Paint Shop Pro Tutorial
Colour in web pages and presentations - 2
The colour wheel shows the relationship between colours. The relative position of colours on the colour wheel is an indication of how they will work together. Colour combinations that work best together are:
Monochromatic
Monochromatic colours are close to each other on the colour wheel. In the Paint Shop Pro Colour dialog, all colours within the square inside the colour wheel have the same hue, and will combine together in a monochromatic colour scheme. This scheme can incorporate several values of that colour to keep it from looking monotonous. Using textures can also help enhance the single colour scheme. This page was developed using a monochromatic colour scheme.
Complementary
These schemes use colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel eg. blue and orange or green and magenta. The result is usually vibrant and lively. It works best if one colour dominates and the other serves as contrast. Samples above here are merely an indication of what you can do. Any colour you choose has a complementary colour. All you need to do is choose colours directly opposite each other on the colour wheel.
Split Complementary
Split complementary colour schemes generally use one main colour and 2 accessory colours. These accessory colours are close to the first colour's complementary colour, eg. blue and violet with yellow-orange. In the above examples, the main colour can be considered red with cyan and green accessories; yellow with two shades of blue; and magenta with two shades of green.
Related, or Analagous
This scheme uses three to five colours including one of the three primary colours (red, yellow
or blue). The related/analogous colours are the colour segments showing on either side of the
primary colour. This differs from monochrome colour schemes in that the colours may have
slightly different hue. Varying the value and intensity of the colours improves the effect. Gradient
images often use this scheme.
Triadic
This scheme uses three colours that are equidistant on the colour wheel eg. red-orange, yellow-green and blue-violet. One colour is often used as the dominant colour and the other two as accents.
Achromatic
These schemes use only greyscale "colours" in the white through to black range. All shades have RBG code with the amount of red equal to the amount of green which is in turn equal to the amount of blue, eg RGB=(25,25,25). Achromatic schemes are often considered to be restrained and sophisticated. Their look can be quite effective.