Mixing oil paints means to find the correct hue AND the correct brightness value. When painting with a limited palette (red, yellow, blue, brown, and white), use yellow and white for lightening colors, brown and blue for darkening colors. With these 5 colors, it is possible to mix many colors and shades. You can start with the 3 primary colors, brown, and white. Tips, Techniques & Terms How to Paint in Layers You can use solvents/thinners to make them runnier. Some brands add a binder to the mix, which makes the oil paint less runny. That means there are only pigments and oil in the tube. When opening a new tube of oil paint, if there is oil leaking on the work surface, it is, usually, a good sign. I use and recommend the Maimeri Artisti (artist grade) oil paints. There is less importance to the brand or type of pigment. The main importance when painting with oil paints is the ability and knowledge to mix the right colors, and the correct brightness value. Artist grade - Artist-level oil paints are more expensive because the amount of pigments in them is greater.Student grade - Colors with more filling material besides pigments and oil.Most of the leading brands of oil paints hold at least two grades of colors: Observation, knowledge, and experience, are the key to mix the accurate color. When using the three primary colors and white, you can mix a wide range of colors, including highlights and shadows.įor special cases of saturated objects, under a certain light, you may need a tube of a specific oil paint. Some flowers under a certain climate, or some man-made object, can be very saturated. When painting nature in a realistic style, the objects are (usually) less saturated. In reality, the shadow is influenced by a multitude of factors. Using the opposite color in the color wheel is a shortcut for mixing shadow area colors. Mixing all 3 primary colors will absorb most of the wavelengths, and will result in a darker color. Therefore, mixing opposite colors is a mixture of all 3 primaries. A secondary color is a mixture of 2 primary colors. Opposite colors are pairs of primary and secondary colors.

For purple, add yellow, and vice versa.The highlight area can be lighter, brighter (saturated), or both.įor light color, which is less saturated, add white to the mixture.įor bright color, meaning saturated color, look at the color wheel and add the next color toward yellow.įor the shadow area, you can add a bit of the opposite color in the color wheel.Īdding the opposite color, darkens the color, and makes it less saturated. The area of an object that is in front of a light source is called highlight, and the area that is hidden from the light source is called shadow. Every object is made of pigments, which define its color.

Color wheel with primary colors