Slide 27 & 28 of 52

Another quality of color used by artists is the temperature of a color. The temperature of a color is defined as being warm (red, orange, and yellow), cool (blue, violet, and green), or temperate (red-violets and yellow-greens).

The temperature of a color is important because warm colors advance while cool colors recede. Artists rely on juxtaposition of warm & cool colors to provide a depth cue. Applying just a warm to cool color shift is not enough.

The choice of which warm & which cool is important, as we can see in this model. Although the edge lines & highlights are visible and a great deal of surface detail is available, the shading is unnatural and possiblay confusing.