How to Blend Gray

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Most people define gray as a combination of black and white, but you can actually mix gray by mixing a base color and a contrasting color. Just by understanding basic color theory, you should be able to apply the same principles in artistic media.

Table of Contents

Using color theory

Mix white and black. Mixing white and black will give a “neutral gray” color. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Neutral gray is the purest gray you can create as it has no added shades or tones.
Mixing white and black in equal amounts produces a medium-tone gray. You can change the tint by adding white or black. If you want a darker gray tone, add black and vice versa.

Combine equal parts of contrasting colors. Mixing two contrasting colors together produces a gray called “complementary grey”.

The basic pairs of contrasting colors are:
- Red and green
- Yellow and purple
- Blue and orange
Mixing colors in equal amounts gives a light gray, ^{[2] X Research Source} but you can add a tint to this gray by adding more of one color than the other. If you add red, yellow or orange you get a “warm gray”, but adding green, purple or blue gives a “cold grey”.

Mix 3 primary colors together. When you mix primary colors, you get a “primary gray”.

The three primary colors are red, blue and yellow.
Mixing these three colors in equal amounts gives a light gray, but you can add a tint by adding or subtracting a certain color. For example, adding blue will give a cooler gray tone, but adding more yellow or red will result in a warm gray tone.

Mix gray paint

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Select the type of gray you want to create. Neutral, complementary or basic gray are easiest, but the choice depends on the paint color you have and how you want to apply the gray.

Neutral gray is a good choice to blend without changing the inherent gray color. Overall this is the ideal gray if you need a standard gray.
Complementary gray is the right choice if you want to add a warm or cool hue to the hue.
Basic Gray is ideal when you need to draw shadows or place a lighter color edge. Because this gray tone is mixed from 3 primary colors, it will help the secondary color next to it look brighter.

Make gray frosting

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Select the type of gray you want. Neutral gray is the easiest to make frosting, but you can still choose a complementary gray or a basic gray.

It’s best to stick with neutral gray if you want a more pure tone, but you can also choose the other 2 gray tones if you like gray with a little more nuance.
Liquid food coloring only has colors such as red, yellow, green, blue, so if you want to use this food color, you can only mix basic gray (from red, yellow, blue) or complementary gray (from red and green). As for food coloring in gel and powder form, it is more colorful, so it can be mixed with gray in the 3 ways mentioned above.

Add the required colors to the white icing. Ladle the required amount of cream into the bowl. Slowly add in the required food coloring and mix until all are combined.

Recalling the ways of mixing colors:
- White and black (note: You don’t need to add “white” because the cream is already white) ^{[3] X Research Source}
- Blue and orange
- Yellow and purple
- Red and green
- Red, yellow, blue
For liquid food coloring, add color drop by drop to the cream using the dropper end of the bottle. As for powder or gel colors, you can dip the tip of a toothpick into the color and stir into the cream to dissolve the color. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Add black to get a dark gray. If you like the medium gray tone but want it to be a little darker, just add a little black food coloring and stir until you get your favorite shade.

You can use black to create a dark gray tone regardless of what the original color is.
In addition, you can create more vivid tones by adding base colors to the cream. The more color is added, the brighter the gray will be, but the difficulty is that you have to know how to control the amount of color so that the cream does not change to another color.

Gray tones as desired. If the gray looks inert, try adding another color to tone it up.

For neutral grays, you can create a tone by adding any color. ^{[5] X Research Sources}
For complementary grays and base grays, you should only add tone by adding the base color used to blend into the cream. For example, if you’re mixing gray from red, blue, and yellow food coloring, you should only add blush by adding red, or blue, or yellow (not green, purple, or orange).

Mix gray with clay

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Select the type of gray you want to blend. You can mix neutrals, complementary grays, and basic grays with clay. Choose the color solution you like best.

If you want pure gray then choose a neutral gray.
If you want the gray to have a bit more nuance, mixing the base and complementary colors will simplify the process, minimizing the amount of materials needed.

Split the necessary equal parts of the color. Take equal amounts of clay in each color needed. Knead each color separately, then knead the colors together.

Color options include:
- Black and white
- Blue and orange
- Red and green
- Yellow and purple
- Red, yellow, blue
To knead the colors together, you just need to stick the blocks together and roll between your hands, flatten and then round again. Continue like this until no more color fringes are visible, the color blocks must blend together to become gray.

Lighten the color as desired. If you want to make the gray lighter, rub a clear clay ball into the existing clay. ^{[6] X Research Source}

Transparent clay has no color so it doesn’t change the tint of the gray, but just makes it inert and less vivid.
When measuring the amount of clear clay to use, only one-third of the amount of color to be mixed should be taken.

Lighten the gray as desired. When you want to lighten the gray, simply knead a block of white clay into the existing gray.

You can use white regardless of the original color used for the blend.
Although technically correct, you can add black if you want a darker color, but the black color of the clay easily spoils other colors, so it is easier to darken the neutral gray because it already has the color. composition is black.

Consider mixing shades with clay. Once you’ve got the gray you want, you should decide whether to add a tint or not.

Add nuance to the clay by mixing a small amount of colored clay.
You can use almost any color to add a tint to a neutral gray, but for complementary grays and base grays, you need to use the base color that was used to create the gray.

Things you need

Gray paint

Paint color (black, white, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple)
Coloring stick
Plates or palettes

Gray cake frosting

White cream
Liquid, gel, or powdered food coloring (black, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple)
Glass bowl
Spoon
Some toothpicks

Gray clay

Clay (black, white, red, blue, yellow, green, orange, purple, transparent)

Steps