Purple and yellow are both pop colors that can hold different meanings depending on the shades as well. These meanings are helpful to highlight and give an impression to your artwork and interior designs.
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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.
Color wheel and color theory
In the RYB color wheel, yellow is part of the primary colors together with other primary colors like red and blue.
Then if we mix these primary colors, we will get secondary colors. Purple is one of the secondary colors, we get it when we mix red and blue.
Mixing these secondary colors will give us tertiary colors composed of the following:
- yellow-green
- red-orange
- yellow-orange
- blue-green
- blue-violet
- red-violet
On the color wheel, purple and yellow are both placed on the opposite side. Any two colors placed on the opposite side of the color wheel are called complementary colors. If you mix any complementary colors you will get a shade of brown color.
However, in the RYB color wheel, there’s no brown color, though it’s known as a neutral color. You can create a brown shade by mixing the three primary colors (red, yellow, and blue).
In a color theory, complementary colors are supposed to give balance to each other, so vibrant colors like purple and yellow give an exciting challenge!
Purple and yellow make what color?
Mixing yellow and purple will give you a brown shade depending on the amount you’ll use and the shades of the two complementary colors.
If you are using different yellows and purples, your results may vary.
Aside from brown hues, you can get a grey with an undertone of purple if you’ll use a light purple shade like a mauve color.
If you ever run out of yellow and purple, you can get these two colors from:
- mixing shades like cadmium red and ultramarine blue can give you a purple shade
- mixing white and shade like pale orange to get a shade of yellow. However, it might be difficult to get a bright yellow from this mixture so it’s recommended to just buy yellow paints or just mix an equal proportion of red and green shades like cadmium red and lime green.
Light purple and yellow
If you’ll mix purple using a lighter shade like the following:
and mix light purple with lighter shades of yellow such as the following:
you can get a light brown color like sandy brown and beige. Depending on the amount you used between the two colors, at the very least you will get a grey shade.
Quality also plays a role. Easier to mix with better acrylics liks Amsterdam or Winsor & Newton in my case, or Liquitex. My last case is Reeves and the paint itsled is quite lumpy and it mixes more difficult.
Alternative ways to mix brown and grey
If you want to get different shades of brown, mixing complementary colors and the three primary colors will give you the brown shade that you desire depending on the amount of paint you put in.
On the other hand, mixing white and a pinch of black is commonly used to adjust how light and dark the shades you want for gray color.
Both brown and grey are neutral colors that help in creating tones, tints, and shades of colors.
If you’re curious what color you can get if you mix brown and grey, the answer is a brownish grey shade like taupe color.
You can also make brown by mixing red and green.
9. What does Yellow and Red make?
Both red and yellow are among the primary three colors present today and when these two warm tones are mixed they produce a beautiful orange color. It is a given that orange is a secondary color as it is a combination of two primary colors. Orange is a warm-toned, cozy, versatile, and vibrant color and it is a symbol of youth and joy. It is also used to highlight things, and bring depth, and dimension. Many brands use this color in these logos as it screams power. (See Which color is obtained by mixing red and yellow colors?)
When a primary color and secondary color are mixed together they produce a tertiary color and here the resultant color is red-orange. In other terms, the product of mixing equal parts of red and orange will give you red-orange and it is just a redder form of orange. You can use this color to paint natural sunsets. (See What are the top 10 favorite colors?)
11. What does Red and Green make?
When all primary colors red, blue, and yellow are mixed it results in brown color. The color green is a mixture of blue and yellow. Red and green contain the essence of all the major colors. So, when you mix green and red together they also form a brownish color. (Also read What Orders do the Rasta Colors Go In?)
Both green and orange are secondary colors. Green is made by mixing primary colors blue and yellow whereas orange is made by mixing primary colors red and yellow. Whenever you mix all primary colors you get brownish colors. Since orange and green have the essence of all primary colors thus when they are mixed together they produce a brownish hue. (Also read What does Orange and Green make?)
13. What color does Purple and Yellow make?
Purple and yellow are complementary colors and their combinations are very eye-catching. Since they are both complementary colors mixing them will give you dark brownish colors. Purple and yellow have the essence of all primary colors and as you know by mixing primary colors you get a brownish hue. Also, read to know why are bright colors eye-catching?
Painting and colors truly work like stress-relievers and there are many benefits of color therapy too. Playing with colors not only makes you happy but also breaks your creative blockage. Now you read all about what color does red and purple make and how to mix them. So get your paints, mix them, and start expressing yourself with your art. There is no better and more effective expression than art. (See Types of Trees with Purple Flowers)
