Blue, in its myriad shades, is a captivating color that evokes a spectrum of emotions, from tranquility to invigoration. Whether you’re an aspiring artist, a seasoned painter, or simply curious about color mixing, understanding how to create different blues is a valuable skill. This guide explores the fascinating world of color combinations to help you achieve the perfect blue hue for any artistic endeavor.
Creating Cool Blue Shades
Cool blues are reminiscent of ice, water, and clear skies, possessing a refreshing and calming quality. To achieve these cooler tones in your blue, the secret lies in incorporating a touch of green. The type of green you choose will subtly influence the final cool blue shade, allowing for nuanced variations.
Veronese Green and Cobalt Blue/Ultramarine Blue
Veronese green, with its inherently cool and bright nature, is an excellent choice for lightening and cooling down blue. Its natural inclination towards lighter blues makes it ideal for creating serene and airy shades.
Mixing veronese green with ultramarine blue yields a sophisticated, slightly deeper cool blue, perfect for shadows or deeper water reflections. For a brighter and more vibrant cool blue, try combining veronese green with cobalt blue. Cobalt blue’s inherent lightness is amplified by veronese green, resulting in a crisp and clear cool blue.
Cadmium Green for Sunny Cool Blues
Cadmium green, while still a cool green, possesses a subtle warmth due to a hint of red within its composition. This makes it particularly useful for creating cool blues that retain a touch of sunlight or warmth, ideal for landscapes bathed in a cool, yet sunny atmosphere. When mixed with blue, cadmium green creates cooler tones that are not as starkly cold as those achieved with veronese green, offering a different dimension to your cool blue palette.
Achieving Warm Blue Tones
Warm blues lean towards the red end of the spectrum, evoking feelings of depth, richness, and sometimes even melancholy. To warm up your blues, you’ll want to introduce reds or browns into the mix. Alizarin crimson and burnt sienna are two excellent choices for adding warmth and depth to blue. Starting with a naturally warmer blue base, like ultramarine blue, is recommended for optimal results when creating warm blue shades.
Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue
Burnt sienna, a dark and earthy reddish-brown, brings a subtle warmth and depth to blue. When combined with ultramarine blue, it creates a darker, warmer blue that is reminiscent of twilight skies or deep ocean waters. Burnt sienna is slightly cooler than alizarin crimson, making the resulting warm blue a touch less intensely warm, offering a more muted and natural warmth.
Alizarin Crimson and Cobalt Blue/Ultramarine Blue
Alizarin crimson, a deep and rich red, introduces a significant level of warmth to blue. Mixing alizarin crimson with ultramarine blue will create a very deep, almost purple-blue shade. This combination is ideal for dramatic skies or rich, luxurious fabrics in your artwork. For a more vibrant yet equally warm blue, you can mix alizarin crimson with cobalt blue. Cobalt blue’s vibrancy shines through even when warmed with crimson, offering a brighter and more lively warm blue option.
How to Make Light Blue
Creating light blue shades is surprisingly straightforward. The most common and effective method is simply adding white to your chosen blue. White lightens the blue, revealing its inherent undertones and creating a range of delicate and airy shades.
White and Ultramarine Blue/Cobalt Blue
Combining ultramarine blue with white produces a classic cornflower blue, a vibrant and cheerful light blue. The addition of white beautifully highlights the warm undertones already present in ultramarine blue, resulting in a balanced and pleasing light blue. For an even brighter and more luminous light blue, mix cobalt blue with white. Cobalt blue’s naturally lighter and brighter character is amplified by white, creating an exceptionally clear and radiant light blue.
Lightening Blue with Yellow or Light Green
If you find yourself without white paint, or wish to experiment with subtle color shifts, yellow or light green can be used to lighten blue. However, this method not only lightens the blue but also subtly cools it down. Adding yellow will lean the blue towards a turquoise or seafoam green, while light green will enhance its coolness, shifting it towards a paler, icier blue. This technique offers a unique way to create nuanced light blues with a cooler undertone.
Crafting Dark Blue Hues
Creating dark blue shades offers a range of possibilities, from deep and muted to richly intense. While light blue primarily relies on white for its variations, dark blue can be achieved through several color additions, each yielding a distinct character.
Dioxazine Purple and Ultramarine Blue/Cobalt Blue
Dioxazine purple, a deep and intense purple, is an excellent choice for creating rich dark blues. Adding a touch of dioxazine purple to ultramarine blue produces a very deep and luxurious dark blue, imbued with depth and sophistication. Because dioxazine purple contains red pigments, combining it with cobalt blue may result in a slightly more muted dark blue, as the interaction of red and cobalt blue can lessen vibrancy, offering a more subdued dark blue option.
Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue/Cobalt Blue
Burnt umber, a dark and earthy brown, is another effective color for creating dark blue shades. Mixing burnt umber with either cobalt or ultramarine blue will result in a darker, more muted blue with a subtle brownish undertone. This combination is ideal for creating shadows, aged surfaces, or a more grounded and naturalistic dark blue. If your goal is to achieve the deepest possible dark blue, burnt umber is often the most effective choice.
Phthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson: A Burnt Umber Alternative
For artists seeking to avoid brown in their mixes or wanting to experiment with alternative approaches, a combination of phthalo green and alizarin crimson can mimic the effects of burnt umber. Mixing phthalo green and alizarin crimson together creates a dark, near-black hue that, when added to blue, produces a similar muted dark blue to that achieved with burnt umber. This method offers greater control over color temperature and allows for fine-tuning the darkness and undertones of your dark blue.
Exploring Different Shades of Blue in Your Art
Blue is a truly versatile color, capable of expressing a vast range of emotions and visual effects. From the serene calmness of a light sky blue to the profound depth of a midnight blue, the nuances within the blue spectrum are endless. Experimenting with these different color mixing techniques will unlock a world of blue shades, allowing you to add depth, mood, and sophistication to your artwork. Embrace the spectrum of blue and discover how its diverse shades can enrich your artistic expression.
Have we illuminated the secrets of “What Colors Make Blue” and the diverse range of blue shades you can create? We trust that this article has sparked your appreciation for this captivating color and inspired you to incorporate it more extensively in your creative endeavors. Unleash your creativity and explore the boundless possibilities of blue in your art!
