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Practical Colors Tutorial
Published: 2007-10-19 06:20:40 +0000 UTC; Views: 147091; 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.
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Comments: 291
I have a feeling my art teacher would love to see this!
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Really? I hope they find it interesting.
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That was extremely useful, I'll keep it in my favourites
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lol, im sorry when i was looking through this i red "fantastic brown" i started laughing, some reason that sounds so silly
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XD Please forgive me, when you get too much into art you can talk like that.
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i'm just starting to learn to paint with watercolors, so this came at the right time!
this'll be an awsome help in the future.
and HUGE congrats on the DD, you really deserve it!
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Great! 
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i couldn't have found this at a better time! i've taken up painting again and this is perfect for making things easier. THANKS!
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Oh great! 
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Very helpful. Thanks for putting this up 
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Great simple and straightforward. Worked well as a refresher. Like turning over the compost in my mind.
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I've been told I'm good at shoveling crap around!
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congrats on the DD! I'll have to use this next time i do a painting!
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if only i had this a couple of weeks ago... lol no matter
its a great tutorial
congratulations on the DD
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This is a wonderful tutorial! I'm not a watercolorist myself but it's great amout of info that I could use in lots of works, thanks! congrats on the DD
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So glad you can apply this to your own art!
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Thats nice experience, & realy realy nice U shared it 2 Us, thank U
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Lovely. This is a very useful guide. I know I've had a bit of a hard time mixing my colors and finding good guides for it. I'm happy to say I don't have to be looking for it anymore. Thank you for sharing your knowledge of colors
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I am so glad this helps you. Let me know if you have further questions.
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Well I was wondering a bit about the use of black and white. I was told not to use them to much and I can see it lowers the general quality of the colors but I don't really understand why. Also, do paint thinners, or water, alter the color of the paint much? I guess it depends on quality like the difference between wet and dry paint colors.
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Ah! I have loaned my book to someone that explains this very well. It explains it nicely. I'll try to give you the best answer I can.
(you didn't specify your paint type, so I'll talk about watercolors)
With watercolors, the best white is the white of the paper. When you add white and opaque pigment with the other more transparent paint, you destroy the clarity, vibrancy and transparancy of the color. It is better to add more water to a color to make a lighter tint.
With black pigments, it is black, but due to the transparent nature of the majority of these colors (a lamp black is less suseptable to this) they seem very flat and have no body, they add this poor quality to any paint you mix them with. I much prefer a mixed "black", Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Umber; and sometimes a touch of Permament Rose and Hansa Yellow. With the bold qualities of all these paints, it adds richness, depth to the quality of the color.
Hope this clears it up some.
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Thank you very much. I understand that better now and with a few tests, I'll get a much better grasp of what you're explaining. Why don't teachers say it like that? It's so simple the way you say it
I have another question for you. How many colors would you suggest for a watercolor set? And what colors would these be? I have around 12 colors in mine. I don't remember their names by heart and I can't check 'cause I'm not at home. I know I have 2 reds, 2-3 blues, 2 yellows, black, white, green and a few other colors.
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Your set sounds like a nice balance.
Read my response in this comment, I listed by names the colors I think are a great starting point. --> [link]
Also you can add more colors to that as you desire, additional colors I have are Cobalt Blue, Cerulean Blue, Raw Sienna. I am trying to find another violet/red and an orange/yellow, but I haven't decided on them yet. I also want to see if a Light Permament Green would be a good color to add, though something very similar to that color can be mixed with yellow and viridian.
I have heard that some people have their palette with 26-33 colors in it! I am not that extreme, my palette has 17 in it. Though there are reasons to have that many colors due to other qualities of paints other than their color. Like their lightfastness (permamence) transparency, granulation and a couple others. Someday I hope to make another tutorial/guide explaining some of those terms to people new to watercolor.
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Thank you very much for your help
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Wow! This is extremely useful! Thanks for posting this :3
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It's all useful and pretty and shiny! =]
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This is really wonderful, and so helpful! I always get my colors too muddy when I'm mixing paints.
Thank you!
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Thank you! I hope you can use this guide and get more control over your colors. i know the struggle that it can be. Let me know if you have questions.
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I made sure to save the file on my computer for future reference. I just need some more practice! Thank you very much
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Great! Please check back again, I will be making an update to this with more information next week. I've been reading it the past day and there is more I can add.
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Sounds great! I'l try my best to remember that!
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I think I'll 
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thanks for the tutorial! I will try it as soon as possible. You have done great job.
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If I were to buy water colors in seperate tubes, which colors should I get for a practical set?
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Okay! Here is my list of the best colors for you to make your works from. They are the strongest and clearest colors that allow maximum flexibility. You can slowly add colors to this to try, but I feel this is an excellent base.
I am using names I am finding in student brand paints like Winsor&Newton Cotman, Grumbacher Academy, and Van Gogh. try to avoid paints that have the word "hue" in them. That means the paint is made with not the same materials as the original paints.
Permament Rose (Quinacridone Rose, Phthalo Red)
Cadimium Red Light (Perm. Red Light)
Cadimium Yellow Light (Azo Yellow Light)
Hansa Yellow (in W&N, Gamboage)
Viridian
Phthalo Green
Phthalo Blue
Ultramarine Blue (or deep)
Burnt Umber
Yellow Ochre
You may also add Payne's Grey as a convience color, but you can mix that with the other colors.
Hope this helps!
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wow thanks! this will really help
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An excellent question! I will answer your question this evening, please be patient with me.
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