The second of our daring color combo specials builds upon the logic of the complementary color scheme, but takes it one step further. This next strategy is called the split-complementary color scheme. It employs the same basic strategy – pick a color, and then find its opposite on the color wheel and pick it too – but it adds a twist. Starting from the color you know you want (which doesn’t have to be your ‘main color’, meaning the one that you want to use on the largest surface area. The color you start with is just the one you know you want in your composition somewhere: you can build a color scheme up from a desired accent color just as easily as from a main color.), go across the wheel and find its opposite. Once you’ve found that opposite, it’s time to to add the next step: instead of using the opposite itself, move a few steps away from it on the wheel, first in the clockwise direction, then in the counterclockwise direction, and pick the adjacent colors instead. You want to move far enough away from that polar opposite to give you two distinctly different colors – but not so far away that the colors no longer oppose your initial color on the wheel. And you want to make sure that you move an equal distance in each direction; this is critical for maintaining the complementary balance.
What you should end up with at the end are three hues, one on one side of the wheel and two on the other. Putting these three together, and playing with the value and chroma, is an excellent recipe for a surprising yet harmonious combination.
As an example, starting with blue, you would jump across the wheel and find its opposite, which is orange. Moving just slightly to each side of the pure orange, you would find a yellow/gold in one direction, and a reddish orange in the other. Playing with the value and chroma of all three, you have a lot of excellent options. Lightening the yellow/gold into a buttery cream, for example, could make an excellent main color, trimmed with a burnt umber (the reddish orange with low saturation), and accented by a bright cornflower blue (your original blue) for vivid contrast.
Like complementary color schemes, split-complementary schemes leave a lot of room for you to use your creative discretion. You get to decide how far to move away from the opposite to get the split-complementary harmony, you get to decide how to vary the value and chroma, and you get to decide which color to use as your main color and which as your trim/accents. There is a lot of room to shine, but also some risk of a judgment error leading to an undesirable clashing effect. So, as we’e mentioned before, make sure to really study your final choices thoroughly before committing, and feel free to take advantage of Blue Door Painters’ complimentary color consultation service!
In our final feature we’ll wrap up with a method for incorporating the whole wheel into a balanced color scheme. Stay tuned for Combo #6: Fractional Color Schemes!