Warmest Cadmium Red Lights vs Cadmium Red Oranges Oil Paint

Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Orange

Lightfast oranges with chroma that blows away even most color-standard books, these colors flash with carnelian fire and their saturation is pepper-hot.

Lightfast oranges with chroma that blows away even most color-standard books, these colors flash with carnelian fire and their saturation is pepper-hot. Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Orange, colors with respectable permanence and stability, are knockout standalone colors as well as valuable pigments in color mixing. The orangest cadmium red lights meet the reddest cadmium oranges in this paint-out, which helps to show where these hues live in the color space. These aren't the only colors in this space: this article looks at some premium brands. For those desiring some specificity in terms of their hues, general Munsell notes are located at the end of the article.

In terms of pigments, Cadmium Red Light is usually a PR108 and Cadmium Orange is usually PO20.

A panel with colored paint swatches that shows color comparison of Cadmium Red Lights and Cadmium Red Oranges.

Super high chroma Cadmium Red Lights and Cadmium Oranges

The Orangest Cadmium Red Lights and the Reddest Cadmium Oranges

Color Wayfinding: The Middle Panel in a Wide Array of Colors

Could you Pyrrole it instead? Sure, you could. In fact there are some tints where a non-cadmium pigment like PO73 is unparalleled, and feels like a necessity. There are a lot of different colors of Cadmium Orange though, and it can be one of the trickier cadmium colors to try to replace. However, that's a different article. Like many painters, we have found a great deal of utility in having a wide array of high-chroma cadmiums on the palette.

For some, mixing cadmium-based orange colors out of Cadmium Red Light and a Cadmium Yellow Medium might be totally sufficient. However, we began to notice a little chroma drop with that practice. We began to prize the uniquely high chroma and pure color clarity of the single-pigment Cadmium Oranges. Cadmium Oranges go oranger than the ones we're focusing on in this article (the middle panel), and cover an array of hues from red-orange to middle-orange to yellow-orange. One can always modify the hue of a cadmium with an adjacent cadmium color, so having a large number of these is by no means a necessity.

However, after many years of painting, differences not just in hue but also in handling begin to emerge.

Oil paint color comparison for Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Orange. Three panels display the variety in these colors across paint brands. There are about eighteen different paints sampled on the panels showing differences in color.

Cadmium Red Medium vs Cadmium Red Light vs Cadmium Oranges In Premium Oil Paint Brands. These three panels show the differences between Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Orange. The featured panel is in the middle for context. The reds start with Cadmium Red Medium by Williamsburg and quickly turn into Cadmium Red Lights. The lightest orange on the panel to the right is RGH.

World's Best Cadmium Red Oranges- Premium Brands

Differences in Hue and Handling

All the brands on this panel are premium brands, and as expected, their pigment strength was outstanding. As we saw in other paint-outs, Michael Harding Cadmium Orange lagged slightly behind several top-tier brands in tinting strength (Old Holland, one of the Williamsburgs and Rublev), however all were so strong that this is a somewhat small difference. The Old Holland Cadmium Red Scarlet (Rood Scharlacken) was the winner for tinting strength--which will surprise no one who has painted with it.

In handling, the Old Holland has a stiff impasto right out the tube. Williamsburg and Michael Harding have a soft impasto. One paint which stood out to us as interesting was the Rublev Cadmium Orange. This color handles in a unique way. We have used this color extensively, and a single drop of this paint can change a mixture in both color and the consistency of the mix. The paint is very loose --almost liquid-- in its consistency, highly pigmented, incredibly bright, and surprised us pleasantly again and again.

The Orangest Cadmium Red Lights and the Reddest Cadmium Oranges

Featured Paints

These paints are the focus of this panel

The Cadmium Red Lights that Lean Orange

Paint Names vs. Paint Colors

Cadmium pigments vary widely in hue, as well as in the way the brands name their paints. In our featured panel, we grouped the warmest (orangest) of Cadmium Red Lights among a group of brands, and set these next to the reddest Cadmium Oranges from a group of brands.

In other words, there are much more cherry-red paints that are named Cadmium Red Light than the featured ones. (Also, there are also much yellower paints which are also named Cadmium Orange than the ones on the panel). Even with choosing the warmest cadmium red lights and the reddest cadmium oranges, a delineation in hue between the two hue groups exists (paints called Cadmium Red Light still differed from those labeled Cadmium Orange).

Cadmium Red Lights that lean oranger include Williamsburg Cadmium Red Vermillion, Williamsburg Cadmium Red Light, and Old Holland Cadmium Red Scarlet (Rood Scharlacken).

A variety of Cadmium Red Lights and Cadmium Orange in oil paints. Handpainted swatches made with a palette knife show the differences between paint brands

Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Orange Comparison. The featured panel is in the foreground.

Cadmium Red Light Paints that Lean Oranger in Hue

Among the paints we tested, these Cadmium Red Lights leaned oranger. Williamsburg colors have a soft, workable impasto while Old Holland cadmiums are fairly stiff.

Reddest Cadmium Oranges

Cadmium Oranges Vary a Lot, and These Leaned More Towards Red-Orange

It's long been rumored that Old Holland Cadmium Orange was a special color as being one of the red-orangest Cadmium Oranges right out of the tube. We're only making comparisons with a range of colors which is by no means comprehensive, however we did see the merit in this claim. However, this has that Old Holland stiffness, so the consistency is something to consider in addition to the color.

Of the Cadmium Orange paints we tested, the reddest is probably Old Holland Cadmium Orange. Michael Harding Cadmium Orange and Rublev Cadmium Orange are tied for the next place, however the Rublev is much higher chroma and has more clarity in tints.

Between the Michael Harding and the Rublev, there are also big differences in consistency. The Rublev is what we'd call a specialty color in that it handles totally differently than other Cadmium Oranges-- a quality we've come to adore. However, that said, it is not for everyone. The consistency of the Rublev is almost liquid. The Michael Harding has an easy-to-work with soft impasto.

A panel with painted swatches of three red-leaning cadmium oranges.

The Reddest Cadmium Oranges. Cadmium Orange gets a lot yellower than the ones here.

Cadmium Oranges that Lean Red-Orange

Among the Cadmium Oranges we tested, here are some that leaned the most red-orange. These differ a lot in consistency.

A Few Cadmium Callouts

Some of Our All-Time Favorite Colors in this Area of the Rainbow

Over years of painting with a wide variety of colors and brands, we fell in love with some of these colors— particularly the Williamsburg Cadmium Red Light as a basic warm red mixer, the Old Holland Cadmium Orange for its high chroma in the red-oranges, and the Rublev Cadmium Orange for its incredible pigmentation and fluidity. We loved them so much that we started painting with at least two cadmium oranges plus the very orange-leaning Williamsburg Cadmium Red Light in addition to some other yellower-leaning cadmium oranges. One of us actually paints with 3-4 cadmium oranges in total in a wide-gamut palette. For some that amount would be bewildering, and so it just depends on a person's preferences and painting practices.

A few of our longstanding favorites happen to be on this panel of comparisons

A Few of Our Favorites for Specialty Uses

These Colors Differ in Exact Hue and Unique Handling Properties

The Gorgeous Gamut

Munsell Notes on Cadmium Red Lights

An array of Cadmium Red Lights with redder Cadmium Red Lights on the left and the oranger ones on the right. For context, the panel featured in this article is the one on the right. On our featured panel, the oranger Cadmium red lights are close to 8.75R 5/14, and the redder Cadmium Oranges are around 10R 6/14. These colors tend to exceed the Munsell chip gamut.

Panels that show the comparison of paint swatches of Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Red Orange across many brands

Gradient of high chroma cadmiums from Cadmium Red Medium by Williamsburg through Cadmium Red Light and into Cadmium Red Orange

In hue, the three paints that grouped into a redder zone were the Williamsburg Cadmium Red Vermillion, the Williamsburg Cadmium Red Light, and the Old Holland Cadmium Red Scarlet (Scharlaken). The paints that grouped oranger were Michael Harding Cadmium Orange, Old Holland Cadmium Orange, and Rublev Cadmium Orange, however, compared to Cadmium orange in other brands these three lean towards a bit of a red-orange. As always, consistency matters, with the Old Holland being stiffer, the Michael Harding and Williamsburg being softer but still capable of impasto, with the Rublev having an almost liquid consistency.