Often, as an instructor of color & color mixing, I am asked, “How do I know if a color is warm or cool?”
There are actually two different answers to this question. Why? Because there is the big picture answer and then its subset. Over riding this question is: WHY is this so important for artists?
I know that once I knew the warm and cool of each of my primaries, the unwanted mud in my paintings essentially went away. Confidence in my color mixing also soared!
Most of us are familiar with the color wheel and the hue families of: yellow, green, blue, violet, red and orange. If you draw a line through the middle of the color wheel, much like the one below, you can delineate warm versus cool colors.
The Big Picture Answer:
Warm hues => yellow, orange, red
Cool hues => violet, blue and green
Now, let’s take it a step further. There are warm and cool colors of EACH of the hues available to us. For example, we have warm & cool yellows, warm & cool reds, warm & cool blues, etc. It does seem like an oxymoron, but it is not.
The Smaller Picture or Subset of the Answer to What Color is Warm or Cool:
In the figure below I show you the “subset” of warm and cool colors:
Within your array of tubes of primary colors, you have your own unique set of warm-yellows, cool-yellows, warm-reds, cool-reds, warm-blues and cool-blues.
Note: It is easiest to start out SEEING the warm versus cool biases of your primary colors before you tackle SEEING the biases of your secondary colors of green, purple and orange.
How do you determine the bias of your primary colors? There is only ONE WAY to do that. You have to paint a color swatch of each of your primary tubes of paint.
You cannot memorize them based on what someone else has said. It is critical that YOU SEE them through YOUR eyes using YOUR tubes of paint, because it is YOUR visual voice that you are expressing.
Gather up all of your tubes of paint and sort the primary colors into hue families of yellow, red and blue.
This figure of yellows below ~ painted swatches of various tubes of yellow ~ gives you an example of what your chart of primary colors could look like. It is always helpful to label each swatch.
Now, study the array of your yellows (and eventually your reds and blues as well) and you will begin to SEE which bias each of the yellows carries. It is only by comparing them side by side that you can SEE the differences.
Do you see any duplicates? Amongst your yellows, are you missing a warm yellow ~ one with some red in it ~ OR missing a cool yellow ~ one with some green in it? If so, then you need to purchase what you have missing.
If you want to stop mixing mud or are attaining unsatisfactory color mixing results, you must know the warm and cool biases of your tubes of paint. Let me pose this question: If you mix a yellow with some red in it with with a blue that has some green in it, what is going to happen? What will your color mixture be? Knowing the answer is why this concept of warms & cools it is so important for artists.
Submit your answers in the comment box.
To learn more about color mixing via an online video course, please visit my introductory video Acrylic Color Mixing Made Easy! produced by Craftsy. The principles taught in this video course can be applied to any medium — be it oils, watercolor or water mixable oils.
A Note About Blue: There is a disagreement as to which blues are warm and which are cool. The key is that you SEE the green-blues versus the red-blues. You might enjoy my post, “What is the Temperature of Blue?”
P.S. If you like this post and find it helpful, I’d love it if you’d pass it on via email or social media. You can use the buttons at the top and bottom of this post to share it.
Paige Mortensen says
February 8, 2013 at 3:53 pmMixing greens was one of the best parts of Carol’s Painting with Colour Confidence class! Exploring the combinations of warm and cool yellows and blues and getting the right pair really makes a difference.
Nancy G says
February 8, 2013 at 3:57 pmGray
carolmac2 says
February 8, 2013 at 4:01 pmHi Paige! Thanks for the kudos. 🙂
carolmac2 says
February 8, 2013 at 4:02 pmNancy, your mixture will be a green, but which green?
Artistkay says
February 8, 2013 at 4:07 pmGray
carolmac2 says
February 8, 2013 at 4:18 pmHi Kay! Thanks for your answer. The end result of mixing these two colors will be a green. Try it and discover the green you will mix. 🙂
Lisa Kerpoe says
February 8, 2013 at 9:41 pmThis is a very important topic – understanding this really made a difference in my color mixing. The color combo you mention should yield a low intensity green, something in the olive family.
Diane Edwards says
February 9, 2013 at 2:12 amolive green
carolmac2 says
February 9, 2013 at 5:14 pmLisa, you are correct! And yes, once I understood warm and cool colors my color mixing life became much more enjoyable. Thank you for your comment.
carolmac2 says
February 9, 2013 at 5:15 pmHi Diane! Yes, you would mix an olive green. As you know the variations would depend on exactly which warm yellow and red blue you used. Thank you!
Ruth Kennan-Fairlamb says
February 13, 2013 at 6:46 amRed+Blue+Yellow=Brown! I find that it all depends on the amount of primary colour used. If you want a cool, dark brown, you use more blue and less red and yellow, a warm rich brown, red must dominate, and a light brown or khaki has most yellow. So you will get a tan or a khaki, depending on the amount of warm, orangey yellow or cool, turquoise blue you use. If you use equal amounts the result will probably be olive green.
‘All my art teachers gave me a good grounding in the colour wheel, and the various colour values, including warm/cool, far/near, contrast/complimentary and all the tints, grades, and shades before they launched out on form, shape, texture etc. As an art teacher myself I did the same.
carolmac2 says
February 13, 2013 at 3:50 pmRuth, I think you might have miss-interpreted my question. I am asking about a tube of yellow, such as cadmium yellow or new gamboge, mixed with a tube of blue with some green in it will result in a lovely green. It will not be brown. What kind of green?
Also, red+blue+yellow can result in lovely grays. Of course every mixture depends on the ratio of this or that. Glad to hear that you received a good basic color theory overview. Keep on painting and thanks for stopping by.
carolmac2 says
February 25, 2013 at 3:05 pmHi Alicia! Thank you for directing people to my blog post about cool and warm colors. I will need to find your blog as well.
Maria says
April 30, 2015 at 1:40 pmI believe it’s a muddy green because one has a red bias and the other has a green bias. Green and red are complementary colors that when mixed tend to dull ( muddy). Please tell me if I misunderstood.
Carol McIntyre says
May 1, 2015 at 12:03 pmMaria, you are correct and congratulations. As you practice seeing the color bias in your primaries and do more color mixing, knowing this will make painting so much more fun and less frustrating.