An easy way to identify warm and cool colours. (Patreon)

Hi everyone,

This is a video I posted on my YouTube channel today. I’m posting it here on Patreon without the ads because I think it will be useful to many of you. I’ll put it on the indexes so you can refer to it whenever you need it.

Determining the temperature of a colour is important when you paint but I don’t find it easy to do. Many artists use a colour wheel to work out colour temperatures but to me, using a colour wheel, is merely guess work.

In this video I demonstrate two simple ways I determine what temperature the colours I use are, and it doesn’t involve looking at a colour wheel.

Why is it important to know the temperature bias of colours?

There are several reasons but I will focus here on colour mixing. The temperature of a colour has an impact on the colours you mix.

Red is a warm hue but there are warm reds and cool reds. It’s the same for yellow. Yellow is a warm hue but there are warm yellows and cool yellows.

Blue is a cool hue but there are warm blues and cool blues.

When you mix colours, the temperature of the colours you choose impact the colours you mix.

Green is a cool colour. Mixing a cool blue and cool yellow will make a brighter green than if you mix a cool blue with a warm yellow and vice versa. If you mix a warm blue with a cool yellow, the colour you mix will be more natural looking and less bright. If you mix a warm blue and a warm yellow you will also get a natural, less vibrant green.

Orange is a warm colour so if you want a vibrant orange, mix two warm colours together. Mixing a warm red with a warm yellow will give you a bright orange. If you switch in a cool colour into the mixture, it dulls the colour you mix slightly.

Violet is a bit different because it’s made from red (a warm hue) and blue (a cool hue). To mix a vibrant violet you need to mix a warm blue and a cool red. If you switch that around and use a cool blue and a warm red you might get more of a greyed down violet.

There's a lot to remember but after a while it becomes intuitive.

I hope this video is useful to you.

Louise