Different ways to create the Black color by mixing different shades of paint. You can easily learn how to make black from primary, secondary, and complementary colors.
Although this is a site dedicated to house painting, this rule applies to whatever type of material you are working with. There is an easy and homemade way to prepare black with edible vegetable coloring, tempera, plasticine, or acrylic for artistic. Also for synthetic or acrylic enamel, and latex paint.
When you need black paint, it is best to use one already prepared at the factory, before forming it with other colors. Otherwise, the result is not usually dark enough as desired, forming grays, but generally not reaching absolute black.
Prepare black color with primary colors
When we talk about dyes or paints, it is possible to create black with the right mix. For this, we should mix in equal parts the traditional primary colors: Red, Blue, and Yellow. Or also the colors of the current CMY model: Magenta, Cyan, and Yellow.
Remember that using more of one color than another can generate a variation in the result, and in this way obtain a tone different from black. It is very difficult to create the same hue twice in a row.
Prepare black with secondary colors
If for some reason you do not have the previous paints, you always have another option: do it with the three secondary colors in equal parts. In this way you should mix, according to the traditional model, Orange, Purple, and Green.
Prepare black with complementary colors
Complementary colors are those that are faced in the color wheel. One is a primary color, the other is a secondary. This is a trick that can help you if you don’t have enough paint colors. The complementary pairs are:
- Yellow and purple
- Red and green
- Blue and Orange
To obtain a black coloring you must mix one part of the primary with two of the secondary. That is, you will need twice the second than the first. For example, a liter of Yellow for two of Purple, or a teaspoon of Red for two of Green. In all cases, the resulting color is usually a dark gray tone close to black.
To sum up:
If you want to create black, you can do it in 5 different ways:
- One part Red + One part Blue + One part Yellow
- One part Orange + One part Purple + One part Green
- One part Yellow + Two parts Purple
- One part Red + Two parts Green
- One part Blue + Two parts Orange
If you have enough paint, I invite you to do tests. Use a little more of one than the others to get variations of black. Adjust the amount according to how you will use the paint. Add white to lighten and get gray tones.
