If you want to know what two colors make gray, mix a little black into a white base until you reach the desired shade of gray.
Try This If You Are Having Trouble Mixing Colors
It’s common knowledge that the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue, and that if you mix two primaries together, you get a secondary color. For example, blue and red make violet, and blue and red make green.
But if you have ever tried to do this, you realize that the simple formula for making the secondary colors isn’t quite so simple. The problem is that there are many hues we call red, and there are many colors we call blue.
Which blue is the blue that, when mixed with yellow, will create green? Is it deep navy blue? Sky blue? Turquoise blue?
Or, what hue is red? Is it beet red? Tomato red? Radish red? As you can see, defining the colors that we call the primary colors is not so easy, and if you start with the wrong primary red or blue, you’ll get disappointing secondary colors.
Try mixing navy blue with red and you’ll get a murky grey purple—nothing like the violet you imagined. Or try mixing the same navy with yellow: you’ll get something greenish, but it will be a drab olive green.
The trick to making vibrant secondary colors is to start with the right primary colors. Primary red, in this case should be a cool red—a magenta that’s a bit deeper in tone than a radish. Primary blue should be a warmer blue—a turquoise that is somewhere between “true” blue and green.
If your primary red and blue fit these descriptions, and your yellow is a vibrant lemon yellow, the rule works. You’ll get a brilliant orange, a nice grassy green, and a beautiful violet.
It’s easy to experiment with color mixing – and create an interesting piece of art with ArtAchieve’s art lesson, Kandinsky and Color Mixing .
Get your art lesson today!
It’s common knowledge that the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue, and that if you mix two primaries together, you get a secondary color. For example, blue and red make violet, and blue and red make green.
But if you have ever tried to do this, you realize that the simple formula for making the secondary colors isn’t quite so simple. The problem is that there are many hues we call red, and there are many colors we call blue.
Which blue is the blue that, when mixed with yellow, will create green? Is it deep navy blue? Sky blue? Turquoise blue?
Or, what hue is red? Is it beet red? Tomato red? Radish red? As you can see, defining the colors that we call the primary colors is not so easy, and if you start with the wrong primary red or blue, you’ll get disappointing secondary colors.
Try mixing navy blue with red and you’ll get a murky grey purple—nothing like the violet you imagined. Or try mixing the same navy with yellow: you’ll get something greenish, but it will be a drab olive green.
The trick to making vibrant secondary colors is to start with the right primary colors. Primary red, in this case should be a cool red—a magenta that’s a bit deeper in tone than a radish. Primary blue should be a warmer blue—a turquoise that is somewhere between “true” blue and green.
If your primary red and blue fit these descriptions, and your yellow is a vibrant lemon yellow, the rule works. You’ll get a brilliant orange, a nice grassy green, and a beautiful violet.
It’s easy to experiment with color mixing – and create an interesting piece of art with ArtAchieve’s art lesson, Kandinsky and Color Mixing .
Color Theory
To learn how to mix colours, it’s worth taking a look at colour theory. So to save time, here is a brief summary.
What Are Primary Colors?
The primary colors are actually three colors that are not mixable, so they cannot be created by mixing other colors. So by mixing them and maybe using white, you can create any color.
Mixing of Secondary Colors
Secondary colors are colors created by mixing two primary colors.
- Green:Blue and yellow
- Orange:Red and yellow
- Purple:Red and blue
When mixing colors, it’s important which primary colors you choose. That means there are many types of red, yellow and blue shades. Some are cooler, others warmer. Thus, any primary color has a color bias, i.e. it leans towards another color.
If you mix all the primary colors, you get black.
Mixing of Tertiary Colors
Tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary with a secondary color. However, according to another definition, tertiary colors (in painting) are mixtures of two secondary colors. Those often referred to as tertiary colors are rather intermediate colors.
Intermediate colors are mixtures of two adjacent colors, a primary with a secondary color. Thus, the only rule is that they must be located next to each other on the color wheel.
- Yellow-Orange (Amber)
- Red-Orange (Vermillion)
- Red-Purple (Magenta)
- Blue-Purple (Violet)
- Blue-Green (Teal)
- Yellow-Green (Chartreuse)
As they are often found in nature, they are essential, especially when you want to make artwork with a natural look.
Complementary Colors
Complementary colors are the colors opposite each other on the color wheel. They are the most basic type of color harmony. When combined, they provide high contrast.
The complementary colors of the primaries are known as primary complementary colors. So what are they?
- The complementary color of purple is yellow
- The complementary color of orange is blue
- The complementary color of green is red
Color Mixing Wheel
What Colors Make Red?
Red is a primary color in both the RYB and RGB models, so you can’t create it by mixing other colors. But to make it clear, red cannot be created using additive color mixing.
When it comes to printing, things are quite different.
To make red, mix yellow and magenta in a 1:1 ratio. According to the CMYK model, red can be created by combining these two colors.
What Colors Make Green?
Green is a primary color in the RGB model, which deals with light. However, when it comes to opaque pigments and paints (RYB), things are different.
The way to make green is by mixing yellow and blue in an equal ratio.
If you increase the amount of blue, you will get a blue-green shade, while if you increase the yellow, you will get a yellow-green.
According to the CMYK model, green can be obtained by mixing cyan and yellow.
What’s interesting is that green is the most common color in nature due to the chlorophyll content, a green pigment in plants. So, there are plenty of green things in nature.
Understanding Complementary Colors
The making of mud starts with one of the first concepts of color theory you learned early in school. It resides in understanding complementary colors, also referred to as color opposites, and the role they play in mixing color.
In my years of teaching color, I have discovered that there is a tendency for artists to gloss over the important concept of complementary colors. I am not sure why this is, though I will speculate. I believe it is because the concept is something we learned so early on in our lives AND because the rule of complements is seemingly simple. It is a simple rule. However, it is also complex with profound consequences.
For review, complementary colors are:
- Red and green;
- Yellow and purple;
- Blue and orange.
In a 6-hue color wheel, they can be found opposite from one another as seen below.
One of the rules we learn as painters is that color opposites cancel each other out when mixed. In other words, when we combine a pair of complementary colors on our palette, the original or parent colors lose their intensity or chroma. They mix into a black or brown.
In art classes or workshops we are typically directed to take these three pairs of color opposites, mix them and paint a swatch of the results. You can see an example here.
Unfortunately, the art instructor usually ends the discussion about mixing color opposites and moves onto another color concept, again, because complementary colors are easy to understand. This is when I say, “Wait, there is much more to discover! You have only just tapped the tip of the iceberg.” The application of this color mixing skill needs further exploration. Now is the time to gather up your paints and explore the potential of complementary colors.
Mixing Complementary Colors
Begin by choosing six colors in your tool box that represent the three pairs of complementary colors. In other words, pick out a red, yellow and blue – a set of primaries – then pick out a set of secondary colors so you can mix them.
Mixing Chromatic Scales
The next step is to mix a ‘chromatic scale’ for each of your pairs of complementary colors.
A chromatic scale is a set of hues that shows the gradual shift in color as the ratios of paint change. The chart below demonstrates this. The following directions will lead you through the creation of a few chromatic scales using your tubes of paint.
With your first pair, paint a swatch of each of these parent colors about 10 inches apart onto your painting surface. The parent colors are in rows #1 and #7. Next mix the two parent colors to the point where neither of these colors is evident in the mixture. It will be a black or dark brown. This is your middle color or #4 in the chromatic scale. Paint this swatch. Note: if the mixture of the two complementary colors you chose creates a green, then they are not complementary colors.
For the intermediate hues – rows #2, #3, #5 and #6 – mix different ratios of the colors. In this example, the hues in row #2 are predominately the purple, blue and green with just a little of its opposite added to it. Sometimes the subtle color differences are somewhat difficult to see. You will notice that I added a little white to each swatch of color to make it easier to see the change in hue in this digital setting.
Blue & Orange Chromatic Scales
This next chart shows two more BLUE and ORANGE chromatic scales using acrylic; in the previous example I used oils. On the right hand side of each swatch I added a little water to see a lighter value of the hue. Watercolorists can do the same.
Isn’t it a delight to see all of the colors you can mix with just a pair of color opposites? Can you see the potential of painting an entire painting with just one pair?
Yellow & Purple Chromatic Scales
Many painters avoid mixing and exploring the color opposites of YELLOW and PURPLE until we experience and see the results with a color chart like the one below. Often our experiences with yellow and purple are not pleasant. When you look at the variety of hues I mixed using yellow and purple, can you see the colors of straw, blond hair or the beach? There are some delightful rich browns and greys.
Red & Green Chromatic Scales
The below chromatic scales show you the variety of hues possible when mixing RED and GREEN.
It’s magical isn’t it? When you study each of these chromatic scales, you can see how just a small amount of the complementary color starts to de-saturate the parent color; the intensity of the color or chroma immediately begins to decrease when its complement is added. You can also experience the additional rich hues that you can begin applying in your paintings.
What Does All of the Above Have to do with Mixing Mud?
In each of these examples of chromatic scales, you can see ‘muddy’ colors. The difference is that you created them with intent in these charts. The muddy color did not just appear and become a source of angst. You can now choose to mix and apply these yummy de-saturated hues (we won’t call them “mud” anymore), when you want them in your work.
In Part 2 of the series, Carol dives further into understanding complementary colors to take it to the next level of complexity.
About the Author
Fine artist, Carol McIntyre, is passionate about color and loves to teach artists the magic and logic of color both online and in live workshops. Through her unique approach to color mixing, painters experience more success translating what is in their mind’s eye onto canvas or paper.
McIntyre is an award winning artist in several media. She was President of the Minnesota Watercolor Society and cover artist of a national arts magazine. Her paintings fuse realism with abstraction while transporting you to another time and place.
Her paintings can be viewed at: http://carolamcintyre.com
Posted by Carol McIntyre.
