Cadmium Greens, a Comparison

What Even Is a Cadmium Green? How Do You Choose the Best One? And Most Importantly, What Color Will it Be In the End?

Cadmium Green is a rather niche area of the paintbox, and yet there's so much to discover.

What Color is Cadmium Green?

All of the Above

Is it leaf green, is it shamrock green, is it grass green, or even Emerald green? The answer is all of the above. But we're here to help you answer the enduring question of which green you'd like to add to your paintbox, and for that, here are the color swatches.

At least three kinds of green hues are well represented among cadmium greens. These range from a cool middle green represented by Holbein, and an arpeggio of limes represented by Williamsburg, Winsor and Newton, RGH, and Gamblin.

Six kinds of cadmium green are swatched out on a panel. Some are yellower green and some are bluer green.

Cadmium Green Brand Comparison

Featured Paints in this Article

Easily explore the featured paints for more in-depth information on each one

Ok, What Is a Cadmium Green?

A Mixture of Cadmium Yellow and Viridian- But Not Always

Cadmium green is a mixture, usually of Cadmium Yellow PY35 and Viridian PG18. However if you know your Cadmium Yellows, you'll know that this allows for enormous variety between these colors. Cadmium Yellow can range from a reflective almost whitish yellow-green Cadmium Yellow Lemon to an acidic high chroma lemon yellow to a primary middle yellow all the way down to marigold. The amount of yellow and green can also vary.

Choosing the right one for your palette will depend a lot on what qualities you need. The most important element for us is often hue as paint can be modified for various handling situaitons. We loved each one for its differences. We could imagine landscape painters really loving the two Williamsburgs, the RGH, and the Gamblin. Personally we also really liked the higher chroma of the Winsor and Newton as well.

As a side-note our tube of Williamsburg Cadmium Green Light was fairly old (note the different typeface) so we are not wholly sure if it is the same hue as more recent formulations.

Not only did the paints differ in color they also differed in texture. The Holbein could be cut with the palette knife and hold its shape while the others ranged in their softness. All were smooth with RGH being loosest and Gamblin being in the lead for more resistance (more detail on these two colors below). The Williamsburg colors were soft, spreadable and highly pigmented.

Four tubes of paint with a paper where the colors are sampled. Some of the piles of paint have defined ridges made with a palette knife.

Cadmium Greens come in a wide variety of hues and textures.

Cadmium Green Colors in Context

Comparing Cadmium Green to some Permanent Greens

One of the best ways to judge colors is in context, so we added a few more greens that were not on the panel, just in case one of them is a green you happen to know.

We added blurbs of paint for Vasari's Cinnabar Green Deep, Gamblin's Permanent Green Light, Winsor and Newton's Permanent Green, and Schmincke Norma's Permanent Green.

As we mentioned before, Cadmium Green is usually a blend of genuine cadmium and a genuine viridian. Even with just two pigments, there is a huge variety of green colors because cadmium yellows vary a lot in hue from lemon yellow to yellow-orange. Also, the proportions of green and yellow can be blended to make an array of greens.

About 9 tubes of paint which include some cadmium greens set next to some permanent greens so a person can make comparisons.

Cadmium Greens Galore: Cadmium Greens compared with a few Permanent Greens for Context

Two Similar Lime Colors

Gamblin and RGH Both Offer a Lime Green made with Cadmium

Among the greens on the panel, two were very close in hue. The RGH Cadmium Green Deep and the Gamblin Cadmium Green were similar colors of lime green. However their consistency was different. Gamblin had a lot more resistance to being moved with the palette knife and seemed a bit more willing to be shaped into impasto ridges. The RGH was slightly more melting and loose but could also handle impasto. The RGH was also a bit more strongly pigmented.

A closeup of two lime greens among our featured colors.

Gamblin and RGH offer somewhat similar colors though they each have a different consistency

Two of the More Yellow-Green / Lime Varieties

Among our featured paints, these were two of the most yellow-green colors

A Propensity towards Warmth

Among our featured paints, many had a lime note

Among the paints sampled here, the Cadmium Greens had a welcome note of warmth that would lend themselves to foliage. The Holbein was a bit of an outlier with a much cooler/bluer green. There was overall a propensity among these Cadmium Greens toward lime that we didn't expect.

A panel showing swatches of green paint.

Many of the paints had a warmth to them. The exception was Holbein on the left.

Another Pair of Lime Greens (Middle)

Moving away from the yellowest ones, we meet another pair of limes. Of the two, the W&N was more chromatic. However their formulation may be changing, so just a heads up.

The Deeper-Valued Greens Among the Featured Paints

Among the paints we examined here, two were deeper in value than the rest, however they differed in color. The Holbein was the bluer of the two.

A Green That is Very Convenient

Comparisons with the single-pigment Phthalo Greens

Below are the Cadmium Greens in context between Phthalo Green PG36 and Cadmium Yellow. These interesting convenience mixes can be mixed on the palette, however for those who have painted with green a lot, you know that at times it is very handy to have a dialed in green which can be adjusted as needed.

One comes to know these convenience green notes by heart and then they can be called upon when wished for. Each convenience green can be further modified, and sometimes it can save a step to already have the base yellow and green pigment pre-mixed. When starting out, it is recommended to learn how to do without convenience greens so that one learns how to mix colors, however as one advances one will know which convenience greens would be truly helpful to have.

There are of course two kinds of Phthalo Green, and we broadened the comparison to include the bluer version, Phthalo Green PG7 in the distance. The middle panel is Phthalo Green PG36, and the closest panel are the Cadmium Greens.

Three panels show the hue differences between cadmium green convenience blends and single pigment phthalo greens. The cadmium greens are more limey.

From front to back, the featured panel of Cadmium Greens, Phthalo Green PG36 (yellow shade), and Phthalo Green PG7 (blue shade)

Featured Paints in this Article

Easily explore the featured paints for more in-depth information on each one

Cadmium Greens and Lightfast Yellows

Let's Talk About Yellow

One thing to watch out for with when it comes to other convenience greens is the lightfastness of the yellow- however that is a relief when it comes to Cadmium Greens. For these paints, the cadmium yellow which they use happens to be one of the more lightfast yellows. It's not perfect but it is a lot better than some others.

Cadmium Yellow is high in lightfastness as well as opaque, and both of these qualities shine forth in these greens. These will also mix predictably (which is a good thing) with other cadmium yellows since they are part of its composition already.

Three panels with different categories of paints show the hue progression from green to yellow.

Phthalo Green, PG36 and the Cadmium Greens placed next to Cadmium Yellow Lemon swatches

Progression of Greens

These gorgeous greens go from cool middle greens to warm limey yellow greens

Whether you're following the hues on the curve of a lime or catching the side of a leaf warmed by western sun, these greens would be a solid choice. Due to their opacity they are popular in alla prima. These mix well with earths, with blues, with oranges. Experiment with purples and see where they take you.

We hope you enjoyed these warm greens, and that this helped to give you a sense of the hue of some of these colors which can vary so much.

Three panels compare paint swatches of phthalo green, cadmium green, and cadmium yellow

The progression of Cadmium Greens. From back to front, Phthalo Green PG36, Cadmium Greens, Cadmium Yellow Lemons

These greens varied considerably in hue. Some were super limey and veered towards the yellows while others were a more middle lime green. The Holbien was a bit of an outlier as it was cooler and darker than the rest.