Make Black

Black is a commonly used paint color, but you may not have any on hand or you may want a black that leans slightly toward another color. Black paint can be made with equal parts red, yellow, and blue paint mixed together on a palette. You can also mix complementary colors such as blue and orange, red and green, or yellow and purple. Mixing blue and brown can also result in a rich black.

Steps

Mixing Black Paint

  1. Gather red, blue, and yellow paint. Black is the darkest color, but there are still degrees of blackness you can make with paint. The exact shades of red, blue, and yellow that you use will determine the black. Use your choice of oil, watercolor or acrylic paint.[1]
    • Using Aureolin, Rose Madder Genuine, and Cobalt Blue will yield a soft black while using Winsor Yellow, Permanent Alizarin Crimson, and Winsor Blue will yield a bold black.
    • If you have a basic paint set, whatever red, blue and yellow you have will work. Magenta and cyan are common red and blue to use.
  2. Squeeze or dab some of each color onto the palette in a separate spot. It works best to put the colors on the palette one at a time before you mix them. Put the globs of paint about ½ inch (1.3 cm) apart on the palette. For a basic black, use equal amounts of each color.
    • Use slightly more of one or two of the colors to give a different look to the black.
    • If you use a paintbrush to dab paint onto the palette, be sure to use a different brush for each color so that you don’t mix the paints except on the palette.
    • You will most likely not be able to create the same black from one time to the next, so be sure to make enough to paint what you want to.
  3. Mix the paint together. You can use a paintbrush to mix the colors together. Some paint mixes better if you use a palette knife or some type of metal scraping tool. Spend at least 15 seconds moving the paints around to make sure you end up with one full color without any leftover bits of any individual color.
    • If you use a paintbrush to mix the paint, swirl the brush gently and don’t press down too hard. You can ruin brushes by pushing them too hard against the palette.
  4. Adjust the value and hue of the black. Depending on what you use the black for will affect how you want it to look. You might add a small dab of white paint to lighten the black, or you might add a drop more blue to create a black for a night sky.[2]
    • If you have time and paint to spare, experiment with the color. Add a little brown or green to the black to paint pine trees at night, or add some yellow for the sun reflecting off of black metal.
    • Mixing paint by hand usually won’t give you an exact black, but your black will have more character than a pure black.

Mixing Complementary Colors

  1. Combine red and green paint. Mixing paint colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel essentially cancels out the color properties of each and yields a dark hue. You can choose any red or green depending on how you want the black to look. Phthalo Green and Naphthol Red are great complements to combine for a simple black.[3]
  2. Blend blue and orange paint. Place a dab of blue paint, such as Cobalt Blue, and a dab of orange paint, such as Translucent Orange, onto your palette. Gently swirl the colors together until a vibrant black is formed. If equal parts of each doesn’t create a dark enough black, add a bit more blue to the mixture.[4]
  3. Merge yellow and purple paint. Create a mixture that is around 60% purple and around 40% yellow, and adjust this ratio to get the black that you want. Cadmium Yellow is standard paint that works well and you can mix it with a violet.

Mixing Blue and Brown

  1. Start with Ultramarine Blue. On your palette or painting surface, place a small dab of Ultramarine blue. Blue should make up roughly half of the total paint, so use as much as you need for what you want to paint.[5]
  2. Place a touch of Burnt Umber near the blue. Don’t apply the two colors to the exact same spot. Rather, place them a half inch or one centimeter apart. Then gently swirl the two colors together. Adjust with a little more of either color to make the black you want.
  3. Add a dab of Prussian Blue. if you want to deepen and darken the black you’ve mixed, add just a small dab of Prussian Blue. This new mixture works great for a black that shows the darkness of night.

Tips

  • Always wear old clothes and cover surfaces when working with black paints.

Things You'll Need

  • Red paint
  • Blue paint
  • Yellow paint
  • Green paint
  • Orange paint
  • Purple paint
  • Brown paint
  • Mixing palette
  • Brush, palette knife, or scraper

Related Articles

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ http://www.watercolorpaintingandprojects.com/basics/mixing-three.html
  2. ↑ http://emptyeasel.com/2006/12/22/how-to-make-better-oil-paintings-tips-and-techniques-for-correctly-mixing-color/
  3. ↑ https://www.goldenpaints.com/technicalinfo_mixguide
  4. ↑ https://www.dorisjoa.com/art-lessons/black-and-darks/
  5. ↑ http://willkempartschool.com/the-3-myths-of-black-in-mixing-paint-colours/

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