20 Best Color Theory Books and Companion Tools for Artists

Color theory is essential knowledge for every artist who works with visual arts – painters, designers, photographers, filmmakers, etc. The best color theory books and tools teach the laws of light and color and how you can use them to create the most stunning art pieces!

Reading books and using tools like posters, tables, or cards is one of the most effective ways to get ahead with this topic. There’s a wide selection of them all over the Internet, so we’ve made you a list of well-reviewed, useful, and reliable ones that will assist you on your journey to discovering the world of color.

Nothing beats practice though, so make sure to implement everything you learn 😉

(The books below are not ranked, so make sure to scroll all the way down and find the perfect one for you.)

#1. Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter by James Gurney

You may know James Gurney, the creator of this book, as the author of the Dinotopia series. He also worked for National Geographic magazine, designed a series of US postal stamps, and won many awards. His well-known works are mostly based around painting historical civilizations’ reconstructions and dinosaurs.

This particular book is a continuation of the book series based on the materials of his art blog. It’s a well-researched study on the fundamental themes for every artist, and it brings theory and practical knowledge together. It includes many examples from lesser-known artists as well and explains everything based on science and observation.

The book is suitable for advanced artists as it is filled with extensive information and exceptional ideas. It’s straightforward to navigate as it includes a glossary, pigment index, and full bibliography.

#2. Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

Josef Albers was a part of the Bauhaus art movement in Germany in the 1920s and one of the most influential 20th-century educators in the art field. He came to the United States in 1933 and was teaching at the Black Mountain College and Yale, and in 1968 he was also elected to the National Institute of Arts and Letters.

This book is a 50th-anniversary edition of his legendary book. Interaction of Color was originally published in 1971, and, as you can see, it maintained its value, remaining in print ever since. This edition features close to sixty color studies followed by the author’s original text. This is an essential source of color theory information.

It will be great for artists of all experience levels and covers the topics of color relativity, temperature, intensity, color boundaries, transparency, etc.

#3. Color: A workshop for artists and designers by David Hornung

As stated in the title, this book is suitable for both artists and designers. Since it’s essentially a workbook with assignments, it will be good for beginner artists as well. The author of the book, David Hornung, is a professional painter and educator, as well as the chair of the Department of Art and Art History at Adelphi University.

The book contains many illustrations, including fresh contemporary art, and effectively turns theory into practical knowledge. Yet, it lacks information on the physics of the light and the color, so if you need deeper knowledge on that, you are better of with another title on this list.

However, it offers you extensive information on color perception, visual structure, psychological experience of color, various techniques and materials, and color composition for digital formats. The digital formats info is what the older books might lack, but this book is fully up-to-date with modern technologies and modern principles of design and art.

#4. Design Elements: Color Fundamentals by Aaris Sherin

This is another book that is a good learning tool for designers specifically. Since designers have to achieve specific purposes, their use of color can be different from what artists are taught, and they surely need their own designer approach to color theory. Pun intended.

Aaris Sherin, the author of this book, is a graphic design professor at St John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in New York. Her writings have been featured in the most influential magazines! In her work, she addresses the issues of environment, innovative problem solving, and creative thinking.

This book contains visual examples, easily comprehensible color theory basics, useful techniques and tips, and knowledge of applying said methods and information in real-life design projects. It’s necessary to know the rules, but the book also explains when and how it is appropriate to break.

#5. Color Choices: Making Color Sense Out of Color Theory by Stephen Quiller

Published in 2002, this book still maintains its relevance, offering the reader a new perspective on perfecting their color choices and styles. It’s great for experienced artists who want to create better and learn something new. The book also has an important addition of a special foldout color wheel designed by the author that showcases 68 colors and how they blend and interact.

The book has stunning illustrations as examples. It explains step-by-step how to develop outstanding color schemes, layer colors, mix them clearly, and use colors in unusual ways. Whatever drawing or painting technique and mediums you prefer, you will definitely find something useful in this book.

The author of this book, Stephen Quiller, is an internationally known landscape painter who mainly works with water-based mediums. He teaches workshops, owns a painting gallery, and is regularly invited as a juror to regional and national art exhibitions.

#6. Color Mixing Bible by Ian Sidaway

Ian Sidaway, a British artist, started with commissioned portraits and is currently specialized in landscapes. He wrote 32 books to date, and this book on color theory and mixing colors is one of them. It’s essential to know how to mix colors when working with traditional mediums, and Ian Sidaway has experience working with the ones mentioned in the book.

Mixing colors may seem complicated and time-consuming at first. Every medium needs a special approach due to its chemical and physical features. This book explains how to make the mixing process more natural and enjoyable. It gives you the necessary knowledge and tips and includes many visual demonstrations, which is necessary in this case.

The book is perfect for beginners since it explains a lot of basic and in-depth information. It will be an amazing addition to the library of every traditional artist.

#7. Color Harmony for Artists by Ana Victoria Calderon

The author of this book is a Mexican and American watercolor artist Ana Victoria Calderon. She teaches personal workshops, Skillshare classes, and this book is one of the several that she wrote and illustrated. It’s dedicated to color theory in watercolor, and aside from being very useful, it looks stunning on the outside and the inside.

This book is great for beginner watercolor artists, and even children will enjoy it and learn from it. It will guide you through choosing a color, mixing it, and making the most out of it to create masterpieces. It also contains examples of how to paint landscapes, flowers, figures, and what different art movements look like. Since the book contains lots of beautiful and vivid illustrations, it can also become a source of inspiration!

#8. Color by Betty Edwards

You may know Betty Edwards, an American author and art teacher, from her famous book “Drawing on the right side of the brain” which is used in many art schools. Since then, she had moved from black-and-white to color. Using her experience and her teaching methods, she created this book about color theory essentials.

“Color” is based on the techniques that have been tested out during Betty Edwards’ workshops. It will help you achieve a basic but solid understanding of light and color, the influence that the colors can make on each other, and the psychology of color.

You will learn to manipulate the color’s hue, intensity, value, and temperature to influence viewers’ eyes and develop a unique coloring style. And you will also learn how to balance color in different painting styles and kinds, creating eye-catching pieces.

#9. Pantone: The Twentieth Century in Color by Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker

This book is more about the color itself rather than color theory. But it’s also essential for a good artist and designer to understand the difference that color can make in the world. The demand for certain colors evolves through history, and it’s interesting to track it and understand why it happened that way.

The worldwide color authority, Pantone, has created this book as an incredible visual tour throughout the entire 20th century. Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker, longtime Pantone collaborators and widely known color gurus, have worked hard to make this happen. They took more than 200 works of art, fashion, and products’ design, matched them with official Pantone color palettes and made the changing trends clearly visible.

The book contains many visual materials, and you can use them not only for reference but also for inspiration. It’s a good thing to own if you’re a designer or an artist who’s building up a book collection.

#10. Making Color Sing by Jeanne Dobie

This book is the 25th-anniversary edition of the book that was originally published in 1986. Jeanne Dobie, the author, is a famous watercolorist and educator who has earned many awards and was featured in various influential publications.

“Making Color Sing” has a format of 31 practical easy-to-follow exercises, even if you are a beginner watercolor artist. It will teach you new ways to view color, think about it, and make it work for you in your own style and paintings. Colors are always interacting with one another and influencing each other, which is one of the main principles that the book is based on.

The lessons on color teach you composition and design to help you find a structure for your works and express every creative idea.

#11. The Pocket Complete Color Harmony by Tina Sutton

Is a pocket version of the book more convenient than a normal-sized book? Definitely yes, especially if you travel a lot and need a helpful color theory geode on the go. If that’s about you and your needs, then this pocket-size version of The Complete Color Harmony book is for you.

The book contains hundreds of color palettes that you can use for your projects or just for inspiration. It also features information on choosing the best colors, how they are perceived, and how they interact with each other. It’s a good choice for a more advanced artist or designer who needs to revise some of the information or get a piece of quick advice.

The author of the book, Tina Sutton, is a writer and a consultant for advertising agencies, product developers, and corporations. She’s an expert in the psychology of color and wrote about it for numerous publications.

#12. 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor by William F Powell

Are you a traditional artist who works with colors a lot and needs to mix them often? Then this book is a perfect choice for you. It doesn’t really matter what level of experience you have because everyone can learn to effectively mix colors in various mediums.

The book is tabbed for quick and easy reference and contains lots of valuable information on achieving perfect colors. It features two removable color mixing grids – for oil and acrylics and watercolors. It gives you picture instructions of what colors to mix to get a specific one you want.

William F Powell, the award-winning artist, is experienced in watercolor, oil, and acrylic painting. He’s been in the art world for over 45 years and has worked in various mediums and genres. Over the years, he built up the experience to write this book and make it especially helpful.

#13. A Field Guide to Color: A Watercolor Workbook by Lisa Solomon

This book will be great for beginner watercolor artists. It is essentially a workbook full of exercises for unleashing your creativity – a workshop that you can do on your own. It’s suitable for everyone – artists, designers, and creators in general, and it doesn’t require a lot of skill for you to use it.

The author of this book is Lisa Solomon – an artist, graphic designer, and college professor in the Bay Area. She has a unique, recognizable art style, and her work topics revolve around craft and personal histories. She exhibited her works in different galleries, nationally and internationally.

The book is beautifully illustrated, easy to understand and to follow along. It will teach you how to use watercolors, create and use color wheels, use basic color theory terms, and meditate through art simultaneously. It has all the basic color theory information and will be a delight for kids and adults.

#14. Color Theory by Patti Mollica

Patti Mollica, the author of this book and several others, is an impressionistic and contemporary painter and a professional illustrator. Impressionistic paintings tend to depend on color choices to express emotions. Therefore, the author’s perspective on color and color theory is backed by her experience and knowledge.

This book is a guide that will walk you through the essential aspects of color theory applied to acrylic and oil painting. It would be great for beginner oil and acrylic painters to learn how to deal with color and not be afraid of using it. The book has step-by-step projects, professional tips, useful techniques, illustrations, and inspirational artworks.

It includes an overview of art history, a necessary dose of science, and information about the pigments used in paints. But aside from that, you’ll also find basic and solid color theory knowledge, such as color temperature, value, hue, color relativity, and many other things.

This is an extensive list of useful books for all cases and every kind of artist. However, you may need other tools to assist you daily, especially if you don’t have the possibility to carry books around all the time.

These are some examples of companion tools that artists can use for easier interaction with color:

#15. Daler Rowney Color Wheel Small Color Mixing Guide

Color wheels are a classical tool that can assist with choosing color palettes for your works or revising the basic principles on the go when needed. They can be perfect for classrooms, workshops, and personal use. No matter what level of artistic experience you have or what medium you work with – color wheels work! They are usually convenient to use, well-organized in terms of visual clues, and interactive.

This color wheel features a lot of theoretical knowledge and practical information on how to achieve certain colors through mixing.

#16. Color Harmony Wheel by Mandarin Moose

This color wheel has extensive instruction with the color theory information on its back. It will help you choose the perfect color palette for your drawing or painting to emphasize certain things and make them stand out.  The turning part of the wheel will cover up all the colors that you won’t need so that your eyes will only concentrate on the palette that you choose.

The color wheel will also tell you the names of the paint colors closest to the ones shown. It will make your process of buying and mixing paints way easier.

#17. Magic Palette Color Mixing Guide

This mixing guide is also there to assist you with mixing. However, its setup is different from the color wheel format, and it has all the colors laid out in front of your eyes in the form of an 18 x 18 table.

The table shows 324 colors that you can create by mixing 18 most essential colors that painters often use, which will reduce your guesswork significantly. So, if this format is easier ad helpful for your perception – this mixing guide is an ideal choice.

#18. Tools for Artists Drawing by Pixiss

This handy set seems to have it all for working in the studio or outside. It’s made in the convenient format of several cards that you can wear on your neck. It features measuring tape, grayscale and value finder, a color wheel basic information card, and a clear viewfinder card with the proportions grid.

With these tools, you’ll be able to create stunning paintings not only in your studio but during plein air practices as well.

#19. Pocket Guide to Mixing Color

This, essentially, is just what you would expect it to be – a small pocket guide that contains the color theory information. It’s made in the foldout format, rather than a bound book or a set of cards, making it very easy to use.

The pocket guide has a color wheel, some information on primary and secondary colors, the types of color harmonies, etc.. It’s meant to help you on the go and assist you with choosing color palettes for your works.

#20. Color Theory Notecards by Mimi Robinson

These gorgeous notecards can be used as a tool or a lovely souvenir. It’s a well-designed set of notecards and envelopes with watercolor designs that illustrate the color theory principles. You can use them or keep them as a full set. In any case, it will be a lovely little thing to have if you love watercolor art.

Color theory isn’t really too scary and can be broken down into a few key principles. That’s what these books and tools are meant to show you.

Every knowledge comes best when it’s practiced.

If you keep trying, you’ll master color theory in no time! Soon, you will know how to apply all these principles intuitively. So stock up on the books that you like, get to learning – and your works will be outstanding!