How to Mix Paint

Creating the perfect orange or pink tone can be an obstacle for someone who is new to tinting and doesn’t know where to start with color combinations. Fortunately, most colors in the spectrum can be created using a few primary colors. Besides, learning the color wheel will give you the foundation you need to create any color shade you want.

Table of Contents

Blending quadratic colors

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Prepare the tinting tool. You will need a tray and trowel or brush before you start working. Using a tinting trowel will give a more even and uniform finish than using a brush. ^{[1] X Research Source}

If you’re using a brush, be sure to rinse it off after each color mixing. You probably don’t want to let any colors get mixed up in the two colors you’re mixing. Use soap and water to clean acrylic paint, or unscented white gasoline or turpentine to clean oil paint. ^{[2] X Research Source}
You can mix colors in a jar instead of using a color tray if you intend to prepare the paint for later use.
Color mixing is a skill acquired through practice and experimentation. Try mixing colors with different amounts of paint and different combinations to get used to how to mix colors. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

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Start with three primary colors. All other colors are derived from the primary colors red, blue and yellow. These colors cannot be created by mixing other colors. Treating these colors as “original” colors will make them easier to remember.

You might consider buying a larger amount of base color paint over other paint colors. Large paint tubes usually have a capacity of 200ml.
Paint quality is divided into two categories: for students and for professional painters. School products are often cheaper, but lower quality than professional painters paint when it comes to durability, color intensity, and other factors. Student paints can also alter the proportions needed to produce a particular color; Therefore, you should research carefully before buying the product. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Combine yellow and blue to create green. Take equal amounts of yellow and blue and stir with a brush or tint to create a green color. Using unequal amounts of color can cause green to shift to a more proportional color of blue or yellow.

Blue and yellow both have warm and cool shades. Cool-toned yellows look greenish, while warm-toned yellows look slightly orange. ^{[5] X Research Sources}
For a brighter green, you’ll use yellow and a cool-toned blue that has a slight green tint.
If the mixed green looks dark, it’s probably because you used a warm orange-yellow or a hot purple-blue.

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Combine yellow and red to make orange. Take equal amounts of yellow and red and stir with a brush or tint to create an orange color. Using unequal amounts of color can cause orange to shift to a more proportional color of yellow or red.

Similar to blue and yellow, red also has hot and cold shades. Warm-toned reds look a bit orange, while cool-toned reds look a bit purple. ^{[6] X Research Source}
For a bright orange color, you would choose yellow-orange and hot-toned red-orange.

Mix purple with blue and red. Take equal amounts of blue and red and stir with a brush or tint to create a purple color. Using unequal amounts of color can cause purple to shift to a more proportional of the blue or red colors.

Just like other tones, blue also has warm and cool shades. Warm blues look a bit purple, while cool tones look greenish. ^{[7] X Research Sources}
For a bright purple color, you would combine a cool- toned red with purple undertones with a warm- toned blue with a purple tint.
If the resulting purple looks dark, it’s probably because you used a hot red-orange or a cool-toned blue with a green tint.

Use white or black paint to change the lightness, saturation, and darkness of the paint. ^{[8] X Research Source} Brightness and darkness represent the degree of lightness and darkness of a color. Saturation is the “darkness” or lightness of a color. ^{[9] X Research Source} Try combining a little white or black paint to make a difference to the primary colors.

You can also lighten the paint by adding a little yellow, or add a little blue to make it darker.
Whether black and white are primary colors is still a matter of debate. As for tinting, it’s important to remember that some shades of black can be created from other paint colors, but no color combination can produce white. ^{[10] X Research Source}

Preserve the colors you have mixed. Pour the paint into a sealable storage container, such as a jar, if you are not planning to use it right away. You will use these colors to paint or to create tertiary colors. Plastic containers with tight-fitting lids are a good option when you don’t have a jar on hand.

If you don’t have a paint storage device, cover the color tray with cling film and refrigerate (or freezer if you’re storing oil paint).
You can also place a wet towel over the paint storage tool to keep the paint’s moisture until it’s needed. ^{[11] X Research Source}

Tertiary tint

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Start working with quadratic colors. These are colors that are mixed from primary colors, including: purple, green and orange. You can use your own blend of secondary colors or buy paint colors at art stores. Besides, you remember to prepare more basic colors to use.

When shopping for paint at a store, make sure you choose a standard “green”, “purple”, or “orange” color. Don’t buy colors that are mixed with other colors, such as orange red or green with blue.

Mix browns, blacks, neutrals and more

Combine a tertiary color with a primary color to create brown. In particular, you will be mixing a tertiary color with a primary color that is not used to blend the selected tertiary color. In the case of brown tinting, the ratio of each paint color affects the tint of the finished product.

Adding a large percentage of a warm color, such as red, produces a brown with a warmer tint.
Using a large proportion of cool colors, such as blues and greens, produces a very deep brown, almost black. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Combine complementary colors to create black. Complementary colors are colors that are in opposite positions on the color wheel. For example red and green or blue and orange. Combining these colors results in a black blend that slightly leans towards one of the colors used for the tinting. This is considered black created from other colors.

Dark blues and browns can produce a deep black that is adjusted to a cool tone or a warm tone depending on the paint ratio.
Note that buying a standard tube of black paint limits the mixing of that black. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Combine primary colors, similar colors, and complementary colors to create gray. A similar color is the color next to a particular color on the color wheel. For example, the similar colors of green are yellow and bone green. Adding a similar color to a color with a complementary blend of colors neutralizes the color’s intensity and produces a darker shade of gray. Add white to lighten the color of the mixture until you are satisfied with the gray you have.

Dark colors are often easier to blend into lighter colors than vice versa. Add a little bit of the gray mixture to the white and then increase as needed.

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Use color circles. With three primary color groups available, you’ll be able to utilize each color to create any color you want. When you’re not sure how to combine colors, it’s a good idea to refer to the color wheel. See where that color is on the color wheel and combine the two primary colors to create that color. ^{[15] X Research Source}

Use white (or yellow) to lighten the color.
Use a complementary color of a certain color to convert the color to gray.
To darken a color, you need to add one of the primary colors that make it up, depending on what shade you want the color to be. ^{[16] X Research Source}

Advice

Take notes to remember how color combinations and color ratios help you create the right color.
Simulating the color circle is an exercise to help you mix colors.
Experiment because you never know what the outcome will be.
Try with a small amount of color so you get used to the amount needed when mixing a particular color.
Only wear clothes that you are not afraid of getting dirty when mixing colors.
If you need a large amount of a certain color, you should mix more than you think is enough. Otherwise, you may be missing the color and not be able to produce the original color.

Warning

Many paints contain hazardous metals, such as lead and cadmium; so you avoid ingesting the paint or leaving it in contact with the skin for long periods of time.

Things you need

Paint tubes of basic colors: red, yellow and blue.
Tubes of white and black paint.
Clothes that you are not afraid of getting dirty.
Coloring tray
Paint brush
Flying color
Sealed vials or containers.

Steps