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When you mix paint colors, the two main factors to consider are hue and chroma.

Hue is the most obvious, and the one most people know the most about.Mixing the primary colers will give you the secondary colors: red + yellow = orange, yellow + blue = green, and blue + red = purple. Beyond this, experiment with the brand of paint you're using to find out just what proportions of colors to use to get the exact hue you're lookking for. The pigments used in various brands of paint differ. For the most reliable results in mixing colors, always choose paints that are artist quality.

Chroma is the relative brightness or dullness of a color. A color with a high chroma is very bright, and a color with a low chroma appears gray. To increase chroma, or brightness, minimize mixing and use a pure pigment instead. To lower chroma, mix a color with its complement, which means its opposite on the color wheel. For instance, to lower the chroma of red, mix it with a little green.

Using white to lighten a color will simultaneously lower the chroma - that is, it will make the color appear slightly less bright in addition to producing a lighter tint. Because white paint contains some pigments, it will also slightly alter the hue of your color.

Using black to darken a color will alter the color's hue as well, because black paint contains pigments as well.

To produce a deep, rich black in your artwork, leave the cap on your tube of black paint. Instead, mix together several pure, rich colors such as red, green, blue, and purple. You'll end up with a color so dark it appears black, but it will look much richer and more luminous than black paint from a tube.

Learn more about this author, Sasha Vivelo.
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