Warm VS Cool Colours. 3 Easy Ways to Tell the Difference

Color Theory

May 26

Written By Tatiana Kuvaldina

Have you ever looked at the colour and felt unsure if it’s warm or cool?

Have you ever got puzzled because of how your paint mixture turned out to be?

Or maybe you wondered why does colour temperature even matter?

Let’s dive into it!

Colour temperature is crucial when it comes to paint mixing. Cool red together with blue gives a clear violet shade, while the same blue with warm orangey red results in russet brown. Instead of trying all possible combinations to find the right one, you can rely on colour temperature to make your choice.

Blue + cool red and blue + warm red mixtures

To get a purer clearer colour mix two cool or two warm ones together. When paints of different colour temperature come together, the resulting hue will be duller with a bit of brown or grey in it. A notable exception is a mix of two colours with the same basis, like a warm and cool red or a pair of greens. Their blends will look clear and smooth.

So how can you tell the difference between warm and cool colours?

Way 1:
Associations
Which associations come to your mind when you look at the colour?

Warm shades make you think about the sun, fire, ripen fruit, and golden autumn. They fill you with warmth, while cool shades bring up thoughts of winter, ice, and water.

Way 2:
Distance
Does the colour appear close or distant to you?

If the colour doesn't cause any associations, then look at how it affects a depicted subject. Warm shades come to the foreground, while cool ones draw us deep into the painting's background.

You can see this effect if you look at the artwork above. The squash on the bottom right has a similar amount of pigment to the one above it. Look at how the orange shades pull the bottom vegetable towards us, while cool greens push the top one backwards. You can notice the same effect if you focus on the background to the right from the bottom squash: warm red seems closer to us than cool green.

If none of the approaches above work well for you, then, here is the third one, you can always rely on.

Way 3:
Comparison
How does this colour look in relation to another one?

The idea is to compare the colour in question to the one you know for sure is warm or cool. Take a look at the colour samples below. Which of them are warm, and which are cool? Write your answers in a comment below. Then get back to this post.

Ready? Great! All those colours are on the same white background. Two of them are warm and two are cool. Without other colours around them, it can be tricky to confidently tell which colour is which. So here comparison comes in handy. Now, look at the pictures below. Each of them has colour in question in between warm and cool shades. Which direction does the colour lean to? Does this red have more in common with orange or violet? Does this green have more yellow or blue in it?