What Is An Artist’s Colour Wheel?

The artist's colour wheel is similar to and based upon the traditional colour wheel created by Isaac Newton. It consists of a wheel split up into primary and secondary colours, and the positioning of the colours are the same as the traditional colour wheel.

The main difference is that artists recognise colour in terms of warm and cold hues. These produce either warm or cold colours when mixed. Each primary colour is separated into a warm and a cold version of that colour on the artist's colour wheel, so the red section comprises of cadmium red on the right, and scarlet red on the left, still positioned at the top. In between that and the next primary colour is the secondary colour that results from both of those primary colours being mixed. So, to the right of the cadmium red is a warm orange, mixed from the warm red and the warm yellow.

The artist's colour wheel is also split into three rings. The inner circle contains the colours in dark hues, which are created with the addition of black. The middle circle contains the colours as outlined above, and the outer circle contains the paler hues, with white having been added.

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