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Today I’m looking at a couple cool-leaning yellows: hansa yellow light and cadmium-free yellow light acrylic paint. Cool-leaning yellows have a touch of green in them. This might not be obvious at first glance but will become more obvious when mixing because they’ll produce bright greens with certain blues. If you want to mix a lime green, choose a cool yellow and mix with a phthalo blue.
They are both very light values. You won’t find a dark version of either, even when used straight from the tube.
Hansa yellow light
I’m using Kroma’s Hansa yellow light. Kroma is a small acrylic paint manufacturer in Vancouver, on Granville Island. The paint is very transparent and is popular as an alternative to the potential toxicity surrounding cadmium pigments.
All hansa paints tend to not be as lightfast as some other pigments. For this one, it’s very good, a step below the most lightfast colours. On Kroma’s website, they say it’s at the upper end of very good so this minor issue isn’t a concern for me.
It’s a very affordable colour – one of the lower-priced artist-quality yellow pigments. Hansa yellow light is PY3, which is a newer type of arylide developed from azo dyes.
Cadmium-free yellow light
This is from Liquitex’s cadmium-free line of paints, mimicking the very popular cadmium paints without the toxicity concerns. Cadmium-free yellow light is opaque with excellent lightfastness. The price typically falls in the middle of the cost for yellow paint, not the most expensive nor the cheapest.
It isn’t labeled with a specific pigment, which is typical for the Liquitex cadmium-free paints. .
Mixing colours
I tested out how the two colours mix with some common colours, to see how it could contribute to a typical artist’s palette. I use the following colours:
- Cadmium-free yellow medium
- Cadmium-free red medium
- Quinacridone magenta
- Ultramarine blue
- Phthalo blue (green)
- Dioxazine purple
- Sap green hue
- Cadmium orange
- Titanium white
Watch me test how the two colours mix with other colours on my Youtube channel.
Which yellow light acrylic paint?
Ultimately, the two colours are so similar that either will be a great choice. The Hansa yellow light is quite transparent and also less expensive. Cadmium-free yellow light is middle-of-the-range when it comes to its price. It’s also very opaque, or at least relatively opaque compared to other yellow pigments.
You can mix wonderful colours from either hansa light yellow or cadmium-free yellow light, including some brilliant greens, since it is a green-leaning pigment. I also did a pair of quick paintings to show some of the range of colours you can mix using either colour.
Learn more
Check out a listing of all my colour mixing blog posts and videos on my colour mixing roundup article.
Get your own
Pick up your favourite shade of yellow at your local art supply store or on Amazon:
US
Canada
