With the various blue colors being all the rage right now, we have noticed more and more people reaching out to ask for a dedicated teal vs blue comparison article. This is not surprising due to the spike in popularity of all blue shades and hues right now but we have noticed a large amount of mis-information out there regarding the various colors so we wanted to publish this dedicated article going over our own teal vs blue comparison.
Our hope is that we will be able to help any of our readers who are looking to use teal or any other shade of blue for their arts and crafts or home design choose the best option for them. Now, due to there being a huge range of different blues on the market, we are going to be focusing on cobal blue for the majority of our article as it is one of the most popular regular blues out there.
That said though, later in the article we will be touching on a number of other shades of blue and how they compare to teal too as we do see some people asking for more specific comparisons. Setting out the article this way should make it easier to flow through for most of our readers but you can use the table of contents below if you want to jump to specific sections quickly.
Teal Vs Blue Comparison!
As you can see from our color comparison sample above, teal has a strong hint of green in it although it does still have a bluey-green look to it where as the cobal blue is a nice solid blue that most people would think of when they think of blue. Although teal and blue are easy to tell apart from each other, they do tend to go very well with each other in the same piece of art due to the two being complementary and close to each other on the color spectrum.
That said though, both teal and blue can do very well as stand-alone color options to each other when used with other colors too. They both tend to offer plenty of versatility for your palette when mixed with other paint colors with both tending to mix well. That said though, it can be easy to make your own teal paint provided that have a nice blue such as cobalt blue in your collection as well as a nice yellow or green depending on how you want to make it.
This can score more points for blue for any beginners or anyone on a tight budget who is trying to keep their costs as low as possible. That said though, teal does offer so many uses, especially right now with teal being such a popular option for arts and crafts that a large number of people will simply just add a tube of teal paint to their collection too.
The Teal Color!
Although teal does have a set digital hex code for digital artwork, different paint brands do tend to have their own pigment charts for their teal paint. This can result in different brands having a obviously different color listed as “teal” with some being closer to blue and some being closer to green.
Thankfully, you are able to do a quick visual check if you purchase your teal paint online or compare tube samples or swatches in your local arts and crafts store. This tends to give you a better idea of what your teal color will look like but keep in mind, some brands show the color of their wet paint, not when dry.
Our top tip for anyone who is wanting to use teal paint in their artwork is to always buy it from the same brand. This way you should always have the same color once dry so if you run out of your teal paint tub mid painting you shouldn’t have any problems keeping the colors the same.
The Blue Color!
When it comes to blue there is even more variety amongst the shades and colors but if you are a beginner, a nice cobalt blue tends to be a great starting point before you brand out into any of the darker or lighter hues. Cobalt blue is easy to find both online and in local photography stores too while also being cheap scoring it more points for people new to painting.
Due to blue mixing so well with almost every other color, a tube of a nice blue such as cobalt blue really does offer the best possible bang for your buck over something like teal. Even with an entry-level paint collection of the core colors you can mix your blue with other colors from your collection and get pretty much any other color you could ever need.
Just keep in mind that mixing paints can be hard for beginners, especially if you need to mix three colors to get the target color as keeping the ratios correct gets harder with the more color ingredients you have. If you do have the budget available, it can be a better option to just purchase the actual color you want if you are new.
There are also options to make your own paints too that are usually easier than most people think helping to reduce costs further. We have the following articles published on how you are able to make a number of popular blues:-
- How To Make Cobalt Blue.
- How To Make Cerulean Blue.
- How To Make Phthalocyanine Blue.
- How To Make Ultramarine Blue.
- How To Make Your Own Prussian Blue.
Each of those specific blues have their own advantages and disadvantages over teal though with some being lighter and some being darker than a normal blue. Depending on what you are trying to do exactly, you can sometimes use them in the same piece of artwork as teal but a decent dark blue such as Prussian blue tends to be an excellent addition to your paint collection even as a stand alone color or as a color to mix with other dark colors.
What Is The Difference Between Teal And Blue?
The main difference between blue and teal is that teal is much closer to green on the color spectrum where as the various shades and hues of blue are all within the blue zone. This makes it obvious to see the differences between the various blues and greens thankfully though helping to ensure that you can visualise how the two can work together or as a stand alone option for your artwork.
One thing to keep in mind with both blue and teal when it comes to hanging your own artwork or using blue or teal for home design is that the can change color under different lights. With more and more people getting smart lights in their home that can switch between colors, we just wanted to make our readers aware that both featured colors can look black under blue and green lighting.
You are easily able to add some green or yellow paint to a blue paint to get close to teal too so we would recommend that you keep that in mind. Although you could technically turn teal into blue, you would need to have a blue paint in your collection already essentially defeating the purpose.
Should You Use Blue Or Teal?
Your own personal preference towards both blue and teal will often come into play when it comes to deciding if you should use one or the other. Some people do prefer teal with it seeing a huge spike in its popularity right now but others do prefer blue and the range of blues available usually lead us towards blue too.
We usually recommend that our readers go with blue over teal due to it being so easy to make teal from blue while being so much harder to make blue from teal. That said though, this is only if you are on a budget as many people do carry both blue and teal in their collection as standard due to both options being very popular at the time of writing.
Thankfully, both teal and blue are very easy to find and cost the same as the majority of other cheap tubes of paint. This ensures that most of our readers will be able to find both options in their local arts and crafts store or online and add them to their collection without breaking the bank.
Conclusion
That brings our teal vs blue color comparison to an end. Although both colors can be used together in the same piece of art or as a stand alone color or when mixed with other colors, they both have their individual use cases. The best option for you will depend on your own preference as well as what you are actually trying to do with your artwork too.
