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36 THE BASICS
Accounting for color bias
All colors have variations in undertone, known as color bias. We
describe these biases as “warm” or “cool,” depending on whether
they lean toward the warm or cool half of the color wheel (see
pp.120–121). For example, a warm blue is biased toward purple,
whereas a cool blue is biased toward green. Color bias will affect
your mixes, so include a warm and cool version of each primary
color in your palette for versatility.
Color mixing
USING COLOR THEORY TO MIX PAINTS
You can create an almost innite variety of hues from just a few basic
colors. Using a limited palette to mix your own colors will help give your
painting a harmonious, coherent feel. Watercolor dries lighter than the wet
color on the paper, so make your mixes slightly stronger to compensate.
WET MIXING METHODS
These two common methods will produce a smooth or
a variegated color. Don’t rinse your brush between
picking up colors, which can dilute the mix too much.
Twin primary system
This color wheel shows a warm and cool “twin” for each
primary color. Each is placed near the secondary color it
is biased toward. Using six primary colors will allow you
to mix both bright and muted secondaries.
Mixing in a palette
This is the general
method, and produces
an evenly mixed color.
Mixing on paper
This method creates
more interesting but
less controllable results.
1—Blend paint with water 1—Apply rst color
2—Add second color
3—Blend colors together
2—Add second color
3—Blend wet colors
Even color Variegated color
Cool yellow
(green bias)
Warm
yellow
(orange
bias)
Cool red
(purple bias)
Warm
blue
(purple
bias)
Cool blue
(green bias)
Warm red
(orange bias)
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PRIMARY
REDS
PRIMARY
BLUES
PRIMARY
YELLOWS
US_036-039_Colour_mixing.indd 36 09/04/2020 11:05am
37 Color mixing
Mixing bright secondary colors
Combining two primary colors that are biased toward
the same secondary color creates vibrant hues. For
example, a blue with a green bias and a yellow with a
green bias will make a bright clear green, often needed
for owers, still life, or sunny landscapes.
Mixing muted secondary colors
If you mix two primaries that do not have the same bias
you will create muted secondary colors. These colors are
often useful for naturalistic landscapes. For example, a
blue with a purple bias and a yellow with an orange bias
will produce a soft, dull green.
Brightly colored landscape Muted landscape
Indian yellow
(orange bias)
Azo yellow
(green bias)
Ultramarine
(purple bias)
Azo yellow
(green bias)
Indian yellow
(orange bias)
Phthalo blue
(green bias)
Bright orange Bright green Bright purple Muted orange Muted green Muted purple
Cadmium red
(orange bias)
Phthalo blue
(green bias)
Quinacridone magenta
(purple bias)
Quinacridone magenta
(purple bias)
Ultramarine
(purple bias)
Cadmium red
(orange bias)
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38 THE BASICS
Mixing neutrals and darks
Neutral and dark colors are essential in a well-balanced
painting. Without dark colors and tones your painting
will lack impact, and many colors in real-life subjects
are actually quite muted and neutral.
Grays and blacks that you can buy premixed can
sometimes look at and boring, whereas neutrals and
darks that you mix yourself will have undertones of
other colors. A gray with a color bias always looks
much more natural in a painting.
There are two ways to create neutrals and darks: by
mixing complementary colors (see p.32) or by mixing
three primaries together. To neutralize any color, simply
add its complementary color. For example, adding a
touch of red to a bright green will dull it; the more you
add, the more gray the color becomes. Mixing three
primaries will create a huge range of neutral hues—any
primaries can be used. Adding more paint to the mix
makes it darker and stronger, but there are also some
quicker mixes for strong darks.
“Mixing color is the closest
an artist gets to magic.”
Vibrant darks
There are several two-color combinations
that readily create strong, useful darks.
Here, phthalo blue’s strong green bias
neutralizes cadmium red, and makes an
extremely dark green with burnt sienna.
Ultramarine (a blue) and burnt sienna (an
orange) gives the most neutral mix.
Lively neutrals
Mixing three primaries together
produces various shades of gray.
Depending on the chosen primaries and
the amounts of each in the mix, these
grays can have hints of warm red or
brown, cool purple or green, and other
colors, as shown in the examples below.
Ultramarine Indian
yellow
Azo yellow Ultramarine
Indian
yellow
Quinacridone
magenta
Ultramarine
Cadmium red
Quinacridone
magenta
Ultramarine
Cadmium red
Phthalo blue
(green shade)
Phthalo blue
(green shade)
Burnt sienna
Burnt sienna
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39 Color mixing
Color reference charts
Painting color charts is an excellent way to practice how to
make specic hues. This involves painting your mixes on a
grid to record the results, which you can keep and refer to
later. You may be surprised to see that adding even small
amounts of another color can change the original completely.
Optical color mixing
Layering colors wet-on-dry creates
a different type of color mixing. The
original colors remain intact (unlike
with physical mixes) and the white
paper also shines through. The eye
registers all the layers at once to
create an optical color mix, much
like how it perceives the dots of
color used in printing.
Indian
yellow
Azo
yellow
Indian
yellow
Quinacridone
magenta
Cadmium
red
Azo
yellow
Cadmium
red
Phthalo blue
(green shade)
Ultramarine
Quinacridone
magenta
Ultramarine
Phthalo blue
(green shade)
Rows show gradual
mixes from one
color to another
Pairing primaries
One useful scheme for a chart is to explore
the variety of bright and muted secondary
hues we can mix from six twin primary colors
(see also p.37). Don’t feel you must use these
specic colors; every artist has their own
particular choice of colors.
1
Make a chart
Draw a grid on a
piece of watercolor
paper, allowing 10
squares per row.
2
Plot rst color
Working from the
left of the row, paint
a strong, pure mix of
the rst color. Add
increasing amounts of
a second color to the
mix to paint the next
four squares.
Layered color chart
Paint rows of each color, then wait
for them to completely dry before
painting columns of color on top.
Notice that the colors appear clear
and vibrant compared to physical
mixes, which can be duller. Layered
colors are harder to predict, so
making a reference chart is useful.
Rich gray optical mix
of cadmium red and
phthalo blue
3
Plot second color
Then, working from the
right of the row, repeat
the process with the
second color, adding the
rst color in increasing
amounts. This will give
you 10 colors mixed
from just two paints.
Bright secondary color mixes Muted secondary color mixes
US_036-039_Colour_mixing.indd 39 09/04/2020 11:05am
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