Yes you can add brown (which is a mixture of red/yellow plus a touch of blue), alternatively you can add grey- which is white plus black (black is essentially blue, plus a touch of red/yellow). Another way to lower the chroma of a colour is through the addition of its complimentary colour; found on the opposite side of the artists colour wheel. In the case of orange (we are talking about pigments here) the compliment is blue! In hindsight, you will notice that whichever method you choose, the addition of blue is the common occurance!

I hear you ask “does the addition of blue make the ‘orange’ cool? Well yes, and no, it depends on what we have to compare it to. We can create what is essentially a cool brown, through the addition of more blue, or a warm brown through the addition of less blue. Remember you are just comparing the browns to each other, nothing else in this example. So a True Autumn brown has the least blue added, than say a True Winter brown (often called black brown) which contains, by comparison, more blue; hence it is darker (blue is has a naturally low value) and cooler.

In essence, the 12 Tone Soft Autumn ‘oranges’ are comparatively cooler than the True Autumn ‘oranges’ because they are lower in chroma i.e they contain more blue. At this point the temperature of the hue is neutralised and is technically classified as a warm/neutral.

Clear as mud?

You are correct when you say that the Soft Autumn ‘oranges’ appear pinker. The addition of blue (which neutralises the hue, makes them appear pinker by comparison.

The difference between a True Autumn and True Spring ‘orange’ is initially chroma; same hue, different chroma. The True Spring ‘orange’ is the higher chroma, clearer one, the True Autumn are the lower chroma versions.

The True Autumn and Spring ‘orange’ are 100% warm, a mixture of yellow and red (no blue). The Soft autumn ‘orange’ is no longer warm but neutral. To neutralise the hue we need to add more blue. Relative to all the hues found within the True Autumn tone, the Soft Autumn hues are warm/neutral, and as a pallet overall slightly lower in chroma. It is much more important that a 12 Tone Soft Autumn wear neutral tones (neither warm nor cool), rather than simply lowering the chroma of the True Autumn tones. Too much warmth in the hues creates disharmony between the hues and on the wearer.

I do have trouble seeing these ‘oranges’ in the Soft Autumn palette, but I can see what you mean with your colour graphs which were helpful.

I understand about the lower chroma and corresponding this to your own colouring. They do appear to become pinker though and lose much of their warmth – but I guess that is them becoming more neutral.

So what is the difference between a True Autumn Orange and a True Spring Orange. Would Spring’s be clearer and brighter, or higher chroma. If true orange is for True Autumn (so not muted, or lower chroma as this would head to Soft Autumn), how are they different?

Ps: Have I mentioned that I’m liking the True Autumn fan and the new design.

Thank you for your comment. Firstly we must understand that our perception of colour is relative. Our determination of its charactoristics is dependant on what we have to compare it to. In other words in order to express what a colour is, we must not look at it in isolation, but instead have something to compare it to.

In answer to your first question. The overall value of the 12 Tone True Summer (TS) is medium compared to the overall value of the 12 Tone True Winter (TW). This does not mean that the TS contains no lower value hues, but when compared to the lower value hues of the TW they are not as dark. In other words the TS tonal group (and all the hues found within it) is medium in value when compared to the TW and all other tonal groups within the 12 Tone System.

Regarding chroma or brightness. Again it is relative. The chroma/brightness of all TS hues is lower than those found within the TW; the tonal group as a whole is therefore lower in chroma. Again this does not mean that the TS tonal group does not contain brighter hues, however when compared to TW hues they are not as bright.

All of the above is generally true of the individual whose personal colouring harmonises with the TS tone. When compared TW their colour harmony appears softer, less contrasting, more even in overall value, with less light/dark contrast of hair/ skin/eyes. Thefore the TS tonal group by its very nature, is lower in contrast than the TW tone.