Read to know How to Mix Colors to Produce Pink now!
Pink; the one color that stands for cute things like little girls and other feminine items such as princesses, flowers, and even unicorns.
Pink is also an undertone for concepts such as romance and a favorite for every lover’s favorite day – Valentine’s Day.
More so, color psychologists have tied the light red hues of pink to different emotions and human psychology components. They believe that a person cannot help but feel a little joy whenever they gaze upon this color, which is commonly linked to positivity and hope.
You can then see how the place of this color in both everyday life and special occasions cannot be overstated.
So whether you are trying to make your little princess happy, or your lover happy, or make yourself happy, the truth is you need some pink. You may choose to purchase ready-made pink, but this may not serve your purpose as there is usually a different pink for every situation.
This is why people like to make theirs. But even this is not as simple as simply mixing red and white together. Like all colors, pink comes with a full range of hues; hence, knowing how to make pink is understanding how to make the exact hue or shade of pink you need.
How to Make Pink with White
We cannot find pink on the traditional wheel of colors. It is a tint of red produced by mixing some amount of white and some yellow lemon. The amount of white you decide to add depends mainly on what shade of pink you create.
There are two prevalent shades of white used for making pink – zinc white (to make a translucent pink) and titanium white (to make the pink opaque).
Using Acrylic
Mixing colors using acrylics is often many people’s first choice, mainly because this medium of paint dries off quickly and usually produces minimal mess. So if you have acrylic paint and wants to make the pink color from it, follow these steps:
Step 1: Select your base. As a rule, the base color for making pink is red, as pink is a derivative of red. Pick out different shades of red, including warm shades such as scarlet, cardinal, and chili red, and cool shades such as crimson, carmine, and magenta.
Step 2: Prepare a large piece of paper and write out each shade of red you have selected by the side. Then draw 4 square boxes in front of each red shade.
Step 3: Now, paint the first box with the corresponding shade of red. Then clean your brush properly.
Step 4: Mix a little zinc white and each shade of red and paint it in the second box. Be careful to always paint in front of the selected red shade as written by the side. Again clean your brush.
Step 5: Mix a little titanium white and each shade of red and paint on the third box. The hue of pink in steps 4 and 5 may not differ, but the transparency certainly will.
Step 6: If you are still unsatisfied about the warmth of your pink hue, you may then repeat steps 4 and 5 and add a little lemon yellow for each red shade and paint the result on the last box for each shade.
The above exercise will give you an exemplary chart of pinks and helps you understand how to lighten the pinks to produce a hue that works for you.
Using Watercolor
Watercolors are an alternative medium for mixing colors in the absence of acrylic. They are often a second favorite because of the messiness involved, but they are less expensive and easily used by your kids. Just remember you may need to do some cleaning later on.
Step 1: Get good watercolor paper, then select your base or the different shades of red.
Step 2: Write down the name of each shade by the side and draw 4 square boxes with a ruler and pencil.
Step 3: Dip your paintbrush into a container of water, press it against the rim of the container to release excess water before rubbing against each shade of red and then painting on the first square. Remember to rinse your brush each time before touching the next shade.
Step 4: Dilute each shade of red with water and paint on the next square.
Step 5: Dilute the shades of red as in step 4 above and mix with an alternate color such as cobalt blue, then paint on the third box. This will produce a shaded or dark pink.
Step 6: Repeat step 4, add a warm color such as yellow, and then paint on the last box. You will notice that the pink became brighter.
How to Make Pink without White
While the color white is a significant ingredient for making pink, it is not the only ingredient. It is even possible to create different shades of pink without using a white color.
The quickest way to make pink without using white is to dilute the given shade of red since red is always the base color, then throw in other colors such as blue or yellow to give it more shade or brighten it as the case may be.
Selecting the shade of red often involves considering the color bias. Color bias refers to the different temperatures that each shade of red has. Some shades are warm, while others are cool.
The warm reds usually tend to lean towards orange because they contain some form of yellow, while the cool reds tend to lean towards purple because of the blue streak.
So going from the warmest to the coolest red, you may pick any of the following reds:
- Coquelicot red
- Light red
- Scarlet
- Vermilion
- Alizarin crimson
- Magenta
You could dilute any of the above to make a different shade of pink as in the steps below:
Step 1: Collect your favorite shade of red.
Step 2: Mix with a small quantity of water and paint on paper. Repeat this for each shade of red to have different hues of pink.
Step 3: Mix the light red with yellow to create light pink.
Step 4: Mixing the diluted red or newly formed pink with green-yellow can mute a bright pink and make it less “loud.”
Step 5: To make a dark pink, consider diluting more red with only a tiny amount of water or add a touch of purple to the new pink.
What Two Colors Make Red?
Clearly, from everything we have been saying so far, one can’t help but agree that red is such an important color. It is even safe to say pink would not exist without red.
So how do we make this critical color? As one of the three primary colors, red exists in abundance and may not be created. But sometimes, when you run out of red while trying to make other colors, or you need to create a new hue of red, you may want to know how to do this.
To create pure red, mix the colors yellow and magenta. Experiment with these gradually to know what ratio works best.
To make red warmer or lighter, use the paper with square boxes (as described at the start of this article) to mix cadmium yellow or yellow ochre with red.
Using ultramarine or cerulean blue can add some shade to read and make it darker if you need some dark red.
Muted shades of red can also be handy in some cases, including artwork. To create a muted shade of red, you will need to use a shade of green that complements the shade of red you are working with. Again, playing with this, as we have described earlier, is the best way to go.
Apart from all the above, we can also make shades and tints for the color red. To create a shadow hue for the red color, throw in some black stain. But because black is intense and can get quickly overwhelming, you will need to start with a small amount and progress until you find what you want.
For a tinted red, you can mix some white with red. But a lot of people say this gives off a very dull tint. An alternative is to bring in some yellow to the red. This doesn’t only add vibrancy to your color but also produces a fine peachy red.
Conclusion
If you ask us how to make pink, we could say, “throw in some red in there and pour some white on it!” But we won’t because we understand that making colors and mixing them is both a science and an art.
Knowing the colors, the amount to use, and the many different ways to play with them is superior knowledge, and we hope you find this helpful.