Warm and Cool Colors in Art - City Skyline Art Project

With this marvellous warm colors and cool colors city skyline art project, kids will be able to explore the key concept of warm and cool colors in art in an entertaining and creative way! 

 

If you're looking for easy and fun ideas to help your little ones learn about cool and warm colors in art then this city art project for kids ticks all the boxes.

As you make this city skyline art project, you'll show your kids how color works, how to differentiate warm from cool tones, and why it's important in art!

To begin exploring the color theory of warm and cool colors, we first need to talk a bit about the color wheel. As we've seen before, the color wheel can be divided into primary colors and secondary colors.

The primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. And secondary colors are the colors you get when you mix primary colors together: Purple, green, and orange.

(If you want to make your own color wheel check out our color wheel art project made from tissue and our turtle color wheel for kids)

But something really cool happens when you look at the color wheel. You can split it in half, and you'll get two family colors: warm colors on one side and cool colors on the other.

Cool fact?  Sir Isaac Newton created the first circular diagram of colors all the way back in 1666!

You may also like our warm and cool color tree grid art project which also focuses on the use of warm and cool colors in art. 

Warm and Cool Colors

COOL COLORS

Cool colors consist of blue, green, purple, as well as the result of mixing all these colors. Cool hues and shades are often used to soothe and make people feel serene and calm. On warm days, cool colors make us feel refreshed because they remind us of snow, water, or grass. 

WARM COLORS

Warm colors are red, orange, and yellow and all combinations of these colors. Warm tones make us feel and think of warm things like the sunlight during summer, fire or heat. Warm colors can be used to represent feelings like happiness and energy or even anger. 

Something pretty awesome about color theory and the color wheel is that it allows us to categorise every color! All colors are either warm colors or cool colors. 

Now, let's dive deeper into this theory by doing this fun city skyline art project to learn the difference!

Warm and Cool Colors in Art - City Skyline Art Project

Warm Colors and Cool Colors Art - Supplies:

• City Skyline printable or white paper
• Black marker 
• Oil pastels
• Q tips (cotton buds)

Warm vs Cool Colors Art Lesson- Instructions:

STEP 1 - Create a city skyline:

Begin by creating a city skyline halfway up your piece of paper. You can do this in two ways; you can draw a skyline using a black marker, or you can use the city skyline printable available at the end of these directions.

The city skyline will be dividing the colors into warm colors and cool colors. 

STEP 2 - Divide your oil pastels into warm and cool colors

Before you start adding color to your city skyline divide your oil pastels into warm colors and cool colors. 

Cool colors - all shades of green, blue, purple 

Warm colors - all shades of red, orange and yellow 

STEP 3 - Use cool colors

Now it is time to add some color to your city skyline using your divided oil pastels. The area below the skyline is going to be colored using only cool colors. 

Choose several cool colors and use them to create  blocks of color from left to right below the skyline (as shown below)

STEP 4 - Use warm colors

Now in a similar way color the top section above the skyline using a selection of warm colors. (as shown below)

STEP 4 - Smooth the oil pastels

To complete your city skyline art smooth out the oil pastels using a q-tip or a brush. This helps really blend the colors together for a more polished look!

Whilst we love the bright smooth finish that you get from using oil pastels, this warm vs cool colors art project could also be created using watercolor paint or crayons.

If you would like the skyline printable you can grab it for free using the pink button below. You might also like our elements of art bundle that is available in the Messy Little Monster shop.

DOWNLOAD YOUR CITY SKYLINE PRINTABLE BELOW

To get the city skyline printable for free click on the link below and use the discount code - sky. For personal or classroom use only. Not for redistribution. All images are copyrighted. Thank you.

This warm vs cool colors art project looks so impressive when it all done and it really helps children explore color!  I hope that your kids love this warm and cool color art lesson just as much as we did. Enjoy!

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