About
Colours directly opposite to each other in a colour wheel and appears opposite in character are called complementary colours.
They cancel each other out, lose hue and produces a achromatic color (grayscale color like white or black).
Type
Additive
In a additive model (light, screen, monitor such as rgb), the primary opponent/complementary color cancels each other to get white
- rose versus aquamarine
- violet vs chartreuse
- …
You can see them in this RGB wheel.
Demo:
Subtractive
In a subtractive model (ink, paint, printing), there are three opponent channels that creates a color closed to black (brown).
You can see them visually in this ryb star:
Contrast
Complementary colors tend to contrast well and are therefore chosen as dual color in complementary color scheme.
Glossary
Direct complements
Colors that are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel.
Split complements
A colour and the two colors adjacent to it’s direct complement.