Ask yourself, “what pigments had to be mixed together to create this color? What color temperature is dominant?”ĭigital projects use the RGB color wheel. If you’re painting, the RYB color wheel applies. When deciding whether a specific hue is cool, consider what type of color wheel applies in your situation. While this seems simple, it can get tricky to know whether an individual color falls on the warm or cool end of things when you’re working with the whole rainbow and a wide range of hues. To develop an eye for spotting cool and warm tones, instead of relying on basic rules, try comparing similar color swatches and determining their temperature. Similarly, you can have a warm red with yellow tones or a cool red with blue undertones.īecause blue is the coolest primary color, any color with a blue undertone will be considered a cool color, whether that’s red or green. Warm and cool colors next to each other – can you tell which ones are cool colors? Depending on the specific shade, you might have a warm yellow with a red tint or a cool yellow with green undertones. That’s why red and yellow can be cool-toned sometimes. So while you can use this “all greens, blues, and purples are cool” rule as a starting point, it ultimately depends on what shade you’re working with. But in practice, all colors contain cool and warm tones – it’s part of what makes the world of color so rich and varied.

Classifying Color Temperature Based on UndertonesĪs a general rule, greens, blues, and purples are cool colors. While blue, green, and purple are excellent relaxing colors, they can also be warm colors.

They evoke a sense of calmness, harmony, stability, and relaxation. But it’s not that simple (we’ll get more into this later).Ī better (though less cut-and-dry) way to define cool colors is that cool colors are “passive” hues.

The color wheel is split evenly between cool and warm colors.Īs children, we’re often told that blue, green, and purple are cool colors, and red, yellow, and orange are warm colors. In this article, we’ll go over the definition of cool colors (it’s more complex than you probably think), how to identify them, what their effects are, and how to skillfully use them in your work. Harnessing the power of warm and cool colors is a crucial skill for anyone who frequently works with color.īut working with cool colors is about more than just using blues and greens and avoiding reds and yellows. Wanna learn what cool colors are and how to use them? Then you’ll appreciate reading this post!

Primary colors in color wheel