Understanding the Three Properties of Color (Hue, Tone, and Intensity ) with Helen Van Wyk
HelenVanWyk
4,525 views
In this lesson, Helen Van Wyk breaks down the three essential properties of color, hue, tone, and intensity, and shows how understanding them gives painters complete control over color mixing and application.
Using a still life painted almost entirely in one color family (orange), Helen demonstrates how dramatic variety, depth, and realism can be achieved without relying on many colors. Through careful observation and thoughtful mixing, she explains how each color decision affects light, shadow, highlights, and overall harmony.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
What hue really means and how color shifts toward red or yellow.
How tone controls light and dark relationships.
Why intensity determines whether a color appears bright or dull.
How complementary colors are used to control shadows.
Why monochromatic painting builds confidence and clarity.
How highlights, cast shadows, and background color influence realism.
Helen’s method emphasizes thinking before painting, simplifying complex subjects, and using color with intention rather than guesswork. This foundational lesson applies to still life, portrait, and landscape painting alike.
#helenvanwyk
#oilpaintingforbeginners
#oilpaintingtechniques
#oilpaintingteacher
11 Comments
I've looked at the different properties of color like this:
Hue : This is the color itself. Think of simple terms, like "blue," or "yellow," or "orange."
Value: This describes how "dark" a color is, with respect to its "lightness" or "darkness." This is best pragmatically used with respect to "shadows" versus "Not shadows." Note this is different from "grey" or not. It's arguably the MOST important aspect of a successful painting, because it helps establish composition, eye flow around the picture, and the overall mood. It stands out differently from something like "hue" because you could make one hue the "light" value, and a different color the "dark" value, and it'll still work where you as the viewer will acknowledge that despite being different values, it's still an object with a light and a shadow area.
Chroma/Saturation: Often confused with Value, the "Chroma" of a color is merely "How pure or vibrant is that color?" Something with high Chroma is often neon-looking and super bright. A good example is to buy pure pigment of a color like "Cadmium Red" where it is super vibrant and beautiful. However, a colors Chroma decreases (becomes more "Desaturated") the more you mix in to it, and as a result, the more "grey" it becomes. One of the key concepts that changed my view of color theory was this statement: "The more you mix ANY paint together, the more grey it will inevitably become. Mixing kills chroma. What you mix in to it determines how severe that Chroma killing becomes." Luckily, almost everything in nature has some grey built in to it (skin tone is a classic example of this), however what we as artists try to avoid is "muddying" the color too much, both bringing down the Chroma too much (making the color look more grey/dull), as well as making the color too muddy (the more Hues you mix together, the closer to brown you tend to get).
Some fascinating tips I've learned on how to better manage color mixing and theory involves the following:
- Use the "Munsell Color Tree" as a guide, because it's composed of all three factors, Hue, Value, and Chroma.
- Instead of taking a color and lightening/darkening it with just white and black (ex. Titanium White, Ivory Black), try instead mixing in different hues/colors that'll shift the color while preserving Chroma better. Many examples of this include: To lighten colors, use either white, or yellow when mixing. When darkening colors, use instead burnt umber brown or ultramarine blue instead of black.
There are other tips where you can use adjacent colors for lightening, and its relationship with the Munsell Color Tree in how it shifts Hue is fascinating, however for the most bare bones basic approach, just know you can often preserve Chroma better in paintings using different colors instead of just white and black.
Thank you for sharing your input on it. I love these videos.
I am always blown away how quickly she can cover the canvas with oil paint. When I paint (using Cobra water mixable paints), the paint does not flow as well or cover as much. I do add some medium, but maybe not enough? Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks in advance from an oil painting beginner.
Understanding the Three Properties of Color (Hue, Tone, and Intensity ) with Helen Van Wyk
HelenVanWyk
4,525 views
In this lesson, Helen Van Wyk breaks down the three essential properties of color, hue, tone, and intensity, and shows how understanding them gives painters complete control over color mixing and application.
Using a still life painted almost entirely in one color family (orange), Helen demonstrates how dramatic variety, depth, and realism can be achieved without relying on many colors. Through careful observation and thoughtful mixing, she explains how each color decision affects light, shadow, highlights, and overall harmony.
In this lesson, you’ll learn:
What hue really means and how color shifts toward red or yellow.
How tone controls light and dark relationships.
Why intensity determines whether a color appears bright or dull.
How complementary colors are used to control shadows.
Why monochromatic painting builds confidence and clarity.
How highlights, cast shadows, and background color influence realism.
Helen’s method emphasizes thinking before painting, simplifying complex subjects, and using color with intention rather than guesswork. This foundational lesson applies to still life, portrait, and landscape painting alike.
#helenvanwyk
#oilpaintingforbeginners
#oilpaintingtechniques
#oilpaintingteacher