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KelliRoos —
Practical Colors Tutorial
Published: 2007-10-19 06:20:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 147087; Favourites: 3309; Downloads: 2186
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Description
Practical Traditional Paint Color Mixing TutorialI made this with my watercolors, but it can be used as a guide for acrylic paints and oil paints.
I had a very hard time with watercolors for a very long time. When I started reading websites and books on some color mixing techniques, it started to click. This is my small contribution to the community that will hopefully be of some value.
Update 28-10-07
Tweaked some readability issues
Gave some suggestions on other common names for the paints I recommended
Added a mini description on how to mix color progression samples
Additional Resources
New to watercolors? Check out this news article for some great dA resources.
handprint - an exhaustive watercolor resource
Don't know the names of your colors? try these steps and discover the perfect mix of your colors.
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EDIT OMG a DD?! I am honored that =IBinsanity and ^bleedsopretty felt this would be valuable to share in this manner.
Related content
Comments: 291
Brand new to watercolors and this was recc'ed to me by a friend. Thank you so much for such a helpful guide! I'm pretty proficient in other media, and watercolors leave me quite frustrated, but this is incredibly helpful! 
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oh good, I'm so glad! 
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Hi again... I hope you don't mind, but I have a question and wonder if I might ask for some advice.
I'm in the middle of working on a second watercolor piece, I'm afraid I still don't have a handle on creating nice, even washes. I'm trying to create a yellow-to-light purple-to-deep purpley/blue/nighttime gradient in a radiating pattern and what I have so far is streaky and has really harsh, delineated lines, clear evidence of my colors drying faster than I can get a handle on them. Any advice on how to salvage it?
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Hello, please be patient with me, I do want to answer, but do not have time to type a response. Please reply again, and I will do it as soon as I can.
I'm not sure someone can get it, but try posting your question on the main page of #watercolorists Someone may come by your question and be able to answer it as well.
sorry for the delay.
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Today, I was having trouble mixing watercolors in my art class. I saw this before, and it is very helpful. I figured out how to get brown, and other colors I wouldn't have known how to find. I want to print this out. >u< I have one question, though. How would you go about mixing a peachy skin color. I tried mixing a bit of yellow and orange in a wash. It turned out ok, but it's too see through. Any ideas?
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oh gosh, I am so happy you found this valuable. I should find a way to upload this in pdf format, so it is easy for people to print. I will try this weekend for you.
You mixed some great colors for skin colors. Think of skin tones and pinkish yellows.
So you mixed some colors and want them more opaque, not transparent? That can get tricky with watercolors, as their main quality is to have some transparency. Some colors though are not transparent. You have to get specific colors for that though. The colors you would buy would be cadmium yellow and cadmium red. The cadmium colors are an opaque pigment, so you cannot see through them in watercolor.
Another thing you can try is to mix the same colors you have with a white gouache color, that is opaque watercolor.
This may not work in class, depends on what your classroom supplies. Let me know if you need more help.
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Well, I don't think we have those colors because we have pan watercolors. However, I have my own watercolors at home, so I'll try. Another question- If you have multiple layers in a painting, how do you keep them from bleeding? The key is anmple drying time, right?
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sorry for my late reply ^^
Yes, to prevent bleeding, you let a layer dry, then, paint over it. Try to not use much water in the new layer, and that should prevent the earlier layer from moving.
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No problem, it's fine. Thanks for the advice, I'll try to be patient when I'm painting!
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XD it's good, it's good. Some patience is good, you can do it.
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This is great! Even I learned new things from it and I've been playing with watercolors for like 10 years.
I think there's one small, important part missing. Basically the whole bright/dull secondary color thing depends on the colors you're mixing. Mixing cool with cool or warm with warm, you get a bright combination. If you mix cool with warm you get a dull one. It's important especially for those people who don't know the names of their colors, but who can identify which one of their two yellows is the warm one.
Thank you for doing this, it's much appreciated
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I'm so glad.
Ah, you are right, that is another way to explain that. 
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Oh really? I'm curious what would make them despise it?
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I'm not sure. i know the man who wrote handprint doesn't care for it. Reasons (if I recall correctly) he's choosing not the optimum tone and saturation of paints to mix a particular color, there are also other color formulations are inferior than others.
I guess I'm not a pigment purist 
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Kelli, this is brilliant and that DD is well deserved! People should kiss your feet for this tutorial because, just as you say, colour mixing can be pretty daunting at first! One of the most common complaints from watercolour beginners is: Oh, I always produce mud!
And this has been in Watercolorists' gallery since October 2007?? Gosh, I must be getting blind; I never saw it!
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Thank you so much Pat!
Yes! When I finally could mix the colors I wanted, it was one less hurdle in learning to paint. It is one of the things people get so frustrated in the beginning, it just takes a little extra learning. I hope others get that from this piece too. ^_^
XD yeah, it's been around, you don't need to learn it though, but you can direct people here now who have questions.
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I most certainly will! This is a little gem of a tutorial! I even think you should build in a link to Watercolorists' front page: There might be some more "blind people" around, like me!
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thank you. this is an awesome guide... i'm new with colors XD
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oh good, I'm glad. Let me know if you have any questions.
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ah right!
when using watercolors, do you mix the paint before application? i've read in some books that it's dangerous to do (haha), and it's more advisable to mix colors on the paper?
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the standard way is to mix the colors on a palette, perhaps test them on some scrap paper, then use them in your piece. Though, you can mix on the paper too! Both can work. You do have more control over mixing on the palette, but exciting things can happen mixing on the paper.
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ahhhh. alright. thank you so much for all your help!
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While reading this I was thinking, this person should get a DD!!! And when I finished, I saw you got it!!
Well well deserved!!! Beautiful, clear and easy to undestand!!!
I love you!
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very welcome.
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Found this through Watercolourist as I noted a few of my deviations had been put onto the site. Yours is a very helpful tutorial for beginners, well done. I hope you don't mind that I added a reply re skin tones, which can be difficult to mix simply
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Thank you very much.
Yes! please write a reply, i will link it in my comments. Also, it may work great as a tutorial you post yourself.
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Great tutorial!
This really helps me, it's very easy to follow and I'm sure will become a much used resource.
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I'm so glad. If you have any further questions, please let me know, I will be happy to help.
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Nicely explained. (thumbs up)
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I'm so glad. Let me know if you need further explanation.
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what colors do you mix to get the skin tones?
awesome tutorial XD
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See some alternative ways of mixing skin tones in my journal entry Aug 22 2009. Some of the newer pigments are very useful.
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wah your journal has some really detailed things...thanks alot!
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Oh hello! So sorry for my late reply.
Anyway, using the colors I detailed in this piece, a standard skin tone would be a Lemon/Hansa Yellow with a dab of a Permament Rose color. Feel free to use the other Cadinum Yellow with a dash of Perm Rose or Cadinum Red.
Another way of thinking of how to mix skin tones is to make orange with a good amount of water. A light orange, or peach color. Try mixing them at different intensities and test your results.
For shadows use a blue or brown. Hope this helps!
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hmmm ok..i usually try getting it throught the second method but never thought of the first one
thank you very much!!!
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I really find your tutorial to be a life saver! this will be a great reference when i start putting colors on my palette!
thanks
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I'm so glad! Let me know if you have any questions.
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