Green and blue are two primary colors that can be combined to create new colors. Mixing different amounts of green and blue paint or light can produce colors ranging from teal to turquoise. Adding more blue to green has some interesting effects on the resulting color. In this article, we’ll explore what happens when you incrementally add more blue to green and how it changes the hue, value, and chroma of the mixed color.
Understanding Color Theory
To understand what happens when blue is added to green, it helps to review some basic color theory. Sir Isaac Newton first developed the color wheel in 1666 by shining white light through a prism and observing the separated colors. The color wheel arranges colors by hue in a circular format. Primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. Secondary colors like orange, green, and purple can be created by mixing two primary colors. Tertiary colors are made by mixing a primary and secondary color. Adding more of one primary color to another primary or secondary color will shift the hue and create new colors.
The Effect of Adding Blue to Green on Hue
Hue refers to a color’s position on the color wheel or its pure spectrum color. Green sits between yellow and blue on the color wheel. Adding increasing amounts of blue to green shifts the hue clockwise on the wheel towards blue and produces colors like teal, turquoise, and azure. The more blue added, the closer the hue gets to pure blue and further from yellow on the color wheel. Even a small amount of blue has a big impact on the green hue.
The Effect on Value
Value in color refers to how light or dark a color is. Pure hues like green and blue have a medium value. Adding more blue to green slightly reduces the value and makes the color a bit darker. Blue has a lower inherent value than green. Incrementally increasing blue shifts the value steadily downwards towards blue’s darker value. With a lot of blue, the mixed color can become quite dark. However, small amounts of blue added to green only minimally reduce the value. The value remains relatively medium.
Effect on Chroma
Chroma refers to the saturation or intensity of a color. It describes how vivid or dull a color is. Green has a moderately high chroma. Blue has a relatively lower chroma than green. Adding increasing amounts of the lower chroma blue to green lowers the chroma of the mixed color significantly. The more blue added, the more muted and dull the resulting color becomes. Even a small amount of blue grayscales the green. With a lot of blue, the color can become quite muted and grayish.
The Color Mixing Process
Let’s explore exactly what happens step-by-step when incrementally mixing more blue paint or light with green.
Starting Point: Green
We’ll start with a pure medium green color. It has a yellowish-green hue at about 120 degrees on the color wheel, a medium value, and moderately high chroma.
| Color | Hue | Value | Chroma |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green | 120° | Medium | Moderately High |
Step 1: Add a Small Amount of Blue
Adding just a touch of blue shifts the green hue drastically towards blue-green. Even a little blue has a big impact on the perceived color. The hue changes to around 160 degrees on the color wheel. The value remains medium and the chroma is only slightly reduced.
| Color | Hue | Value | Chroma |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green + Small Blue | 160° | Medium | Moderately High |
Step 2: Add a Moderate Amount of Blue
At roughly a 30% blue to 70% green ratio, the hue moves further along the wheel to about 180 degrees into the blue-green range. The value remains medium to slightly lower. The chroma drops a bit more to a mildly strong saturation.
| Color | Hue | Value | Chroma |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green + Moderate Blue | 180° | Medium | Mildly Strong |
Step 3: Add a Lot of Blue
Increasing blue to a 50-50 ratio brings the hue to the pure teal range at around 210 degrees. Now the value shifts a little darker. The chroma is quite a bit lower resulting in a grayish, muted teal.
| Color | Hue | Value | Chroma |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green + Lot of Blue | 210° | Medium-Dark | Moderately Low |
Step 4: Add a Majority of Blue
At a 70% blue to 30% green ratio, the hue reaches a true blue-green turquoise around 240 degrees. The value is distinctly darker. Chroma remains quite low and muted.
| Color | Hue | Value | Chroma |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green + Majority Blue | 240° | Dark | Low |
Step 5: Add a Large Majority of Blue
With a small amount of green at a 90% blue to 10% green ratio, the hue approaches pure blue at around 260 degrees. The value is very dark. Chroma is extremely low, resulting in a deep, muted blue-green color.
| Color | Hue | Value | Chroma |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green + Large Majority Blue | 260° | Very Dark | Extremely Low |
Applications
Knowing how adding increasing amounts of blue to green changes the hue, value, and chroma of the resulting color has many practical applications:
Mixing Paints
Artists can utilize this knowledge when mixing blue and green paints to achieve desired hues of teal, turquoise, and blue-green. Adding different ratios of blue to green paint produces a wide range of distinct colored hues.
Computer Graphics
Digital designers and CGI artists can create accurate colors by manipulating hue, value, and chroma based on mixing blue and green light. This allows generating palettes of colors like turquoise for design projects.
Printing & Dyeing
Understanding how blue pigments interact with green has key applications for commercial printing, textile dyeing, and manufacturing colored products. Industry professionals use these principles to dye fabrics, produce printed materials, and generate colored pigments.
Lighting & Theater
Stage lighting engineers, set designers, and cinematographers can control lighting gels and filters to mix blue and green light. This allows creating dramatic cyan lighting for theater, film, concerts, and other performances.
Color Forecasting
Fashion and interior design color forecasters apply the theory behind mixing blue and green to predict popular upcoming color trends like tranquil blues and revitalizing greens. These forecasts influence product development.
Color Theory Research
Scientists studying color mixology and human visual perception refer to the interactions between blue and green as a basic foundation for more complex color relationships. These findings help advance color science.
Conclusion
Adding increasing amounts of blue to green has a significant impact on the hue, value, and chroma of the resulting color. The hue shifts from yellow-green towards pure blue. Value is reduced slightly, and chroma drops substantially. Even small amounts of blue have a big influence. Understanding these color mixing principles has wide-ranging applications from digital design to manufacturing. Next time you admire a beautiful blue-green color, you’ll know it’s thanks to the careful blending of blue and green.