Color Mixing Tip: Mixing a Black

A color mixing tip to add to your color theory knowledge.

By
Marion Boddy-Evans
    Marion Boddy-Evans is an artist living on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. She has written for art magazines blogs, edited how-to art titles, and co-authored travel books.
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    Marion Boddy-Evans
    Updated June 29, 2017

    Almost any combination of two deep, dark colors -- one warm, the other cool -- will produce a dark, usually interesting color. Try Ultramarine and burnt umber (rather than raw umber), Prussian blue and burnt sienna, dark blues with earth red-browns, You can get a blue-black by mixing thalo blue and cadmium red light. Which side of the color spectrum your 'black' leans towards depends on the balance of colors in your mixture.
    Tip from: Michael9.

    When you need a rich strong black, mix equal parts of thalo green with alizarin crimson. Over the years, this is the one black I keep going back to.
    Tip from: Michael Nelson.

    I always mix a chromatic black which is a more interesting color than a tube black.
    Tip from Jim Meaders

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