Paints are non-stock items made fresh to order and therefore cannot be returned. Prices exclude VAT and Delivery.
How To Achieve the Perfect Purple When Mixing Acrylics
I live on a mini-farm in beautiful North Carolina and am an avid reader. When I’m not busy writing and tending to my gardens and numerous critters, I can often be found trying my hand at various hobbies.
I enjoy researching new ventures, and while I may not have mastered every one yet, I have a blast learning and love sharing my knowledge with others. My latest endeavors include woodworking, crafting of all types, soap making, and sewing.
Updated on: September 26, 2023
Our website is supported by our users. This post may contain affiliate links – which means we may receive compensation from purchases made through links on this site. To learn more, read about our Affiliate Disclosure and Editorial Process.
Mixing acrylic paints to create new colors is one of the most exciting parts of learning to paint.
However, many painters are unpleasantly surprised when it comes to attempting to mix purples.
While most people were taught that combining red and blue creates purple, in acrylic painting a muddy brown color is more often the result.
Fortunately, with a little education and experimentation, the perfect purple is easily achievable!
How do you make the color purple with acrylics? To mix a purple with acrylic paints, select a red and blue that do not contain any yellow bias. Mix a small amount of blue into the red with a brush or palette knife until the desired purple is reached. To create different tones, tints, or shades, add a small amount of white, gray, or black.
Mixing Cadmium Red with Phthalo Blue will not result in a luscious lavender!
In this article you will learn how to mix a variety of purples, including favorites such as violet, lilac, and lavender.
You will also learn the basics of color theory and how to create tints, tones, and shades of all different colors.
- How To Mix Acrylics To Make Purple
- Primary
- Secondary
- Tertiary
- How Do You Mix a Bright Purple?
- How Do You Mix a Deep Purple?
- How To Make Lilac Acrylic Paint
- How Do You Make Dioxazine Purple With Acrylic Paint?
- Making Lavender With Acrylic Paint
- What Acrylic Paint Colors Make Violet?
- How To Lighten a Dark Purple
- How To Darken a Light Purple
- How To Make Purple Without Blue
- How To Make Purple Without Red
- How Many Shades of Purple Are There?
- Is Magenta a Primary Color?
How To Mix Acrylics To Make Purple
The terms tint, tone, hue, and shade are often used to refer to types of colors, but what do they actually mean?
According to color theory a hue is simply any given color from the color wheel. The color wheel contains three different types of colors: primary, secondary, and tertiary .
Secondary colors are created by combining any two of the primary colors. Tertiary colors are combinations of primary and secondary colors.
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
A shade of color is created whenever you add black to any particular hue of color. Black is very powerful, and so it should be used sparingly.
If you wish to darken a hue without using black, a darker hue can sometimes be used instead.
Tints , also known as pastel colors, are created by adding white to any hue.
Tones are created by adding gray to any hue.
Acrylic paints come in many more hues than what is listed on the color wheel and have many different names and temperature biases.
Because of this variety, mixing colors can be confusing, and picking the wrong reds and blues to mix together can result in an unsightly brown or dark gray instead of the desired purple.
Creating the perfect purple starts with choosing the correct reds and blues, selecting the proper amount of the appropriate color, and then adding small amounts of the color to be mixed.
- Start with your two basic colors to be mixed. (Finish reading this article before deciding on your colors!)
- Choose which color will be your base and which one you will mix into. In general, you want to start with the lighter color as the base.
- Mix very small amounts of the darker color into the lighter color. For purple, this usually involves using your brush or palette knife to mix small amounts of blue into a larger amount of red.
- Add small amounts of white, gray, or black to create tints, tones, or shades.
Achieving Various Shades of Purple
As you have seen, the word shade , while technically describing any hue to which black has been added, can also be used to describe different versions of any given color.
The secret to achieving pleasant shades of purple is to understand that all primary colors have a color bias, meaning that they each contain a little bit of each other.
Choosing paints with the proper color bias results in successful color mixing.
How Do You Mix a Bright Purple?
In order to mix a bright purple, you want to choose red and blue paints without a yellow bias.
When picking paints, you can test your colors for yellow bias by mixing each of them with a small amount of white.
A red with a yellow bias mixed with white will create a peachy color. A red without a yellow bias will make a rosy pink.
A blue with a yellow bias mixed with white will create a green-blue. A blue without a yellow bias mixed with white will create a lighter blue color.
Permanent Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Magenta, or Primary Magenta are all examples of reds that do not contain a strong yellow bias.
Mix any of these colors with Ultramarine Blue to create a beautiful bright purple!
- Winsor & Newton Galeria Acrylic Colours are strong and vibrant with good covering power and a smooth, satin finish.
- Series: 1/Color Code: 502
Specifications
Day colour: Purple (Dark glow)
Glow colour: Deep blue (Dark glow) fading to dim green
Afterglow: 30-60 mins max approx
Lifespan: 10 years +
UV reactive: NO
Waterproof: YES
Drying time: 30 min max
Available Sizes (ml): 30ml – 1ltr
Application Methods: Brush, roller or spray
ECO Friendly Waterbased Polyurethane Formulation with Low VOCs
COSHH: Non-Toxic
Made in the UKShelf life: Use within 6 months of purchase
Important Notes
Before adopting commercially, prospective users of our products are advised to firstly purchase a sample in order to fully evaluate the product’s suitability for purpose.
Starglow paints are made fresh to order and therefore large orders may incur an extended lead time for production. If you have an urgent requirement, please contact us to obtain lead time estimate.
Glow-in-the-Dark / luminous paints are not really suitable for use where daylight is the only source of energy for the paints to obtain their charge. We recommend the use of a mains-powered Black light to ensure a maximum charge and best glow performance.
Fluro-luminescent is a fusion of UV Fluorescent and Photo-luminescent Technologies.
Starglow Paints will require a suitable clear protective layer for use as a floor paint or any situation where the paint will be exposed to excessive wear or physical contact. We recommend using a a suitable clear Polyurethane protective top-coat if there is any risk of prolonged wear and tear.
For best results, always apply over a white or white-primed surface. The darker the background colour the weaker the glow!
If you are unsure of how this paint works or its suitability for your purpose, please email or call to discuss first and / or order a sample to try.
We do not supply aerosol based paints, however our paints may be used with a good quality spray gun or a suitable airbrush. Where paints require thinning down for use in spray equipment, you may use a little water to achieve this. Only use a little so as not to impair the paints suspension and binding capabilities.
Starglow paints are non-stock items made fresh to order and therefore cannot be returned.
For for best results use within 6 months of receipt.
These paints are NOT suitable for use on skin.
10 year Guarantee does not apply to Starglow Paints used externally.
Do’s & Don’ts
STARGLOW Luminous (glow-in-the-Dark) Paint is not like ordinary paint so here are the main do’s and don’ts:
Do…
Order a 30ml sample jar to test the paint is suitable for your purposes first!
Don’t…
- Rely on daylight to charge the paint.
- Assume any light will charge it! It requires UV rich light to properly charge the paint
- Use outdoors other than in a very dark / shadowed area where there is ZERO light
- Apply over a black or dark background
- Use on surfaces that will get hot!
- Use on skin or hair!
- Mix with any other paint!
