How to Mix Color

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This article was co-written by Jeanine Hattas Wilson. Jeanine Hattas Wilson is an artist and president of Hattas Public Murals. With nearly 20 years of experience, Jeanine specializes in the production, supervision, design and painting of wall frescoes. Jeanine holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Marquette University and attended the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. She studied at the Artelier Artien School in Paris, France, and the Academy of Figurative Arts Los Angeles with the guidance of famous artists such as Robert Liberace, Michael Siegel and William Cochran. To date, Hattas Public Murals has produced nearly 5,000 works of art indoors and in commercial and public spaces.

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The tinting technique depends a lot on the tinting agent you use. The principle of color mixing is different from the principle of color mixing of light. Fortunately, by learning about the primary and secondary colors of each colorant and the effect that occurs when colors are mixed together (whether complementary or subtractive), you will learn how to mix colors. suitable in all situations.

Table of Contents

Combine primary and secondary colors

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Blend primary colors to form secondary colors. There are 3 primary colors: red, blue and yellow. These colors cannot be “created” by mixing other paint colors. However, they can be mixed together to form three secondary colors: red and blue for purple, blue with yellow for green, and red with yellow for orange. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Note that when mixing primary paints together, the resulting secondary colors will not be very bright and vibrant. This is because these newly combined colors are more subtractive and reflect less light from the color spectrum, making the secondary colors appear dark and dull rather than bright and vibrant.

Create intermediate colors by mixing primary and secondary colors. There are 6 intermediate colors that you can create by combining primary and secondary colors. They are yellow-orange (yellow mixed with orange), red-orange (red mixed with orange), purple-red (red mixed with purple), blue-purple (blue mixed with purple), green-blue (blue green phase) and yellow-green (green phase yellow). ^{[2] X Research Source}

Intermediate colors are located between the secondary and primary colors on the color wheel.

Combine secondary colors to create tertiary colors. In addition to the primary, secondary, and intermediate colors, there are three tertiary colors that are formed when two secondary colors are mixed. These are brown (green with orange), brick (orange with purple) and gray (purple with green). ^{[3] X Research Sources}

These colors are usually not on the paint wheel, but they do exist and can be created by mixing different colors.

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Avoid mixing paint colors to create white. Painted colors are subtractive colors, i.e. color pigments absorb some parts of the spectrum and reflect others, thereby creating the paint color we get. This means that if you add different colors, the color will be darker because it will absorb more light. Therefore, we cannot mix colorants together to make white. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

If you want to use white for a painting project, you will have to buy white instead of mixing colors.

Combine all the primary colors to make brown . Brown can be made by mixing all 3 primary colors in equal proportions or by combining 2 complementary colors. ^{[5] X Research Sources}

If the newly created brown is too biased towards a certain color, you can neutralize it by adding a little contrasting color to it.

Mix brown with blue to make black . The easiest way to get black is to mix the brown you just created with blue until you reach the desired black tone. You can also make black by blending all 3 primary colors together but with a greater proportion of blue. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Remember not to add white or any other white color to the color mix, such as an opaque yellow or an opaque yellow-green, as the resulting black will appear more gray.

Create light (tints), dark (shades) and muted colors (tones)

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Add white and different colors to create a lighter color. Light colors are just lighter versions of the original color. To fade the color and make it lighter, add white to the color. The more white is added, the lighter the resulting color will be. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

For example, adding white to red creates pink, a lighter version of red.
If adding too much white makes the color too light, you can add a little more base color to the mix to make the color darker again.

Create dark colors by adding black. A darker version of the original color is called a dark color. These colors are created by adding black to the original color. The darkness of the color produced depends on the amount of black added to the original color; the more black is added, the darker the color produced will be. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

Some artists prefer to create dark colors using complementary colors, i.e. colors that are opposite on the color wheel to the CMY/RGB color system. For example, green can be used to darken lotus petals, and lotus colors can be used to darken green, since the two colors are opposite each other on the color wheel.
Add black or complementary colors little by little to avoid overmixing. If the color is too dark, you can make the color light again by adding a little of the original color to the color mix.

Add both white and black to create a muted color. When you add both white and black to one color, you get a muted, less intense, and less vibrant color than the original color. By varying the ratio of black and white to the mixture, you can achieve the desired brightness and vibrancy of the resulting color. ^{[9] X Research Source}

For example, you can add both white and black to yellow to make a light olive green. Black will darken the yellow, turn it into olive green, and white will lighten that olive green. Light olive green shades can be blended by varying the proportions of the colors being added.
With a deep color like brown (dark orange), you can adjust the hue in the same way as you would with a light orange: add a small amount of the color next to it on the color wheel, such as wing color. lotus, yellow, red or orange. These colors will lighten the brown color and change its tint.

Mix colors on the color tray

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Put some color you want to mix on the color tray. Take the intended amount of color used for tinting (or a little less). If you want to mix colors equally, you need to take an equal amount of each color and space it apart. If you want to mix a color with a larger ratio, you need to get the correct amount of color in that ratio. ^{[10] X Research Source}

For example, if you want to mix brown, you’ll need blue, yellow, and red colors, each in equal amounts. If you want to mix black, you will need to put more blue on the tray than the other colors.
It might be better if you put a little less color on the tray instead of using too much, because you can easily add more color.

Use a color mixing trowel to take a small amount of color and place it on the empty space of the tray. You should use a mixing trowel to take a small amount of color and place it in the center of the mixing tray or an empty spot on the tray. Tap the trowel on the tray if color sticks to the trowel. ^{[11] X Research Source}

The color mixing trowel is the ideal tool for mixing colors on the tray. This is a powerful tool to effectively mix colors, thereby prolonging the life of the brush, because you do not have to use the brush to mix colors.

Use a clean cloth to mix the colors. This step will help the colors not be mixed with the previous color when you use the trowel to get the color. Use an old rag or cloth that you don’t mind getting dirty to wipe the paint off the fly. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Take a second amount of color and place it on top of the color in the center of the tray. Use a clean trowel to take a small amount of the second color and gently place it next to or on top of the color in the center of the previous tray. The amount of this color will depend on the ratio of each color you want to mix. ^{[13] X Research Source}

For example, if you are going to mix two colors in equal proportions, the two colors will have to be in equal amounts.

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Repeat the above operation to add a third color or more colors to the mix. If you plan to mix more than 2 colors, repeat the process of wiping the trowel and placing the color in the center of the tray until all the colors to be mixed have been added to the mix. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Use a trowel to mix colors together. Once all the colors have been placed on the tray, you can start mixing. Use a spatula to stir in a circle so that all the colors blend together. If necessary, you can gently press the trowel on the tray while mixing colors. ^{[15] X Research Source}

Once the colors have merged into a new color, the tinting process is complete!
If the new color doesn’t turn out the way you want, simply wipe it off and add more color to the mix until you’re happy with the color you just mixed.

Advice

Each color consists of 3 aspects: tint, luminance and luminance.
Always consider hue, vibrancy, and brightness when considering colors. Hue indicates the color’s position on the color wheel; vibrancy makes colors appear bold and bright like the colors of a rainbow or on the color wheel; and brightness indicates how much the color leans to white or black, regardless of color.
Mixing gold is quite a challenging task and there are many options to consider.

Steps

Combine primary and secondary colors

Create light (tints), dark (shades) and muted colors (tones)

Mix colors on the color tray

Advice

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