The visual art terms separate into the elements and principles of art. The elements of art are color, form, line, shape, space, and texture. The principles of art are scale, proportion, unity, variety, rhythm, mass, shape, space, balance, volume, perspective, and depth. In addition to the elements and principles of design, art materials include paint, clay, bronze, pastels, chalk, charcoal, ink, lightening, as some examples. This comprehensive list is for reference and explained in all the chapters. Understanding the art methods will help define and determine how the culture created the art and for what use. Over the years, art methods have changed; for example, the acrylic paint used today is different from the cave art earth-based paint used 30,000 years ago. People have evolved, discovering new products and procedures for extracting minerals from the earth to produce art products. From the stone age, the bronze, iron age, to the technology age, humans have always sought out new and better inventions. However, access to materials is the most significant advantage for change in civilizations. Almost every civilization had access to clay and was able to manufacture vessels. However, if specific raw materials were only available in one area, the people might trade with others who wanted that resource. For example, on the ancient trade routes, China produced and processed the raw silk into stunning cloth, highly sought out by the Venetians in Italy to make clothing. The art methods are considered the building blocks for any category of art. When an artist trains in the elements of art, they learn to overlap the elements to create visual components in their art. Methods can be used in isolation or combined into one piece of art (1.24), a combination of line and color. Every piece of art has to contain at least one element of art, and most art pieces have at least two or more.
How to Mix a Custom Paint Color
I am a frugal fiend, but I also love doing DIY projects around my house. These aren’t always cheap so I have found numerous ways to save money at them. One of the best ways to save lots of dough on DIY projects is learn about paint. Paint transforms everything, but did you know you can transform your paint? You can make it into chalk paint (as livelovediy.com explains), you can use additives to make it thinner, thicker, reduce brush strokes, etc, and most importantly, you can mix your own colors !
I used to think to myself this fact was common sense, but as I see many people shelling out hundreds to buy custom paint, I realize the artist in me is taking this knowledge for granted. Take a look at this circle of beauty. It is the color wheel. Any paint you have leftover, get for free from a recycling facility, or are given from your grandma can be made into another color with this guide. Let me give you a rundown.
THE BASICS OF COLOR MIXING
Say you have carnival red. Very few things look good in bright red, so there’s usually a lot of it free to go around. But what if you are looking for a deep purple paint color? Well luckily, you only need to find blue to make purple out of red. Red + Blue = Deep Purple. Yellow + Blue = Dark Green. Red + Yellow = Burnt Orange. See a pattern? The color wheel shows you any color can be mixed from the two colors on either side of it in the circle. Want lime green? Mix a lot of bright yellow with a little teal.
Adding black to the color creates a shade of the hue:
Adding white to the color creates a tint of the hue:
Adding gray to the color creates a tone of the hue:
All of this is sort of an art, and it will take practice. But I am just throwing out the information that YOU can make that perfect paint color. You don’t need to search every store to find it. You’ll also notice the size of the color corresponds to how much paint to mix. Generally, weak colors are white, yellow, and pastel colors (tints) because they are formed from a white base. Generally, strong colors are black, red, and bold colors (shades) because they are formed from a black base. If it’s a strong color, you only mix in a little to get a result. If it’s a weak color, you need to mix in a lot.
The other piece of advice is that bright colors yield bright colors. You cannot mix two bold colors and expect them to change hues. Look at the color wheel again:
Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow are the colors you want to mix if you are looking for a bright color. Mixing traditional blue and yellow will not give you a true green. It will yield a dark green. Cyan, magenta, and yellow are the true primary colors. This is explained more in depth on wikiHow.
RULES OF MIXING PAINT
So now that you know the basics of color mixing, let’s learn the rules of mixing paint:
1. You cannot mix latex with oil paint.
These paints are made of two different bases (latex is water based and oil is oil based). They will not combine, the oil paint will pull away from the latex like when you pour oil into a glass of water.
2. You can mix finishes. A matte finish and gloss finish will make a semi-gloss. Two mattes will stay matte.
3. You can mix brands.
I usually make sure at least one of the brands I mix in has qualities I need. I mixed a teal for my bathroom that the bright blue I mixed with lime green said it was moisture resistant.
4. You should test colors first before you dive in.
Take an old ice cream pail and mix equal parts to find your color. For example, one part red, three parts white to make pink. Then you will know approximately how much paint to mix into your existing color to get the hue you want.
5. Mix, mix, mix.
You know those machines that vigorously shake your paint when you order the color in the store? You have to be that machine. Use a paint stick and mix until your wrists cramp, then mix some more.
So, I talk about getting free paint at my local household hazard waste recycling facility, and now you know how I can make that paint into any color I please! If you need help figuring out how to create a specific color you have in mind, please contact me.
I hope you enjoyed this post and learned how to mix a custom paint color! Check out my adventures in painting furniture, wood trim, canvas, and murals. Please pin and share!
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Posted in Decor
Published by Melissa Woods
My name is Melissa Woods, homemaker and parent. I am an amateur handy-woman and avid DIY-er. I am an adept painter and deft crafter. I am a finance enthusiast and frugal to the core. View all posts by Melissa Woods
Christina Herschelman says:
Hi there. I have a greyish colonial blue paint that I would love to turn in to some sort of teal or turqoise color. I’ve tried mixing a bright blue with it – fail…a lime green with it- fail….and a yellow with it….fail. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Melissa Woods says:
Christina, I’m sure this is not what you want to hear, but I would say it will be difficult to create turquoise out of grey blue. This is because you’re starting with the wrong base. A grey base is in the tone family and a turquoise’s base should be in the bold family. Learn more about color families here: https://www.welcome-to-the-woods.com/how-to-create-flow-in-home-design/. For turquoise, you need blue + lime green, or bright sky blue + green. Perhaps you can visit your local household hazardous waste facility and look for brighter, bolder colors to mix together there?
Valerie says:
I loved reading this! Thank you. I am about to paint my den a very light sea foam green. Sorta turquoise but more green than blue. What I want to do is find the complimentary color to that and paint my kitchen walls. What I’ve come up with is coral, but hubby ain’t having that. Any thoughts? Also wondered what you thought about color paint on the cabinets?
Melissa Woods says:
It’s funny you are asking this because my mother painted her kitchen cabinets a sea foam green a few years ago! Her kitchen walls she painted a turquoise so it was more of a monochromatic color scheme. I thought that looked nice. If you are looking for color schemes, you should read my article about how to create flow in home design. That will help you pick colors that look cohesive across multiple rooms of your house. Thanks for the comment!
Melissa
Heidi says:
Hi I have a chippy teal and it came with light ash wood colored distressed look how can I change the real tones to a reddish accent color?? I loved your article, and let’s be honest most of us frugally empowered people love saving money
Melissa Woods says:
I’m not sure I understand what you mean? If it’s painted teal and you want it red you can just paint over it. If you want to send me pictures so I can help you better shoot me an email at [email protected]
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I’m Melissa Woods!
I love coffee and creating, snuggles with my kiddos and volleyball with my husband. My 130 year old farmhouse has a modern aesthetic and I strive for a minimalist lifestyle. Join me for my adventures in crafting, decorating, renovating, + more!
6: What Are the Elements of Art and the Principles of Art?
The visual art terms separate into the elements and principles of art. The elements of art are color, form, line, shape, space, and texture. The principles of art are scale, proportion, unity, variety, rhythm, mass, shape, space, balance, volume, perspective, and depth. In addition to the elements and principles of design, art materials include paint, clay, bronze, pastels, chalk, charcoal, ink, lightening, as some examples. This comprehensive list is for reference and explained in all the chapters. Understanding the art methods will help define and determine how the culture created the art and for what use. Over the years, art methods have changed; for example, the acrylic paint used today is different from the cave art earth-based paint used 30,000 years ago. People have evolved, discovering new products and procedures for extracting minerals from the earth to produce art products. From the stone age, the bronze, iron age, to the technology age, humans have always sought out new and better inventions. However, access to materials is the most significant advantage for change in civilizations. Almost every civilization had access to clay and was able to manufacture vessels. However, if specific raw materials were only available in one area, the people might trade with others who wanted that resource. For example, on the ancient trade routes, China produced and processed the raw silk into stunning cloth, highly sought out by the Venetians in Italy to make clothing. The art methods are considered the building blocks for any category of art. When an artist trains in the elements of art, they learn to overlap the elements to create visual components in their art. Methods can be used in isolation or combined into one piece of art (1.24), a combination of line and color. Every piece of art has to contain at least one element of art, and most art pieces have at least two or more.
Color: Color is the visual perception seen by the human eye. The modern color wheel is designed to explain how color is arraigned and how colors interact with each other. In the center of the color wheel, are the three primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. The second circle is the secondary colors, which are the two primary colors mixed. Red and blue mixed together form purple, red, and yellow, form orange, and blue and yellow, create green. The outer circle is the tertiary colors, the mixture of a primary color with an adjacent secondary color. 
Color contains characteristics, including hue, value, and saturation. Primary hues are also the primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. When two primary hues are mixed, they produce secondary hues, which are also the secondary colors: orange, violet, and green. When two colors are combined, they create secondary hues, creating additional secondary hues such as yellow-orange, red-violet, blue-green, blue-violet, yellow-green, and red-orange. Value: refers to how adding black or white to color changes the shade of the original color, for example, in (1.26). The addition of black or white to one color creates a darker or lighter color giving artists gradations of one color for shading or highlighting in a painting. 
Saturation: the intensity of color, and when the color is fully saturated, the color is the purest form or most authentic version. The primary colors are the three fully saturated colors as they are in the purest form. As the saturation decreases, the color begins to look washed out when white or black is added. When a color is bright, it is considered at its highest intensity. 
Form: Form gives shape to a piece of art, whether it is the constraints of a line in a painting or the edge of the sculpture. The shape can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional restricted to height and weight, or it can be free-flowing. The form also is the expression of all the formal elements of art in a piece of work. 
Line: A line in art is primarily a dot or series of dots. The dots form a line, which can vary in thickness, color, and shape. A line is a two-dimensional shape unless the artist gives it volume or mass. If an artist uses multiple lines, it develops into a drawing more recognizable than a line creating a form resembling the outside of its shape. Lines can also be implied as in an action of the hand pointing up, the viewer’s eyes continue upwards without even a real line. 
Shape: The shape of the artwork can have many meanings. The shape is defined as having some sort of outline or boundary, whether the shape is two or three dimensional. The shape can be geometric (known shape) or organic (free form shape). Space and shape go together in most artworks. 
Space: Space is the area around the focal point of the art piece and might be positive or negative, shallow or deep, open, or closed. Space is the area around the art form; in the case of a building, it is the area behind, over, inside, or next to the structure. The space around a structure or other artwork gives the object its shape. The children are spread across the picture, creating space between each of them, the figures become unique. 
Texture: Texture can be rough or smooth to the touch, imitating a particular feel or sensation. The texture is also how your eye perceives a surface, whether it is flat with little texture or displays variations on the surface, imitating rock, wood, stone, fabric. Artists added texture to buildings, landscapes, and portraits with excellent brushwork and layers of paint, giving the illusion of reality. 
Principles of Art
Balance: The balance in a piece of art refers to the distribution of weight or the apparent weight of the piece. Arches are built for structural design and to hold the roof in place, allowing for passage of people below the arch and creating balance visually and structurally. It may be the illusion of art that can create balance. 
Contrast: Contrast is defined as the difference in colors to create a piece of visual art. For instance, black and white is a known stark contrast and brings vitality to a piece of art, or it can ruin the art with too much contrast. Contrast can also be subtle when using monochromatic colors, giving variety and unity the final piece of art. 
Emphasis: Emphasis can be color, unity, balance, or any other principle or element of art used to create a focal point. Artists will use emphasis like placing a string of gold in a field of dark purple. The color contrast between the gold and dark purple causes the gold lettering to pop out, becoming the focal point. 
Rhythm/Movement: Rhythm in a piece of art denotes a type of repetition used to either demonstrate movement or expanse. For instance, in a painting of waves crashing, a viewer will automatically see the movement as the wave finishes. The use of bold and directional brushwork will also provide movement in a painting. 
Proportion/Scale: Proportion is the relationship between items in a painting, for example, between the sky and mountains. If the sky is more than two-thirds of the painting, it looks out of proportion. The scale in art is similar to proportion, and if something is not to scale, it can look odd. If there is a person in the picture and their hands are too large for their body, then it will look out of scale. Artists can also use scale and proportion to exaggerate people or landscapes to their advantage. 
Unity and variety: In art, unity conveys a sense of completeness, pleasure when viewing the art, and cohesiveness to the art, and how the patterns work together brings unity to the picture or object. As the opposite of unity, variety should provoke changes and awareness in the art piece. Colors can provide unity when they are in the same color groups, and a splash of red can provide variety. 
Pattern: Pattern is the way something is organized and repeated in its shape or form and can flow without much structure in some random repetition. Patterns might branch out similar to flowers on a plant or form spirals and circles as a group of soap bubbles or seem irregular in the cracked, dry mud. All works of art have some sort of pattern even though it may be hard to discern; the pattern will form by the colors, the illustrations, the shape, or numerous other art methods. 
1.6: What Are the Elements of Art and the Principles of Art? is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.
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