Lessons
Learn color mixing
Practical color theory for painters. Each lesson answers one question properly, with a quick answer, an interactive mixer, a mixing chart, recipes for acrylic, oil and watercolor, and an FAQ. Want to experiment first? Try the paint color mixer or watch real paint mixing.
Mixing basic colors
Primary and secondary mixes, and why some come out muddy.
What colors make green?
Blue and yellow make green, but which blue and yellow decides vivid or muddy. Mix natural, olive, dark and sap greens for acrylic, oil and watercolor.
What colors make purple?
Red and blue make purple, but only the right ones make it clean. Why purple turns brown, which pigments to use, and how to mix lavender and dark purple.
What colors make orange?
Red and yellow make orange. Mix the brightest orange, then burnt orange, peach and terracotta, and darken orange without black. Recipes for every medium.
What colors make brown?
Mix brown paint from complements or from red, yellow and blue. Light, dark and no-black browns, with a mixing chart and recipes for every medium.
Neutrals, shadows and darks
Greys, blacks and shadows mixed from color instead of tube black.
How to mix shadows without black
Darken any paint color without black. Use complements, ultramarine and burnt umber, plus a shadow color chart for yellow, red, green, blue, skin and white.
How to mix grey paint
Black and white make grey, but complements make livelier ones. Mix warm, cool and neutral greys from blue and orange, red and green, or violet and yellow.
How to mix black paint
Mix rich chromatic blacks from ultramarine + burnt umber or phthalo green + alizarin. Make them warm or cool, or mix black from primary colors.
Color theory and people
The color wheel painters use, and mixing believable skin.
Complementary colors explained
The complementary pairs painters use: red-green, blue-orange and yellow-violet. Find any color's complement, use it for contrast, and mix neutrals.
How to mix skin tones with paint
Mix realistic skin tones in acrylic, oil or watercolor from red, yellow and white, then set value and undertone. Light, medium, olive and deep recipes.