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How to Make a Colour Wheel

Supplies: compass, protractor, pencil, and coloured pencils

HINT: If you do not have the tools you can do this free hand. Just follow the steps below and guestimate the segments. I still recommend continuing through centre so the segments align.

Creating the Wheel

  1. Use a compass to make a circle (10 cm or 4 inch in diameter) Hint: be sure to push hard enough to create a centre point for use in the next step.
  2. Use a protractor where the right-angle lines up with centre point and to divide half the circle into 6 sections each at 30 degrees.
  3. Draw each segment by connecting the outer point to the inner centre point and go through to the other side. You will end up the 12 equal sections.
  4. Label the Colour Wheel starting with Yellow (I prefer it at the top) and label the following in a clockwise fashion: Yellow-Green, Green, Blue-Green, Blue, Blue-Purple, Purple, Red-Purple, Red, Red-Orange, Orange, Yellow Orange.

Choosing your Option and Coloured Pencils

If you want to see how colours work I recommend using only the Primary Colours (Yellow, red and Blue) for the whole wheel (Option 1). If you just want to see it as a reference, then use both Primaries and Secondaries (Orange, Green and Purple) and make the Tertiaries by mixing (Option 2).

If selecting Option 1: Test your colours first Red and Blue can be tricky. Some reds have more orange in them (cardinal red or fire engine red) and when mixed with blue will not make pleasant looking purples. Some blues might be too light or dark or have a bit of green in them. Test your blues and reds to see what they create before adding either to your wheel.  HINT: layer them on top of each other lightly at first and then with increasing pressure. Test out all your reds and blues and select the ones that made the best purple.

Start to Fill Your Wheel

  1. Fill Yellow, Red and Blue.

Prep the Oranges: Fill the blank segments between Yellow and Red with layers of yellow pressed hard.

  1. Take the red pencil crayon and create Orange by applying red in a medium pressure. Add another layer of Yellow with hard pressure. This will mix and burnish the colours to unify them into one new colour. Squint your eyes to see if you believe that it is the halfway point between Yellow and Red.
  2. Take the Red pencil crayon and create Red-Orange by applying heavy pressure over that prepared segment.
  3. Take the Red pencil crayon and create Yellow-Orange by applying a very light pressure over that prepared segment. Add another layer of Yellow with hard pressure. Hint: if any of the colours look too similar just press harder with the red on Orange and Red-Orange as needed. If Yellow-Orange is too dark, erase it a little or scrape off the top layer with your finger nail and add Yellow.

Prep the Greens: Fill the blank segments between Yellow and Blue with layers of yellow pressed hard.

  1. Take the Blue pencil crayon and create Green by applying Blue in a medium pressure. Add another layer of Yellow with hard pressure. This will mix and burnish the colours to unify them into one new colour. Squint your eyes to see if you believe that it is the halfway point between Yellow and Blue.
  2. Take the Blue pencil crayon and create Blue-Green by applying heavy pressure over that prepared segment.
  3. Take the Blue pencil crayon and create Yellow-Green by applying a very light pressure over that prepared segment. Add another layer of Yellow with hard pressure. Hint: if any of the colours look too similar just press harder with the blue on Green and Blue-Green as needed. If Yellow-Green is too dark, erase it a little or scrape off the top layer with your finger nail add Yellow.

Prep the Purples: Fill the blank segments between Red and Blue with three different layers of Red with Red-Purple = hard pressure, Purple = medium pressure, Blue-Purple = light pressure.

  1. Take the Blue pencil crayon and create Purple by applying Blue in a medium pressure. Add another layer of Red with hard pressure. This will mix and burnish the colours to unify them into one new colour. Squint your eyes to see if you believe that it is the halfway point between Red and Blue.
  2. Take the Blue pencil crayon and create Blue-Purple by applying heavy pressure over that prepared segment.
  3. Take the Blue pencil crayon and create Red-Purple by applying a very light pressure over that prepared segment. Add another layer of Red with hard pressure. Hint: if any of the colours look too similar just press harder with the blue on Purple and Blue-Purple as needed. If Red-Purple is too dark, erase it a little or scrape off the top layer with your finger nail add Red.