Working with paints is a fascinating process. Remember how you played with watercolors as a child, mixing paints. You can also play now. Mixing colors can be useful for renovations, hobbies, etc.
Primary and secondary colors
As you know, there are three primary colors (red, blue, yellow) and three secondary colors (purple, orange, green). These are the base colors. By combining them, you can get all other colors and their shades (theoretically yes, in practice the situation is slightly different). In the figure, the primary colors are represented by circles, and the additional ones are formed at the intersection of the pairs. These pairs show how mixing the colors of the main row gives additional ones.
In practice, mixing colors is an interesting process, but often the result is difficult to predict. We work with paints, and they are a mixture of a coloring pigment and a binder base. That is, they have their own properties due to the presence of that very base. After all, paints are different – oil, acrylic, aniline, etc. Accordingly, the result will be slightly different. When you work with paints of the same company for a long time, you can almost accurately predict what will happen if you add this or that component.
It is also worth remembering that if you mix not paints, but light, the result will be different. Paints are only a reflection of light and not all laws work with them in the same way.
Obtaining additional colors: orange, purple, green, their shades and brown
The pairing of primary colors gives us additional shades:
- Orange is obtained by mixing red with yellow.
- Purple is obtained by adding blue to red.
- Green can be obtained by mixing yellow and blue.
Mixing colors should be in equal proportions. In this case, we get a “neutral” tone. If the result does not suit you, you can add one of the components, “shifting” the shade in one direction or another.
Please note that red with blue does not always give purple. Often this mixing of colors results in a “dirt color”. This is because your red contains yellow, that is, it is not the main one, but only one of the shades. To get purple, it must be pink or purple instead of red. On the other hand, mixing pink and yellow does not make blue. So to get a certain color, first experiment with a small amount of colors. After making sure of the result, you can repeat in the right amount.
If we add to the obtained additional colors the main ones that are already present in them, we will get the same color, but of a different shade. We have not introduced new colors, just changed the concentration of one of the existing ones. So we get mixed colors: yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green and light green.
What happens if you add one that is not in it to additional colors? We get a mixture of all the available primary colors, and it will give us a brown color (when working with light it will be gray, but with paints it will be either brown or very close to it). So, to get brown, you need to mix all the primary colors: yellow + red + blue. Or add “missing” to one of the additional ones:
- add yellow to purple;
- to green – red;
- add orange to blue.
That is, to get a brown color, you can mix the three primary colors or add the missing of the primary colors to the additional ones. Interestingly, if we mix the same light waves, we get gray light. But colors are just a reflection of light, so there are certain differences.
Color wheel – how to make it
If the colors – primary and secondary – are arranged in a circle, according to how they turned out, we get the traditional color wheel. The circle is divided into 12 parts. At the vertices of the triangle, fill the sectors with primary colors.
Their derivatives, obtained from equal proportions of neighboring colors, are in the center of the sector. They are called “secondary colors of the first level”. To the right and left of them we place the shades that we got by adding another part of the corresponding component. So we get our own color wheel.
Please note: mixing paints from different companies gives different shades. Therefore, creating a color wheel is useful if you are going to be working with certain paints for a while. Looking at the result, and knowing how you got it, you can understand what you can add to get the desired shade.
Receiving shades
All colors found in nature are called chromatic. This is all the variety of colors and their shades. In nature, three colors are not found in their pure form – white, black and gray. They are called achromatic. By adding achromatic colors to others, we get different shades.
For example, pink is obtained by adding white paint to red. For blue – add the same white to blue. And so with all the colors that are present in the color wheel. The lighter we want the shade, the more white paint. Sometimes – for very light shades – it is easier to get it by adding the desired dye to the white paint. Such light shades are called pastels.
To obtain pastel shades with a “dusted” effect, gray is added to the primary colors. Note that multiple achromatic colors can be added. For example, we got the desired “degree” of pale purple, then added a certain amount of gray to it. Got a slightly more subdued tone.
If it is necessary to make a dark color from a saturated color, black is added to the base color. Here you should be very careful, add a little, stirring thoroughly.
How to mix paints to get the right color
Everything described above is easily implemented in practice if you need “simple” colors, which are obtained by mixing primary and secondary. Adding achromatic to them will not be difficult. By experimenting with the amount of “additives”, you can, in the end, get exactly the shade that you wanted. By the way, try to find your color on a small amount, mixing on the palette. At home, the palette can be replaced with a plastic plate. If you are mixing paint for interior use (on walls, for example), once you get the color you like, apply it to a small area and let it dry. You will see that the color has become a couple of tones lighter. And this must be taken into account when creating your shade.
How to get shades of red
Remember that red is one of the three primary colors. It is impossible to get it by mixing some paints. It can be obtained as a pigment from natural sources. Using it as a base, adding other tones, and we get its various shades. How to mix paints to obtain the desired colors (chestnut, raspberry, plum, pink, etc.) is indicated in the table.
Please note that some shades based on red – plum, for example, are difficult to attribute to its shades. However, it is in red that the remaining components are added. In contrast, raspberry, which we used to consider one of the red shades, is made on the basis of blue. These are color games.
Separately, it is worth mentioning how to get a burgundy color. Its base is blue, add yellow and red. By changing the number of different components, we get different shades. For dark tones, add brown or black, for brighter variations, add more red.
Shades of the green palette: mixing colors to get shades
As we remember, green is not a base color. This is the primary color, which is obtained by mixing yellow and blue paints. And therein lies the difficulty: a different number of components gives different colors. Getting the same one is extremely difficult. If you don’t have the base green and you get it by mixing, then it should be enough to complete all the work.
Please note that in the paint mixing table, somewhere the base is green, somewhere yellow is prescribed with the addition of blue. The difference is in the amount of color. If the base color is yellow, there should be more of it.
There is no mint color in the table, but it is quite popular. In fact, mint is a lightened shade of turquoise. Turquoise is obtained from blue by adding green. By mixing white with it, we get its various gradations. You can add a little (just a little) yellow, blue, green to them. All this will be the same color, but with a different “sound”.
But colors are strange. You can try other options as well. It all depends on what you are mixing – paints, clay, plasticine … So, for a light mint, here are some of the options you can try:
- white + blue + green + a bit of emerald or brown to muffle;
- white + emerald + blue (blue);
- beige + turquoise + white + a little light green.
There are many options, as already “tinted” colors are used. If you have them (in paints, for example), then why not. You can go in stages – create the same emerald or turquoise, and then add others. In general, it is easier for beginners in color to work with basic colors. Then experience and intuition will come. And so you can have a lot of material to lime for experiments.
Blue and its shades: mixing colors
As we remember, blue refers to the main ones – this is one of the three basic colors, on the basis of which we get all the richness of the palette. Moreover, “blue” can be dark or bright. Accordingly, the result is different. This is the case when, depending on the base, really different colors are obtained.
Not all options are included in the table. Let’s add some:
- Light blue is obtained by adding white paint.
- Cornflower blue – we get it if we add red-brown to purple and a drop of blue and black.
- To get blue-green, mix yellow (1 part) and green (2 parts).
- We get classic blue by mixing purple with blue in equal proportions. If you add some more white, it will be light blue (or blue-white).
Of the blue palette, turquoise is of particular interest. It is obtained by combining blue and green. Shades should be “pure”, then the result will be spectacular. This color is on the verge of blue and green. Some shades are predominantly blue, some are green.
To get a dark shade, add brown or gray. The result will be different. For a warmer and lighter shade, you can try introducing beige.
Mixing colors: how to get purple
As they wrote at the very beginning, mixing blue and red, we get purple. In theory, everything is fine, but when you start, mixing colors does not give the same result at all. And it’s all about what shades of red and blue to take.
For example, if the blue is dark, the result will be very saturated, almost black (in the figure below, the first line). If you add white to it, it will lighten, but as a result we get a gray-violet. Even if you add more red, it will only “clear up” to eggplant. But we won’t get a brighter one.
If we add blue to the same red, we get medium purple. And again, it is not bright, but dark, saturated. By introducing more red, we get plum. If it is lightened with white, it will be already warm, but still a soft shade. This is a little more interesting, but still not the same.
A more cheerful light lilac is obtained by mixing pink and blue. Doubling red gives amethyst. These colors are well diluted with white, a whole range of pastel shades is obtained.
But how to get bright shades of purple? This is difficult to achieve by mixing base colors. A bright lilac is taken as the basis, to which different colors are added.
Blue-violet or cornflower blue will turn out if you add blue to the lilac (far left). Paired with indigo, we get a cold version, adding pink, we have amethyst. By adding red, we will have a berry. All of these colors can be made lighter by adding white paint.
What you should not do is add yellow paint to purple. We get the “color of dirt” – slurred and incomprehensible. Very neat with black. He quickly reduces all the resulting shades to dark gray. If you need a darker shade, it is better to add dark indigo.
How to get gray by mixing colors
One of the most desirable colors is grey. It is added to bright colors for less saturated shades, it is used as a base, as it is neutral and serves as an ideal tone. But “grey” is not just one color. There is also a whole range of them. First of all, we get a gray color if we add a little black paint to white. But this is far from the only way to get gray. Mixing the colors of an additional level also gives it, and with different “backlighting”.
And that is not all. Gray has no less shades than blue or red. They are not as bright as others, but the difference is also there and quite noticeable.
Similarly, there are neutral, warm and cold tones. If you want to have warm shades, add orange or pink to gray. If only a subtle shade is needed, there should not be a lot of color. By adding more of it, you get “dusted” or pearl shades. These are called gray-blue, gray-pink, etc.
The resulting colors can be made lighter by adding white paint. Such “mixed” colors will be a good background for creating an interior. In a lighter version, they can be used as a base, adding accents that match with the tint.
Mixing paints to get yellow and orange
Yellow is one of the primary colors, but it can be obtained by mixing green with orange. But usually yellow comes in a set, it is almost always there. Another very popular color in his palette is orange. It lies on the border of two colors – red and yellow. By mixing these colors in different proportions, we get the whole gamut of shades. By adding white, lighten it to the required level.
To get darker shades, add brown to orange or yellow. Not black or gray – they quickly extinguish the color, turning it into something incomprehensible. Sometimes you can get a darker shade by adding dark red paint. Interestingly, you can get a bright light orange by adding yellow to pink.
By the way, orange is also often included. It is usually brighter than what can be obtained by mixing primary colors. If you need bright shades, you will have to use it. For example, coral. It belongs to the red group, but the mixing of colors is carried out on the basis of red-orange. Pink and white are added to it. All paints are taken in approximately equal quantities. The second option for obtaining a coral color is simpler – add white to scarlet. But it turns out it is not so bright.
Such a tricky brown
Brown can be obtained by mixing the three primary colors in equal proportions. We get the “medium” brown. It cannot be attributed to either warm or cold.
But mixing colors of the second and third levels can also give one of its shades.
- When combining red and green, we get almost the same shade.
- Orange and blue in equal proportions make tan.
- Almost the same color, but colder, is obtained from gray and orange, mixed in equal quantities.
- We get chocolate if we add dark indigo to light brown.
- We get red-brown if we mix green and bright orange in equal proportions, add a little less lilac.
Dark brown can be obtained by mixing yellow and red, and adding a drop of black. In order not to be too dark, add some white.
Interesting shades can be obtained if the brown, obtained by mixing the primary colors (red, blue and yellow), increase the “presence” of one or two components. By adding white, we get interesting options.