pomegranate]

interesting… so RYB IS flawed

[Timmeh]

Yep. Red Green and Blue are the only cones we have, so it doesn’t make sense for other colors to account for shit.