Yellow is one of the primary shades in color theory, but you can still create yellow from other colors. Combining red and green in equal parts gives you yellow; it’s as simple as that.
However, following this method will only give you one shade of yellow. It’ll appear bright and vibrant. But there are many shades of yellow, and we’ll show you how to get them.
Making Yellow Warmer
The easiest way to make yellow paint a bit warmer is to mix it with a warm color. However, for the best results, you need to use a warm shade of yellow as the base color.
If your yellow paint is too cool, you won’t probably get the warm yellow you seek, no matter how many colors you mix with it.
Setting that aside, mixing your yellow paint with scarlet should give you the desired warm shade you seek. You can control the temperature by varying the amount of scarlet paint you add.
How to Make Yellow Darker
There are two ways to make yellow darker: mix different shades of yellow, or add different colors to a base of yellow paint. The two colors that work best are orange and red.
Of course, you can control how dark you want your yellow paint to be by choosing different shades of orange or red.
See also: What Colors Make Black?
Making Yellow Muted
Is your yellow paint too bright? You can easily tame it with some muting colors such as grey, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, and violet purple.
Just keep in mind that muted yellow works best when included in paintings with other shades of yellow.
How to Make Yellow Cooler
Making yellow cooler is all about choosing a cool shade of blue and mixing it with a cool yellow base.
If you choose a warmer yellow, the final result will turn out to be a brownish muted shade, which is probably not what you’re looking for.
On a side note, make sure that you add the cool blue paint incrementally to your yellow base.
Read also: What Two Colors Make Green?
How to Make Yellow Paint Lighter
Yellow is a naturally bright color, but you can make it even brighter by turning it into a lighter shade.
You can add grey, light green, or white to a yellow base to make it brighter. White is the most popular option to lighten a wide range of colors. It’ll also tune down the yellow a bit and make it less vibrant.
The Glazing Technique
Other than mixing colors to create different shades of yellow, the glazing technique is a popular method that artists use to give their yellow paintings a rustic, toned-down appearance.
All you have to do is apply layers of glaze to give your yellow paintings a nice finish.
The Technical Aspects of the Different Shades of Yellow
If you’re a graphic designer or work in advertising, chances are you need to know the exact percentages required to get different shades of yellow.
Here’s a table to summarize them:
Yellow Shade | RGB Code | CMYK Code | HEX # |
Yellow Ochre | (204,119,34) | 20%, 45%, 100%, 0% | #cc7722 |
Saffron Yellow | (244,196,48) | 0%, 19.7%, 80.3%, 4.3% | #f4c430 |
Apricot Yellow | (251,206,177) | 0%, 17.9%, 29.5%, 1.6% | #fbceb1 |
School Bus Yellow | (255,216,0) | 0%, 15.3%, 100%, 0% | #ffd800 |
Canary Yellow | (255,239,0) | 0%, 6%, 100%, 0% | #ffef00 |
Lemon Yellow | (255,244,79) | 0%, 4.3%, 69%, 0% | #fff44f |
What Can Yellow Mean in Design?
The color yellow is used to symbolize different meanings across different cultures. In Japan, yellow is for courage, while it was used as a symbol of death in ancient Egypt.
Still, yellow has multiple psychological meanings that are shared across the whole world. Many people associate the color yellow with warmth, happiness, and optimism.
However, the shade of yellow plays a significant role here. Some shades of yellow can make you think of jealousy or sickness.
It’s also believed that yellow makes us feel energetic, activates our memory functions, and stimulates the nervous system.
In addition, multiple systems in our daily lives utilize the color yellow in various ways. Because it’s an easy color to read, even from a distance, yellow is often used for taxis, roads, traffic signs, and school buses. This works best when yellow is combined with black.
See also: Colors of the Rainbow in Order!
Final Thoughts
There you have it! By the end of this guide, you should easily know how to mix colors to get different shades of yellow.
Mixing red and green el gives you a classic bright and vibrant yellow. For a lighter shade, mix a yellow base with white, while a darker shade requires red or orange.
To mute your yellow paint, use grey or cobalt blue.
If you need a warmer shade of yellow, use scarlet red, and if you want it cooler, mix it with a cold shade of blue.