This should be considered when you are mixing any secondary color. That said, of course, sometimes you may want to create a less intense color, but it’s important to understand how to reach the desired intensity.
All About Color Theory: How to Mix Colors Like a Pro
I’m a self-taught artist who loves sharing tips and tutorials for painting with watercolor and gouache, and using the Procreate app on the iPad.
Color theory is one of the most important things to learn when you start painting. Basic color theory knowledge allows you to be able to mix colors to get the perfect shades every time.
You might like this post on how to mix the perfect purple.
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These color mixing tips will work for any medium. I paint with watercolors, gouache, and acrylics and I use all of these ideas when mixing paint.
Color Theory Basics
The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. When thinking about paint, you can also consider magenta, yellow, and cyan primaries as well.
These colors can be combined to make secondary colors: orange, green, and purple.
From there, the colors can be mixed with each other to form tertiary colors: red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet, and red-violet.
Adding black or white to these colors creates shades (darker versions) and tints (pastels.)
For watercolor, we add more water to the color to dilute the pigment when creating a lighter color.
How to Mix Colors
In school, we are taught that every color can be made from primary colors (red, yellow, and blue) plus white and black.
However, color mixing is a bit more complicated than that. For instance, did you know that you can actually make red paint by mixing magenta and a bit of yellow?
For this demonstration, I’m mostly using the Daniel Smith watercolor mixing set. I’ve included links to other colors as well.
Color Temperature
When mixing colors for paint, you need to think of warm colors and cool colors. We all know that one half of the color wheel is warm and the other is cool, but did you know that each color can lean warm or cool?
The temperature of each color affects how it mixes with other colors. For bright vibrant colors, mix cool colors together (except for orange.) For bright orange, warm tones should be mixed since orange is a warm color.
Cool reds include alizarin crimson, quinacridone magenta, and permanent carmine.
Cool yellows include lemon and Hansa yellow light.
Cool blues include phthalo blue, Manganese, and cerulean.
Warm reds include cadmium red, Pyrrol scarlet, and Naphthol red.
Warm yellows include cadmium yellow, new Gamboge, and Indian yellow.
Warm blue includes ultramarine and Indanthrone blue.
Primaries can also include a deeper range of colors such as Perylene maroon, quinacridone gold, and Prussian blue. These colors produce a neutral color spectrum, perfect for landscapes.
It’s harder to determine the temperature of shades of blue. Ultramarine blue has more red in it, so it’s considered warm. Phthalo blues lean more green, so it’s considered cool.
If you’re having a hard time telling which temperature each color is, add a bit of white to it (or dilute it with water for watercolors.) You can normally tell with the pastel version.
Complementary Mixing
Most people skip over this concept when talking about mixing colors, but it’s one of my favorite ways to make unique colors.
When you mix complementary colors together, you can either make browns and grays or tone down the color. This process creates more realistic colors.
For a more realistic tone of green, add a tiny bit of red.
This is also a good way to create neutrals. Combining ultramarine blue with burnt umber creates a cool gray.
Remember to use dark colors in complementary tones when trying to create grays or blacks. Get more tips for creating black watercolors here.
This is also a fun way to create interesting colors. In watercolors, I love mixing Naples yellow with ultramarine violet to create a lovely skin tone. The second swatch shows Naples yellow mixed with opera pink, another beautiful combination.
I also love mixing greens with purples to create moody tones.
So remember to think outside the box for mixing colors. You may be pleasantly surprised!
Color Strength
When mixing colors, keep color strength in mind. Some colors have so much pigment in them that it’s easy for that color to take over the color mixture.
Typically reds and staining blues like phthalo blue and ultramarine are very strong. Dark colors are also stronger.
Light colors like yellow and white are weaker and you will need more of them in a mixture.
If in doubt, use more of the light color and the tiniest drop of the darker color when mixing. Add a tiny bit at a time to get the right color.
Mixing with Single Pigment Colors
If you’re still getting muddy colors, it may be time to check out the label on your paint. Artist quality paints will tell you the pigments used to create the paint.
The pigment will be labeled using 2-3 letter code and number, typically starting with P. For instance, PB-28 is cobalt blue.
For more pigment information, you can check out the manufacturer’s website. Retail stores like Blick also provide this information.
Ideally, you want as few pigments as possible for mixing. Sometimes those additional pigments can produce unexpected results.
This is one of the reasons to buy the more expensive, artist-quality paints. They typically contain fewer pigments and you know exactly what you’re getting.
Cheaper paints do not label the pigments, but you’re typically getting more than one pigment in each color.
Oil Color Painting Terms, Explained
Hue and Pigment
These are simply alternative words to ‘color’
Color Temperature
Simply refers to a color being either warm or cool. However, this is compared to the colors around it. For example, red on it’s own would be warm, and blue on its own would be cool. However, yellow would be a cool colour if you lay it next to the red, but a warm colour if you lay it next to the blue. And, if you lay a warm blue against a cool red, the red may appear cooler than the blue.
There are warm or cool shades of each color. For example, Cadmium Yellow Light,
Is considered to be a cool yellow, as it leans towards green, whereas Cadmium Yellow deep, is a warm yellow as it leans towards orange.
The easiest way to understand this is by looking at a color wheel.
Value and Tone of a Color
This is simply how light or dark a color is. As a simple example, Ultramarine Blue is obviously much darker in tonal value than Lemon Yellow. However, the more similar the colors get to each other, the harder it can be to get the correct value. In this case, comparing your colors to a grayscale chart can be a considerable help.
In any case, value should always be considered before color.
Intensity/Saturation of a Color
This is how pure or bright a color is.
Transparency and Opacity
This refers to how transparent or opaque a color is. For example, if you lay a transparent blue over a yellow, the yellow will show through to some degree, depending on the level of transparency of the blue. As a result, the new color will be a shade of green. If you lay an opaque color over the top, then the color beneath will not show through. This is why transparent colors are used for glazes.
Complimentary Colors
Complimentary colors are the colors opposite each other on the color wheel. For example, the complimentary color to red, is green. The complementary color to blue is orange and the complimentary color to yellow is violet.
Harmonious Colors
Harmonious colours sit beside each other on the color wheel.
How to Darken a Color when you’re Oil painting
To darken a color, you might immediately reach for the black, however this is not the best way as it will also significantly dull your color intensity. The best way to darken a color, is either to mix it with a darker version of the same hue, or add a touch of its complimentary color. The latter is also a great way to tone down an intense color and make it appear more natural.
Using white to lighten your colors, can make them appear chalky and flat. You might first try adding the same color, but a lighter version of it. So for example to lighten a Cadmium Yellow Deep, you could try adding a touch of Cadmium Yellow light. However when lightening a color in this way, keep in mind that this may also alter the color temperature.
Mixing Colors to Make Black
You might wonder why you should learn how to mix black in oils, when you can just go to the art store and buy a tube of ready-made black. Personally, I have never owned a tube of black paint! I find that black straight from a tube is very flat. I prefer to mix my own blacks and this can be done in many different ways, depending on the temperature you are aiming for.
Here are a few colours that make a nice black
- Ultramarine Blue/Burnt Sienna
- Ultramarine Blue/Transparent Red Oxide/Alizarin Crimson
- Ultramarine Blue/Cadmium Red
- Equal amounts of blue red and yellow
If you would prefer to use a black from a tube, then try adding another pigment to adjust the temperature and add depth.
I would encourage you to experiment. Black, doesn’t necessarily mean devoid of colour or temperature. It simply means the darkest value you can achieve. Make it interesting!
Matching the Color of the Subject
Matching a previously mixed color is one thing, but what about matching the color of a subject; a sky, a face, a piece of fruit? The disadvantage in this case, is that the artist cannot always touch their color mixtures to their target colors.
But I have good news – it is the twenty-first century. I believe in taking advantage of technology to advance my painting. Often, I’ll photograph my subject and import it into Photoshop (or another photo editing program). I’ll then take samples of the certain colors using the eyedropper tool. After printing these swatches, I’m then able to match my colors directly to those swatches (see the demonstration video above).
Sherwin-Williams created an app that does the same thing. The app matches the colors of a photograph to paint colors offered by Sherwin-Williams in an effort to sell their paints. To use this app and others like it with artist’s paint, just take a screenshot of the apps swatches, print the screen shot and start matching color.
The Relativity of Color
Remember, color is relative just like height. I like to stand next to shorter people to make myself look taller (I’m not tall). Similarly, the artist can manipulate a color’s appearance with its surrounding colors. If a color is matched well but looks wrong in the painting, then the problem could be the surrounding colors.
Some opaque paints, like oils and acrylics, offer an opportunity for color correction even after the colors have dried. The technique for doing so is called glazing.
A glaze is a thinned down, transparent solution that acts as a filter over a painting. You can brighten a color by glazing over it with it’s own hue or dull a color by glazing over it with its complementary hue.
Conclusion
Color is like icing on a cake. It may add to the painting, but without it you still have a cake. Value is the cake. Without it you have nothing. So take some pressure off of yourself when it comes to color matching. Get your colors close but your values perfect.
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