COLOR MIXING TL

STARTER'S GUIDE

AN INTRODUCTION TO COLOR

Get started with mixing colors, by learning

actionable lessons you can put into practice today

 A Practical Guide to Color Mixing

One of the most important fundamentals of painting to learn is how to mix

and use color. There is more to painting than just applying paint to canvas. After
all, it is color that makes up your painting.

It can seem a little daunting at first dealing with so many colors. However, with
patience, practice and constant experimentation you will get a feel for it. Learning
to mix colors can even save you money by not needing to buy unnecessary
paint colors - as you will know how to mix them yourself!

Also, by mixing your own colors you will be able to get a greater richness in
your painting through the art of learning to create subtle color transitions.
Using colors just straight from the tube, will result in work that is oversaturated
and unnatural looking.

What this guide will cover:

Color wheel color combinations

Complementary colors in greater detail

Intro to mixing colors

How to mix shades of blue

Brown color mixing basics

Mixing a rich, dark black color

Mixing more colors!

 Colors within the Color Wheel

First of all let's take a quick look at the colors that make up the color wheel. We'll
go over some basic color theory before delving into mixing a few colors!

Use the color wheel for reference as you go through this guide for getting started.

Primary Colors

First off, the primary colors yellow, blue and red are important because all
other colors stem from just these three. These colors cannot be made from
other colors – thus they are considered ‘parent’ colors.

Secondary colors

Secondary colors are those mixed from primary colors, such as; are green,
orange and purple. They are mixed from the following primary colors:

Yellow + Blue = Green

Yellow + Red = Orange
Blue + Red = Purple
 Complementary Colors

At the top of the color wheel you will notice red – directly below it at the bottom is
green. Green and red are both complementary colors. Now, let's look at the third
color to the right of the red – orange. Opposite of orange is blue as blue is the
complementary of orange and vise versa. Another complementary color would
be purple and yellow.

Whatever color is opposite of another color on the color wheel is its

complementary color.

Analogous Colors

Colors that are beside one another on the color wheel. For example blue, light
blue.

Triadic Colors

Three colors that form a perfect triangle on the wheel. An example would be red
– blue, yellow.

Tertiary Colors

When a primary and secondary color are mixed together a tertiary color is
created. As with secondary colors you must use equal parts of each to
successfully mix a tertiary color. You can always notice a tertiary color by name
as it is listed with its primary color first:

Blue Green · Blue Violent · Yellow Green

Red violet · Red Orange · Yellow Orange
 Taking a Deeper Look at
Complementary Colors

Learning complementary colors is one of the most important things when it

comes to color mixing. We already touched on them briefly but will bring them up
again. These are the colors that are opposite from each other on the color wheel.
So, for example, when looking at the wheel you notice that red is at the top –
opposite the red is green at the bottom of the wheel. Thus, green is the
complementary color of red and vise versa. The same holds true for blue and
orange and purple and yellow (as well as all other colors in
between!).

What are complementary colors good for?

When you pour your orange out of the tube it is a very saturated color and will
not do you much good when you are trying to get a hue that is more ‘true to life’.
So, what do you do? This is where complementary colors come in. As blue is the
opposite of orange, when you add some blue to orange it will make the orange
less orange – therefore creating a more muted color. Or, if you would rather have
a more muted blue you would just add some orange to the blue. The same of
course holds true for all the other complementary colors - green/red, and yellow/
purple and all the others in between.

You could technically add a brown (burnt umber) to these colors to mute them,
but this creates very uninteresting colors and will not help you in the long run.
Working on mixing the opposites to colors helps you create beautiful and
dynamic colors. You will grow exponentially more in your color mixing than if you
would just add brown to colors.
 LET'S MIX A FEW COLORS!

How to Mix Shades of Blue

Blue is a very important and one of the most often used colors on the painter’s
palette. There are many different shades of blues – light blues, dark blues, warm
blues, muted blues... the list goes on!

Let's look at how to mix a light and muted shade of blue.

You will run into many situations in which you will need to mix different shades of
blue colors that are lighter. Here is a simple color mixture to mix a nice light blue.

Mixing a light shade of blue

Remember us talking about complementary colors? Well they are very important
and useful when it comes to mixing muted colors. Re-visit the sections earlier on
in this guide to see more about the power of complementary colors!

Using complementary colors to create

muted shades of blue
 MIXING COLORS CONTINUED

Mixing Brown

Simplified version of how to mix brown

Did you know that when you mix all the primary colors together you get brown?
The hue of brown you create will depend upon the ration of each primary color
you use to mix your brown.

Primary Colors mixed together make brown

However, there are even more different kinds of yellow, red and blue colors
available. You can also just use whichever colors you might have on hand at
home.

Mixing Black

How to make a dark black color

Nearly any combination of two deep, dark colors will produce a black as
long as one is cool and the other warm. One of my favorite combinations for a
rich dark black that is super simple, is mixing together ultramarine blue and
burnt umber.
 Mixing EVEN MORE Colors
So far, we have barely skimmed the surface! I believe most of what one learns
from color mixing, once you know the fundamental principals, comes from
experience. The best thing you can do for yourself in the process of learning
to mix colors, is simply to mix a LOT. All the time. Be experimental with color
and mix combinations that you would not ordinarily think of – the results
may surprise you.

Think of color mixing in terms of cooking and adding spices – a little bit of this,
then a little bit of that… What I find accelerates the learning process is to
watch an experienced painter work and see how they mix colors. For myself,
this helped me to get outside of my own head and
think of more unusual color combinations. The result was that my ability to make
compelling color combinations on the canvas increased exponentially. Most
importantly, be patient with yourself as you learn!

If you would like to dive deeper into how to mix colors, you
can find my Color Mixing MASTER Guide here:)
artstudiolife.com/color-mixing-master-guide/

Thank You!
So glad you were able to join me in going through this color mixing starter's
guide. I hope you can take advantage of these few, important color mixing
fundamentals we covered here, to get started mixing colors on your own! Keep
an eye out for additional color tips and painting tutorial lessons that will be
coming to your inbox in the near future. I often go into pretty great detail as I
paint and demonstrate how I mix the colors I'm using, which can be really helpful
to see in action!