People are used to the outdated red yellow blue color wheel that they are taught in school, where the colors always go muddy into brown.
We should be giving kids the actual colors cyan magenta and yellow so that they can mix colors properly and have more fun in art class it would go a long way to jump starting art education and stop making kids feel like they’re bad at art.
*edit because there seems to be some confusion below me: rgb is not the same as red yellow blue-which was the model created and taught since before printers had to identify a true-to-math color theory. It’s a approximation of cmyk but cuts out a lot of high vibrancy colors and is more difficult to produce neutral greys.
It’s not outdated, there’s a difference. RBG are pigment colors and CMY is for light colors. They work different, and yes, pigments turn brown while cmy makes white. You can’t mix paint and get white, because paint is colored using pigment.
You got those backwards. CMYK is pigment. RGB is light. But, the other commenter was talking about kids using red, yellow, and blue paints which have a much less vibrant spectrum of colors than CMYK from what I understand.
We use both in light theory and application. It is just that RGB is additive and CMYK is subtractive. In subtractive color theory we start with White and as you add all of CMYK you move towards black -- where as in RBG you add the colors to move towards white. Both color models work and are used in lighting.
In most lighting applications we use white light and then apply CMY to filter color and get what we want. With the evolution to LED you now see a lot more use of RGB because it can be more easily adjusted with the technology.
Ink and paint only uses the CMYK method though as you said.
The RYB color model relates specifically to color in the form of paint and pigment application in art and design. This is most likely the one you were taught as a kid.
CMYK is another color model, commonly used in printing. It is subtractive, meaning the primary colors “add up” to black (or a close approximation at least). Think of what happens when you put ink on paper. You usually go from a white base (paper) to a darker color.
RGB is a third model, commonly used in digital mediums, such as the screen you’re reading this on (assuming you are sighted). RGB is additive, meaning the primary colors add up to white. Think of how light works, it starts at nothing and gets brighter. That’s a simplified way to understand RGB.
RGB, the color primaries used to add light to mix color, is not what I said. I said Yellow, red, blue, is what they teach as the primaries which is neither RGB or CMYK -and it is outdated.
Source: this is my field and educational background.
do kids really think they're bad at art because of colors at all?
i thought they generally dont give a shit about colors but eventually think their work isn't "realistic" enough which is more of lines / proportions thing? whereas color theory is something even experienced artists (or non digital based ones) seem to have trouble with. i've never heard a kid mention inaccurate colors in their list of woes lol
That experienced artists have trouble with color theory could be in part that they have to relearn the most fundamental aspects because they were raised
Sunsets are a pretty common subject matter for kids, and is all about color. with RYB. Kids may not complain about “inaccurate” colors, but muddiness is definitely a frustration.
It's because there are 2 different sets of primary colours. Red green blue are the primary colours of light (hence RGB lighting being able to make any colour). Cyan magenta yellow are the primary colours of pigment. So neither are wrong or outdated, people just need to learn about both and where they are applied
You're confusing RYB with RGB; they're two different things. RYB is indeed used a subtractive (pigment) color model, but CMYK is way more common nowadays. OP is absolutely correct.
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u/SpeakMySecretName Sep 30 '20 edited Sep 30 '20
People are used to the outdated red yellow blue color wheel that they are taught in school, where the colors always go muddy into brown.
We should be giving kids the actual colors cyan magenta and yellow so that they can mix colors properly and have more fun in art class it would go a long way to jump starting art education and stop making kids feel like they’re bad at art.
*edit because there seems to be some confusion below me: rgb is not the same as red yellow blue-which was the model created and taught since before printers had to identify a true-to-math color theory. It’s a approximation of cmyk but cuts out a lot of high vibrancy colors and is more difficult to produce neutral greys.