How do warm colors and cool colors differ?

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The spectrum that we are used to seeing, whatever one may say, is divided into warm colors and cold colors. The perception of both lies in their name. The first create an atmosphere of comfort, set in a positive and calm way. The latter look strictly, solemnly, a little aloof. Based on these parameters, in fact, shades are selected, with the help of which they decorate various rooms, select clothes for people of a particular profession, and masterpieces of art are created.

How colors are divided

According to the standard scheme, warm colors and cool colors are shades from red to yellow and from blue to green, respectively. It is worth saying that such a division is very primitive, since we all know very well that the same pink (it would seem a shade of red) can be both warm and cold. In fact, it all depends on the so-called undertone, which gives the main color a touch of severity or, conversely, makes it softer.

So now let's look at not warm colors and cold colors, but the corresponding shades, which decide everything. So the warm spectrumcreate: red, ocher and orange. Its opposite cold is formed with the help of white, gray, blue, lemon yellow, black and blue. It is worth noting that in the first case, the warmest undertone is ocher, and in the second, it is whiteness that adds the most “ice” to any picture.

Illustrative examples

Compare warmth and coldness in color using blue as an example. If you add white, ink, or a mixture of them (that is, gray) to such a paint, then the shade will immediately become alienated, gloomy. At the same time, one drop of red or ocher is enough to turn the standard blue into a bright tone that resembles a clear sky in the middle of spring. Of course, this color will be warm. A similar experiment is carried out with red. When blue is added to it, we get lilac, and when mixed with ocher, the color becomes warm, autumnal, slightly golden.

Warm colors and cool colors can be clearly seen in the paintings of famous artists. Aivazovsky's painting "Calm on the Crimean Shores" is painted using seemingly cold shades - blue, white, blue and pink. Nevertheless, in the picture there is an indirect red color, which turns all the above into warm ones. Closer to the coast, the sea gives off turquoise, on the horizon line it becomes lilac. Of course, there are many cold tones in the picture, but looking at the full composition, we can say with full confidence that this is a warm landscape.

Trying to identify the spectrum

It is sometimes difficult for a person who is not related to painting to understand how warm and cold colors are divided among themselves. The table in this case becomes a visual aid to which you can refer in case of confusion. And in order to learn how to independently identify shades, ask yourself: what is more in the picture - white or gold? The answer will be obvious.

Knowing which colors are cold and warm, you can most succinctly compose the image of a person. A bank employee will match exactly strict tones. Designers, musicians and other representatives of creative professions often choose warm colors in clothes. So it is easier to communicate with them, in their own way they are conducive to friendship and compromise.