Blank Color Wheel
Print a blank colour wheel to colour in, or a colour wheel worksheet with an answer key. Start from one of our 18 designs: a 12-colour wheel with or without names, a 6-part primary and secondary wheel, a 3-part primary wheel, a 24-segment wheel, a worksheet with P / S / T letters and key boxes, rings for tints, shades and tones, and a harmony worksheet for complementary, analogous, split-complementary, triadic and both tetradic schemes, each marked at its exact angle. Set the size in inches or centimetres on US Letter or A4, add an answer-key page in RYB colours and download a PDF, 300 DPI PNG or SVG. Nothing is uploaded.
100% private — everything runs in your browser. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.
Print at 100% (Actual size). Every segment is exactly 360° divided by the number of segments; harmony marks sit at the exact angles (complement 180°, triad 120°, square 90°).
Worksheet
Colour harmony
Size and paper
Runs in your browser with our own code: nothing you choose is uploaded or saved. The drawings are our own. You may use what you make here, including commercially, with no credit needed.
How to make and print a blank colour wheel
- Pick a design: blank wheel, worksheet, tint / shade rings or a harmony worksheet.
- Choose 3, 6, 12 or 24 segments, the rings and the labels (names, P / S / T letters or none).
- For a harmony worksheet, choose the harmony and the starting colour, or put all six on one page.
- Set the wheel size, paper and line width; tick Add an answer-key page if you want one.
- Download the PDF and print at 100% (Actual size), then colour it in with paint, pencils or markers.
What you can use it for
- Art lessons on primary, secondary and tertiary colours
- Colour theory homework and tests (with an answer key)
- Paint practice: mixing the wheel yourself
- Tint, tone and shade exercises
- Choosing colour schemes for a painting, room or design
- Colouring pages and classroom displays
The 18 colour wheel designs
| Design | Segments | Rings | Labels | Harmony | Fill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blank 12-colour wheel with names | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | – | Blank |
| Blank 12-colour wheel, no labels | 12 | Pure colour | None | – | Blank |
| Blank 6-colour wheel (primary and secondary) | 6 | Pure colour | Colour names | – | Blank |
| Primary colours: 3-part wheel | 3 | Pure colour | Colour names | – | Blank |
| Blank 24-segment wheel | 24 | Pure colour | None | – | Blank |
| Colour wheel worksheet: P / S / T letters and key | 12 | Pure colour | P / S / T | – | Blank + answer key |
| Answer key: 12-colour RYB wheel | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | – | Coloured |
| Tints ring worksheet (pure + tint) | 12 | Pure + tint | Colour names | – | Blank + answer key |
| Shades ring worksheet (pure + shade) | 12 | Pure + shade | Colour names | – | Blank + answer key |
| Tint, tone and shade wheel (4 rings) | 12 | Pure, tint, tone, shade | Colour names | – | Blank + answer key |
| Harmony worksheet: complementary | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | Complementary | Blank + answer key |
| Harmony worksheet: analogous | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | Analogous | Blank + answer key |
| Harmony worksheet: split-complementary | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | Split-complementary | Blank + answer key |
| Harmony worksheet: triadic | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | Triadic | Blank + answer key |
| Harmony worksheet: tetradic (square) | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | Tetradic (square) | Blank + answer key |
| Harmony worksheet: tetradic (rectangle) | 12 | Pure colour | Colour names | Tetradic (rectangle) | Blank + answer key |
| All six harmonies on one page | 12 | Pure colour | P / S / T | All six | Blank + answer key |
| Answer key: 24-segment wheel with tints and shades | 24 | Pure, tint, tone, shade | Colour names | – | Coloured |
All are our own drawings. Every design is a starting point: change the segments, rings, labels, harmony, size and line width. Our tests check that every segment is exactly 360° divided by the number of segments, that the rings are all the same width and that every harmony mark sits on the centre of its segment at the stated angle.
Segments and colours
| Segments | Each segment | Colours, clockwise from the top |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | 120° | Yellow, Red, Blue |
| 6 | 60° | Yellow, Orange, Red, Violet, Blue, Green |
| 12 | 30° | Yellow, Yellow-orange, Orange, Red-orange, Red, Red-violet, Violet, Blue-violet, Blue, Blue-green, Green, Yellow-green |
| 24 | 15° | Yellow, Yellow-orange, Orange, Red-orange, Red, Red-violet, Violet, Blue-violet, Blue, Blue-green, Green, Yellow-green (named segments; the 12 in between are blends of their neighbours) |
| Type | Colour | Answer-key hex | Made from | Angle from yellow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary | Yellow | #FFFF00 | (primary) | 0° |
| Tertiary | Yellow-orange | #FFBF00 | Yellow + orange | 30° |
| Secondary | Orange | #FF8000 | Yellow + red | 60° |
| Tertiary | Red-orange | #FF4000 | Red + orange | 90° |
| Primary | Red | #FF0000 | (primary) | 120° |
| Tertiary | Red-violet | #BF0040 | Red + violet | 150° |
| Secondary | Violet | #800080 | Red + blue | 180° |
| Tertiary | Blue-violet | #55308C | Blue + violet | 210° |
| Primary | Blue | #2A5F99 | (primary) | 240° |
| Tertiary | Blue-green | #158466 | Blue + green | 270° |
| Secondary | Green | #00A833 | Blue + yellow | 300° |
| Tertiary | Yellow-green | #80D41A | Yellow + green | 330° |
The hex values are conventional RYB screen colours (the Gossett and Chen RYB colour cube, as on our Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colors page). They show where each colour goes; your paints will look different.
Colour wheel worksheet: harmonies
| Harmony | Colours | Angles from the starting colour | Works on wheels of |
|---|---|---|---|
| Complementary | 2 | 0°, 180° | 6, 12, 24 |
| Analogous | 3 | 330°, 0°, 30° | 12, 24 |
| Split-complementary | 3 | 0°, 150°, 210° | 12, 24 |
| Triadic | 3 | 0°, 120°, 240° | 3, 6, 12, 24 |
| Tetradic (square) | 4 | 0°, 90°, 180°, 270° | 12, 24 |
| Tetradic (rectangle) | 4 | 0°, 60°, 180°, 240° | 6, 12, 24 |
| Starting colour | Complementary | Analogous | Split-complementary | Triadic | Tetradic (square) | Tetradic (rectangle) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yellow | Violet | Yellow-green, Yellow-orange | Red-violet, Blue-violet | Red, Blue | Red-orange, Violet, Blue-green | Orange, Violet, Blue |
| Yellow-orange | Blue-violet | Yellow, Orange | Violet, Blue | Red-violet, Blue-green | Red, Blue-violet, Green | Red-orange, Blue-violet, Blue-green |
| Orange | Blue | Yellow-orange, Red-orange | Blue-violet, Blue-green | Violet, Green | Red-violet, Blue, Yellow-green | Red, Blue, Green |
| Red-orange | Blue-green | Orange, Red | Blue, Green | Blue-violet, Yellow-green | Violet, Blue-green, Yellow | Red-violet, Blue-green, Yellow-green |
| Red | Green | Red-orange, Red-violet | Blue-green, Yellow-green | Blue, Yellow | Blue-violet, Green, Yellow-orange | Violet, Green, Yellow |
| Red-violet | Yellow-green | Red, Violet | Green, Yellow | Blue-green, Yellow-orange | Blue, Yellow-green, Orange | Blue-violet, Yellow-green, Yellow-orange |
| Violet | Yellow | Red-violet, Blue-violet | Yellow-green, Yellow-orange | Green, Orange | Blue-green, Yellow, Red-orange | Blue, Yellow, Orange |
| Blue-violet | Yellow-orange | Violet, Blue | Yellow, Orange | Yellow-green, Red-orange | Green, Yellow-orange, Red | Blue-green, Yellow-orange, Red-orange |
| Blue | Orange | Blue-violet, Blue-green | Yellow-orange, Red-orange | Yellow, Red | Yellow-green, Orange, Red-violet | Green, Orange, Red |
| Blue-green | Red-orange | Blue, Green | Orange, Red | Yellow-orange, Red-violet | Yellow, Red-orange, Violet | Yellow-green, Red-orange, Red-violet |
| Green | Red | Blue-green, Yellow-green | Red-orange, Red-violet | Orange, Violet | Yellow-orange, Red, Blue-violet | Yellow, Red, Violet |
| Yellow-green | Red-violet | Green, Yellow | Red, Violet | Red-orange, Blue-violet | Orange, Red-violet, Blue | Yellow-orange, Red-violet, Blue-violet |
These are the answers for a 12-colour RYB wheel, worked out from the angles. To try the same harmonies with screen colours, use the Color Harmony Generator; to pick colours and see them on samples, use the Color Wheel.
Tint, tone and shade rings
| Rings | How many | Ring width (5 in wheel) | From the outside in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pure colour | 1 | 43.2 mm | pure colour |
| Pure + tint | 2 | 24.1 mm | pure colour, tint (+ white) |
| Pure + shade | 2 | 24.1 mm | pure colour, shade (+ black) |
| Pure, tint, tone, shade | 4 | 12.1 mm | pure colour, tint (+ white), tone (+ grey), shade (+ black) |
A tint is the colour plus white, a tone is the colour plus grey and a shade is the colour plus black. Every ring is the same width, so a wheel with more rings has narrower rings.
Sizes
| Paper | Labels | Largest wheel (inches) | Largest wheel (cm) |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Letter | With names round it | 5.5 in | 14.2 cm |
| US Letter | No labels | 7.25 in | 18.4 cm |
| A4 | With names round it | 5.375 in | 13.6 cm |
| A4 | No labels | 7 in | 17.8 cm |
Every page has a 1 in (or 2 cm) bar at the bottom to check that the print is at 100%. The six-harmony page sizes its wheels to fit six on one sheet.
Which tool to use
| You want | Use |
|---|---|
| A blank wheel or a colour wheel worksheet to print and colour in | Blank Color Wheel |
| Harmonies and palettes from a colour on screen | Color Wheel or Color Harmony Generator |
| Hex codes for primary, secondary and tertiary colours in RYB, RGB and CMY | Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Colors |
| A printable grid to test your own paint mixes | Color Mixing Chart |
| Whether a colour is warm or cool | Warm and Cool Colors |
For paint, the Paint Mixing Calculator suggests which paints make a colour, and the Warm and Cool Colors checker sorts colours by temperature.
What prints
| Download | What is in it |
|---|---|
| Every page at real size, vector: segments, rings, marks, boxes and labels, with a check bar | |
| PNG 300 DPI | One picture per page (a ZIP when there are two) |
| SVG | The page on screen at real size, with shapes, labels and marks in separate groups |
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Frequently asked questions
What is a blank colour wheel?
A circle cut into equal segments, usually 12, with nothing coloured in. You fill each segment with paint, pencil or marker: the three primaries first, then the secondaries mixed from them, then the tertiaries in between.
Which colours go on a 12-part colour wheel?
In the red, yellow and blue (RYB) wheel used for paint, going round from yellow: yellow, yellow-orange, orange, red-orange, red, red-violet, violet, blue-violet, blue, blue-green, green and yellow-green. Primaries are three segments apart, with a secondary halfway between each pair.
What does the colour wheel worksheet ask?
The worksheet design marks each segment P, S or T (primary, secondary or tertiary), so students mix and paint the right colour in each, then fill in the key boxes. Page 2 is the answer key in RYB colours.
How are the harmonies marked?
By angle, from the starting colour: complementary 180° away, analogous one segment (30°) either side, split-complementary 150° and 210°, triadic every 120°, square every 90° and rectangle at 60°, 180° and 240°. A dot sits on each colour of the harmony, joined by a line. Split, analogous and the tetradic schemes need a 12- or 24-segment wheel.
What are tints, tones and shades?
A tint is a colour mixed with white, a shade is mixed with black, and a tone is mixed with grey. The ring designs give each colour a ring for each, from the outside in, so you can practise all three.
Why are the answer-key colours not the same as my paints?
Real paints vary from brand to brand and batch to batch, and no screen colour matches a paint exactly. The answer key uses conventional RYB screen colours, the same ones as our primary, secondary and tertiary colours page; tints, tones and shades are on-screen blends. Use it to check which colour goes where, not the exact shade.
How is this different from the Color Wheel tool?
The Color Wheel tool is interactive: pick a colour on screen and it finds harmonies and palettes for digital design. This page makes a printable sheet to colour in by hand, with worksheets and an answer key.
Can I print it bigger?
Set the size in inches or cm. The largest wheel that fits on one page is in the Sizes table; landscape or no labels give a little more room. For a poster, download the SVG and print it at any size.
Is it free?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no limit.
Is anything uploaded?
No. The wheel is drawn by JavaScript in your browser. Nothing you choose is sent anywhere or saved when you close the page.