First Steps: Mixing Your Paint
So you’ve purchased your supplies, you’ve carved out a space to make your art, and you’ve got a real desire to make something beautiful. You’re jazzed. You’ve been dreaming about works of art you’ve seen and thinking “I always said I could make that, now I will!” Your art teacher did you right in 2nd grade, so you know the basics; yellow and red make orange, adding white to blue will give me light blue, adding black to red (shutters, but fine) will give me dark red. As you start mixing yellow and red to get that orange you’re looking for, you realize the color you’re getting is NOTHING like the color you want! You’re shocked at the amount of yellow required to get that beautiful orange, and now you’re almost out of paint! And you just wanted to paint a small little area! Now you’re annoyed and defeated. Are you even qualified to be a real artist? YES, of course you are, but you need some guidance. Let me help.
In this short story, I break down how to make some of the most gosh darn beautiful colors you’re probably thinking about using as you start your painting journey. This post will help you conserve paint, gain confidence in your ability to achieve the colors you’re really looking for, and help bolster your talent for supreme color matching. How cool would that be?
Fundamentals
Red: You can just use red straight from the tube from the kit I recommend. Adding a bit of yellow will give you a more poppy, orangey red.
Yellow: In the kit, that yellow is clutch. But you might want a more mustard color, Adding a bit (and I mean the smallest bit of all time) of green and red will help with this! More on that below.
Blue: Blue is so nuanced. The blue you like is different than the blue I like. This color can be played with in so many ways! Adding small amounts of white will give you a more pool blue.
Orange: Orange is easy to mix because it requires so little outside help. Just a lot of yellow, a little red. Maybe some white. I almost never introduce opposite colors into orange.
Green: For me, green was a tough code to crack. But it doesn’t have to be. You will always need a shit ton more yellow than blue to get the green you want. Promise.
Purple: Have you ever tried to make purple with food dye? Did it look like dried blood? Or muddy grape juice? Ya, purple is tough. You need this story.
Since colors are visual, I’m going to tone it down with the words and just offer some visuals on my Instagram for you to absorb.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMALhDBDCww/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The Takeaways
START SMALL. Even though I used big letters to type that out, start with small dabs of paint. You can always add more.
When wanting lighter, pastel colors, start with white. Adding tiny amounts of your color. Always easier to go darker than to go lighter!
When going darker, start with black. See what happens. You will inevitably find that black sucks the life out of your color. Stick with opposites (blue/orange, red/green, yellow/purple) in order to get darker colors.
Be flexible. It takes a lot of practice to get the exact color you’re thinking of. But along the way, you may find a color you really love.
