Here are some shades of purple that have a grayish tint:
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Posted by Ashley Robinson | Mar 28, 2021 5:00:00 PM
Let’s say you want to learn how to make purple food coloring or how to make purple paint. You’ll need to understand how to mix colors! But where do you begin? What two colors make purple?
To learn how to make purple, you need to have an understanding of the science behind color mixing. In this article, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about how to use colors to make purple. We’ll cover the following:
- A quick guide to how to make purple
- A scientific explanation for the question, “What is purple?”
- A thorough explanation of how to make more complex shades of purple
- Examples of different shades of purple and what colors you combine to create them
Now, let’s talk about how to make purple!
How To Make Purple: A Quick Primer
Mixing blue and red together makes purple. The amount of blue and red that you add to your mixture will determine the exact shade of purple you produce. More red will create a redder purple, and more blue will create a bluer purple.
Blue and red are essential to creating purple, but you can mix in other colors to create different shades of purple. Adding white, yellow, or gray to your mixture of blue and red will give you a lighter purple. Incorporating black into your blue and red mixture will give you a darker shade of purple.
In general, purple refers to any color with a hue that is between red and blue. But getting the perfect shade of purple is a little more complicated than simply mixing these two colors. This is where the science of color comes in! Understanding the science behind making purple will help you make purple all on your own.
We’ll cover the basics of the science behind making purple next!
What Is Purple? The Science Behind the Color
What two colors make purple? Mixing red and blue together makes purple, but getting the right shade of purple isn’t quite that simple.
To answer the question, “What colors make purple,” you need a basic understanding of color. Color comes from light, so we need to start by looking at how light works.
Understanding light can be complicated–I mean, that’s why we have physics. But luckily, the color-making geniuses at Crayola explain how light creates visible color like this:
When light shines on an object some colors bounce off the object and others are absorbed by it. Our eyes only see the colors that are bounced off or reflected.
The sun’s rays contain all the colors of the rainbow mixed together. This mixture is known as white light. When white light strikes a white crayon or marker barrel, it appears white to us because it absorbs no color and reflects all color equally. A black crayon or marker cap absorbs all colors equally and reflects none, so it looks black to us. While artists consider black a color, scientists do not because black is the absence of all color.
In simpler terms, objects have certain physical properties that cause them to absorb certain types of light, or electromagnetic waves. The light waves that aren’t absorbed are reflected, which creates the color you see with your eyes!
And what about black and white? An object will appear white when it reflects all colors. This is because white contains all wavelengths of light and is made of all colors of the rainbow. The light from the sun is an example of white light! Then there’s black. Black objects absorb all color because they reflect no light back.
Most of the time, an object will reflect some color. So when an object appears as green or red to you, it’s because of the wavelength of light that’s bouncing off of the object.
At this point, you’ve probably guessed that light comes in lots of different wavelengths. A wavelength is the distance between two crests of a wave of light. You can visualize how a wavelength of light behaves by thinking about how water hits the shore at the beach. Waves sometimes hit the shore low and far apart. At other times, waves come in higher and closer together. Now, if you wanted to measure the length of the waves at the beach, you’d start at the highest point, or crest, of one wave, then measure to the crest of the next wave. The distance from crest to crest is what we call the wavelength of the ocean on the beach.
Waves of light are a lot like waves of water–except light waves are a lot smaller and closer together. When light bounces off an object, our eyes measure the wavelengths and translate them into different colors.
The entire scope of possible wavelengths of light is called the “spectrum.” If you look below, you can see how the spectrum of light converts to the spectrum of color:
The length of a wave of light is measured in nanometers (nm). Longer wavelengths translate to colors that appear “warmer,” and shorter wavelengths create colors that look “cooler.”
If you look at the image above again, you’ll also notice that only a very small portion of the spectrum of light is visible to our eyes. We’re only able to see the wavelengths between about 400 and 800 nanometers. That may seem like a lot, but the spectrum of light extends far beyond that range in either direction. There is a lot of light on the available spectrum that we can’t see!
The segment of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can see without help from technology is called the “ visible light spectrum .”
Red, a primary component of purple, is approximately 700 nanometers in wavelength. Red is one of the longer wavelengths that our eyes can see. The distance from crest to crest is only a little bit thicker than the membrane of a soap bubble .
But purple is also made of blue. Blue has wavelengths around 475 nanometers, making it one of the shortest wavelengths visible to our eyes.
So what colors make purple? Purple is a combination of red light and blue light. An object that we perceive as purple has a makeup that causes it to absorb all wavelengths of light except those that fall around 700 nanometers and 475 nanometers in length. The object reflects those exact wavelengths mixed together, which gives the impression that the object is purple.
What Color is Purple?
To create purple, you can mix primary colors of paint or pigment, such as blue and red, until you achieve the desired hue. Alternatively, you can mix other colors to create purple shades with different undertones. For example, adding a small amount of black to purple creates a darker, richer purple, while mixing purple and white results in a lighter, more pastel shade.
HEX color code for purple is #800080.
RGB values are R: 128, G: 0, B: 128.
CMYK code is 50, 100, 0, 50.
When it comes to web design, the Web Safe code for purple is 800080.
Whether you’re creating a painting or designing a website, purple can add a mysterious, soothing, and luxurious touch to your project.
How to Make Purple?
Creating purple is easy when mixing colors. By combining equal amounts of red and blue, you will achieve the color purple. You can also experiment with different shades by adjusting the ratio of red and blue. For instance, using more red will create a warmer, magenta-like hue, while adding more blue will result in a cooler, indigo-like shade.
Complimentary colors are those that sit opposite each other on the color wheel, creating a strong contrast. For purple, its complementary color is yellow. Using purple and yellow together can create a vibrant and dynamic visual effect.
What Colors are Similar to Purple?
Colors similar to purple include violet, lavender, lilac, and plum. Each of these shades has its own unique characteristics, but they all fall within the purple color family.
Color Mixing from Color Theory
The art of color mixing is dependent upon a knowledge of basic color theory principles. I talk about primary and tertiary colors, color complements and color temperature on the basic color theory page, but there is more to discuss and discover about color theory which will help you mix color with greater success. So let’s go over the important points about color theory now. I’ll lay down some of the basics again, and then add some new ideas further on:
- Basic color theory states that there are three primary colors which cannot be made from any other colors.
- These primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. The triangle in the picture above connects the primary colors. All other colors are made by mixing the primary colors in various combinations.
- Secondary colors can be made from combining two of the primary colors as follows: red + blue= violet (purple); blue + yellow = green; red + yellow = orange. The secondary colors are marked with radiating lines from the primary triangle in the picture above.
- The combination of any two primary colors will create a secondary color that “cancels” the remaining primary color. For instance, mixing red and yellow makes orange. If orange and blue (the remaining primary) are mixed, a dull, gray color will be the result. In this scenario, orange and blue are “complement” to one another. Note that complement colors are directly across from one another on the color circle.
- In general, red and yellow are warm colors, while blue is a cool color.
- Within each primary color range, there are various shades which can be either cool (lean toward blue) or warm (lean toward yellow or red). For instance, Cadmium Red is more red or warm, and Alizarin Crimson is more blue or cool, but both paint colors are in the red range.
Color Mixing 101
So, in order to mix colors correctly, one must pay attention to:
- the primary colors being mixed,
- the resulting mixed color’s complement color and
- whether the primary colors being mixed are cool or warm.
Here are some examples of how these points will affect a resulting mixed color. Let’s start with mixing up a purple (aka violet) color.
Color theory states that in order t o create purple, you must mix red and blue. But’s let think about the color result you want. Do you want a vibrant violet for a flower painting? Or do you want a dull purple for a shadow in an urban cityscape?
If you want a vibrant color, you’ll want to choose a red and blue that are cooler, since any color with yellow in it will dull the resulting color. (Why? See number 4 in the list above. Yellow cancels out the other two mixed primary colors that make up purple (those being red and blue).
Here’s a visual of this concept:
The Phthalo blue and Cadmium red make a dull purple. This is because both colors are warm, meaning they have more yellow in them. Since yellow is the complement of purple, you get a dull result.
But French Ultramarine and Alizarin Crimson make a beautiful, vibrant violet (purple). This is because both colors are cool and lean towards being blue-red, the two colors that must be mixed to make purple.
Below are some similar color mixing examples for green and orange.
More Examples
On the green example below, t he more vibrant green is possible because the colors chosen are NOT red-toned. They are blue toned, one of the primary colors from which green is made. Because there is no red to dull the green, the mix produces a vibrant result.
T he mix of a warmer, reddish French Ultramarine and Hansa Yellow Deep make a very dull green, because red is the complement color of green. This is the kind of green that might be used to paint leaf litter on a forest floor.
In the orange example below, the difference is less noticeable. The warmer Hansa yellow deep and cadmium red made a vibrant orange, while the cooler Aureolin yellow and Alizarin Crimson resulted in a duller, but still nice orange. (I gotta remember how to spell aureolin and phthalo correctly).
Using Complement Grays to “Pop” a Vibrant color
Another way of using complement colors is to place them within a painting to create “settings” for your vibrant colors. For instance, say you are painting a violet flower and you want the color to really glow. One of the best ways to do that is to put that flower in a setting of yellows and yellow grays. Even though the color is vibrant on its own, it will look even brighter next to a complement color, and this is especially true if you look at the painting from a short distance.
Here’s a visual example:
Get up and walk away from your computer a few feet and look at these pictures above. The colors within the gray circles should look brighter than the colors outside of the gray circles. The grays I used are made from the complement color of that secondary color.
Other Factors that Affect Color Mixing
Successful color mixing is also dependent upon taking into account the transparency or opacity of each watercolor paint, and the staining power of the paint.
Now that you have this color mixing information, let’s explore the practical aspects working with watercolor paint and physically mixing color on your palette.
Finally, if you found this information fascinating, and want to learn more about the nuances of color mixing, I recommend Jeanne Dobie’s book Making Color Sing and Jane Blundell’s blog.
