Tints, Tones and Shades

You'll notice there are several colors missing from this color wheel: pink, brown and navy blue, just to name a few. These color variations are called tints, tones and shades. Any pure hue that is lightened by adding white is called a tint (red + white = pink). Any pure hue that is muted by adding gray is called a tone (orange + gray = brown), and any pure hue that is darkened by adding black is called a shade (blue + black = navy blue). These Sesame Street characters exemplify good use of tints, tones and shades.

Click here and here for more information on color theory.