“Blue is the only color that maintains its character in all its tones.” — Raoul Dufy
If you want to know what different shades combine to create mesmerizing blue, then you are at the right place. Blue is one of the most important colors used by an artist to create masterpieces.
Here is all the information you need to know about what colors make blue and at the same time enhance your color mixing abilities.
Significance of Color Blue
Blue color can be easily found in our daily lives, associated with harmony and peace. Blue is a color that indeed invokes the feeling of trust, tranquillity, and relaxation. The blue color is very prominent on earth, but it is quite rare in nature.
Only one out of 10 flowers have a blue color, and the color is even rarer in animals. The main reason behind this is that there is not truly blue in color or pigment in nature. Both animals, as well as plants, perform tricks of the light to have a blue appearance.
Many shades of blue exist in nature. Some of these include light blue, dark blue, muted blue, warm blue, etc. The list is long, but by the end of this article, you will know what color makes blue, and you will be able to create a perfect color for your palette.
We are now coming back to our question, which is what color makes blue. The blue color is obtained by mixing primary shades, but the mixing of colors is not an easy task as it is quite difficult compared to following the color recipes. This article focuses on mixing colors rather than following a straightforward formula.
Mixing of Light Shades of Blue
Light blue is one of the favorite and most versatile colors. Light blue has a calming and relaxing appearance that is easy on the eyes, making it perfect for use in large amounts. Blue signifies trust and loyalty, which makes it a common choice for business logos.
There are many situations when there is a need for mixing different shades of the color blue that are lighter. Here is a chart depicting the mixing of light blue color with cobalt blue and ultramarine blue.
It can be seen from the chart that ultramarine blue is used in the first two-color mixtures, and the cobalt blue color is used in the last two-color mixtures. The light blue color is curated by mixing blue color with white color. The result of mixing these colors will give a bright saturated color.
Cobalt blue and Ultramarine blue produce a very bright and saturated color when they are mixed with white. A muted blue can be obtained by mixing a little bit of orange with the blue color.
As depicted in the chart, a little muted light blue is obtained by mixing the color orange with light blue. When the color blue is mixed with white, ultramarine blue gives a warmer tone, while cobalt blue provides slightly cooler hues. By now, it must be clear that what color makes blue.
How to Make Dark Shades of Blue Color?
Do you still have a question that what color makes blue? Do not worry. We will cover all the blue hues so that you can find the exact shade for your palette. Dark blue is a color that is often confused with navy blue as there is a close relationship between them.
It lies on the outer band of the color wheel and represents authority, intelligence, and elegance. The shade of blue which is used to create a dark blue color is ultramarine blue. It is very dark in color, so it becomes straightforward to create dark colors with it. Here is a chart depicting colors that make dark blue.
Dioxazine Purple
Dioxazine adds a little purple tint to the ultramarine blue. As seen from the graph, when combined with ultramarine blue, it creates a gorgeous dark color, which is perfect if you want to add depth to your masterpieces.
Dioxazine Purple with Pthalo Green
You can see in the second row of the chart when Dioxazine purple mixed with ultramarine blue and Pthalo green, and then it creates a dark blue shade along with a tint of green color in it.
Burnt Amber
Burnt umber is used to create a dark blue color and can be used to create a great muted blue. If your design requires a blue shade that is not very saturated or very bright, burnt umber is ideal.
Alizarin Crimson and Pthalo Green
When alizarin crimson is blended is Pthalo green, then a beautiful shade of black is created. If you want black color, you can use these two, but our question was what color makes blue. So, to obtain a lovely shade of dark blue, you can add ultramarine blue to this mixture.
How to Create Muted Shades of Blue?
Let us begin by defining what a muted color is. Muted is a word used for dulled, unsaturated, or adding a grey texture to color.
It refers to the class of colors which have a low Chroma. Vivid color is the opposite of muted color.
Vivid colors are essential for a painting as they highlight the primary elements of the painting. But it is far more effective to use a combination of muted colors with vivid colors.
The depth and effect of vivid color are diminished if it is adjacent to some other vivid color. For example, if you surround dark blue with red, they will not complement each other, and each will fight for attention.
The resultant color combination of these vivid colors will be uncomfortable to gaze at. A great deal of time is spent in mixing time for creating muting blue colors. Artists rarely use the natural blue color from the tube.
As described earlier, ultramarine blue and cobalt blue are very bright colors and cannot be used directly for painting. So, let us begin with shades that can be used to curate muted blue textures.
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Complimentary Colors
While mixing muted colors, one of the most important things you should keep in your mind is complimentary colors. A complementary color is the one that is opposite in the color wheel as depicted in the image.
As you can see from the image, orange is directly opposite from blue, so both are complementary colors; similarly, yellow and purple are also complementary colors.
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How to Make Muted Blue Colors?
Mixing of Orange with Cobalt Blue or Ultramarine Blue
In the first row, it can be easily seen that when cadmium orange is mixed with ultramarine blue, a dull color is produced. This dull color is obtained as the color orange takes away the ultramarine blue’s brightness or saturation.
In other words, we can say blue can be made less blue by using orange color. This clearly explains the color wheel and what happens when we mix two complementary colors.
You should take care of it while mixing orange with blue because if you will too much orange colors with the blue, you can get the green color. If this situation arises, then you add bluer color to the mixture to obtain a muted hue.
Mixing Burnt Umber with Cobalt Blue or Ultramarine Blue
Another great option to create a muting blue shade is by mixing burnt umber with blue. The shade obtained by following this procedure is slightly brown in texture, so if you want a richer muted blue, they should prefer using the color orange.
But there will be many times when you will require a brownish muted blue; in that case, you can use the above mixture to obtain your required shade.
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Mixing of Warm Shades of Blue
Temperature is considered relative when it comes to the mixing of colors. Blue is generally considered a cool color, so it is possible to mix its warm shades.
The first shade of blue that can be considered a warm shade is ultramarine blue as it is leaned towards purple. But some masterpieces require an extra effort, and you need to make an even warmer shade of blue.
Mixing of Alizarin Crimson with Blue
When alizarin crimson is mixed with blue, then a purplish-blue color is obtained. Ultramarine purple mixture has a more vital shade of blue than cobalt blue because ultramarine purple already has a tint of purple in it.
Mixing of Burnt Umber with Blue
When the color blue is mixed with burnt umber, a soothing warm shade of blue is obtained.
Mixing of Cadmium Green with Blue
The warm blue shade created using this mixture is lesser warmer than the above two mixtures. But if you want a shade that is not overly warm, then this mixture is perfect for you. Below is one more chart where ultramarine blue is replaced by cobalt blue to create warmer hues of blue.
Mixing of Turquoise Blue Colors
Turquoise is a mesmerizing color also known as the ocean’s color; it is a slang used for the waters of the Caribbean. Or you can gaze at the endless sky with a little bit of green. Turquoise is a color that signifies the calmness of blue, the energy of yellow, and the growth of green.
Turquoise goes well with greys and sets off oranges and pinks. Here are some of the great mixtures for your palette:
Mixing Cadmium Green Color with Blue
When ultramarine blue and cobalt blue are mixed with cadmium green, the resultant mixture has a tint of turquoise. White is further added to the mixture to make it lighter. The final mixture is a light blue that leans towards turquoise.
Mixing Veronese Green with Blue
Veronese green is a bright cool shade of green. The most distinct feature of this mixture is that it retains the blueness, unlike when mixed with cadmium green.
Both cobalt blue and ultramarine blue is when mixed with Veronese green then they create rick hues. When the white was added to these mixtures, the result is lighter, but it is equally rich in texture.
The more one paints, the more he or she realizes the beauty of the color blue. The next time you observe a masterpiece or a design with plenty of blue hues, you should observe the subtleties of the color and spend some quality time creating a blend of different shades of blue.
It would help if you gave yourself true freedom to try and work with different color combinations. You will surely be astonished by the variety of colors you will get by mixing colors! So, it would help if you had got the answer to what colors make blue.
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