When different pigments are combined, they can produce a variety of new colors. Pigments are materials that have a natural color and can be used to impart color when added to another material. Some common pigments include minerals like iron oxides, carbon-based black pigment, and plant-derived pigments. Understanding how combining different pigments results in new colors is important for artists and designers seeking to create specific hues. It also provides insight into the science behind how we perceive color.
Primary Pigment Colors
There are three primary pigment colors that serve as the basis for creating other colors through combination. These primary pigments are:
– Red – Common red pigments include cadmium red, vermilion, and madder lake.
– Yellow – Common yellow pigments include cadmium yellow, lemon yellow, and yellow ochre.
– Blue – Common blue pigments include ultramarine, cobalt blue, and Prussian blue.
These primary pigments are considered primary because they cannot be created by mixing other pigments. All other pigment colors are derived from combinations of these three primary colors.
Secondary Colors from Primary Pigments
When two primary pigments are mixed together, they produce the three secondary colors:
– Red + Yellow = Orange
– Yellow + Blue = Green
– Blue + Red = Violet
For example, mixing a red cadmium pigment with a yellow cadmium pigment results in an orange color. Mixing a Prussian blue with a vermilion red creates a violet. The secondary colors sit between the primary colors on the color wheel. They contain attributes of the two primary pigments used to make them.
Tertiary Colors from Primary Pigments
Tertiary colors are produced when combining a primary color with a secondary color adjacent to it on the color wheel. For pigments, these tertiary colors include:
– Red-orange – Made by mixing red and orange pigments
– Yellow-orange – Made by mixing yellow and orange pigments
– Yellow-green – Made by mixing yellow and green pigments
– Blue-green – Made by mixing blue and green pigments
– Blue-violet – Made by mixing blue and violet pigments
– Red-violet – Made by mixing red and violet pigments
Tertiary pigment colors have attributes of the primary color and secondary color used to produce them. For example, red-orange will be slightly less intense than pure orange and lean slightly toward red.
Neutral Colors from Primary Pigments
Combining all three primary pigments together results in neutral colors like brown, beige, grey, and black. The balance of the primary colors removes intensity and saturation from the mix.
| Color 1 | Color 2 | Resulting Color |
|---|---|---|
| Red | Yellow | Orange |
| Yellow | Blue | Green |
| Blue | Red | Violet |
| Red | Orange | Red-orange |
| Yellow | Orange | Yellow-orange |
| Yellow | Green | Yellow-green |
| Blue | Green | Blue-green |
| Blue | Violet | Blue-violet |
| Red | Violet | Red-violet |
| Red | Yellow | Orange |
| Red | Blue | Violet |
Darker Shades from Primary Pigments
Adding black pigment or another dark neutral pigment to a primary color produces darker shades of that color. Common darker shades using primary pigments include:
– Red + Black = Maroon
– Yellow + Black = Olive green
– Blue + Black = Navy blue
The more black or neutral dark pigment added, the darker the resulting shade will become. Adding white pigment has the opposite effect, creating tints of the primary color.
Changing Pigment Opacity
How opaque or transparent a pigment is also affects the resulting color when mixed. More opaque pigments will overpower more transparent pigments when combined. This allows artists to layer more transparent glazes over opaque layers for deeper color effects.
For example, layering a transparent red glaze over an opaque yellow layer will produce a rich orange tone. Changing the opacity and layering of pigments provides artists with a wider array of color options.
Complementary Colors Neutralize
Complementary colors are those opposite each other on the color wheel. When complementary pigments are mixed, they have a neutralizing effect on each other. For example, mixing a red pigment with its complementary green pigment will start to cancel out the intensity of both colors.
With more equal ratios, the mix will become a more muted neutral brownish-gray. This complementary mixing is useful for toning down colors as well as producing neutrals. Complementary glazes layered on top of each other can also create subtle variations in tone and intensity.
Properties that Affect Resulting Color
Beyond the specific pigments used, there are other factors that affect the final color produced when pigments are mixed:
Particle Size
The particle size of the pigments impacts color saturation. Larger particle sizes refract light differently, resulting in muted, unsaturated colors. Very finely ground pigments allow for maximum saturation.
Pigment Concentration
The concentration of the pigment in the mixing medium also affects its color intensity. Heavily pigmented mixtures will produce bold, intense colors while diluted pigments make transparent, lighter colors.
Mixing Medium
The medium used to carry the pigments changes how they blend and interact. Mixing into paint, ink, plastic, or other media impacts the final color. More absorbent media usually yield softer colors.
Texture
Rough vs. smooth texture alters how colors are perceived. Glossy finishes tend to boost intensity while matte textures mute and soften a color. Adding texture directly or creating impasto thick paint affects appearance.
Lighting Environment
The conditions where the final pigment color is observed alters perception. Colors viewed under different light temperatures or brightness levels will seem to shift. This is why consistent lighting is crucial for accurate color.
Optical Mixing with Pigments
Pigments can also be mixed optically by applying separate strokes of different colors adjacent rather than blended together. Viewed together, these create the optical effect of a mixed color.
For example, small dots of red and yellow pigments spaced closely can be perceived as an orange tone. Optical mixing allows for color variations not possible by actually mixing pigments. This can create unique effects and color gradients.
Traditional Pigment-Making Methods
Many traditional techniques exist for deriving pigments from minerals, plants, and other materials throughout history. Common traditional pigment derivation methods include:
Mining and Grinding
Mineral pigments like ochre, iron oxide, and malachite were produced by mining mineral deposits and grinding them into a fine powder. The powder was then mixed into a medium.
Insect Secretions
Lac beetle secretions were harvested and treated to produce pigments like carmine and cochineal red. The bright red color came from carminic acid in the insect larvae secretions.
Ash
Burning organic matter like wood, bones, or plants yielded black carbon pigments and white calcium carbonate pigments in the ash residue. The ash was collected and processed to make pigment.
Vegetable Matter
Some plants naturally produce brightly colored pigments. Indigo, madder, saffron, and henna are examples derived from parts of plants to make dyes and pigments historically. The plant parts are dried and crushed.
Animal Byproducts
In addition to insect secretions, other animal byproducts were used for pigments. Sepia brown came from the ink of cuttlefish. Soft purple Tyrian purple pigment was derived from sea snails in antiquity.
Modern Synthetic Pigments
Synthetic pigment manufacturing emerged in the late 18th and 19th centuries. This allowed a broader array of consistent, lightfast pigment colors. Common modern synthetic pigments include:
Metal Oxides
Titanium dioxide, iron oxides, and chromium oxides form the basis for many synthetic mineral pigments with bright opaque coverage.
Cadmiums
Cadmium pigments like cadmium yellow, cadmium red, and cadmium orange entered use in the mid-19th century, prized for their vivid color.
Phthalocyanines
This class includes bright blue and green pigments like phthalo blue and phthalo green. They have been important modern pigments since their discovery in the 1930s.
Quinacridones
Introduced in the 1950s, these incredibly durable, transparent pigments are valued for their intense violet, magenta, and red hues.
Diazos
Diazo pigments produce yellows, oranges, reds, and browns. Discovered in the late 1800s, they are inexpensive to produce.
Creating New Pigments
There is ongoing research and development in producing novel pigments for applications from paints to plastics. Potential new sources being explored include nanoparticles, algae, fungi, bacteria, and synthetic chemistry approaches.
3D printing has also opened up new prospects for custom pigments. Researchers are also examining approaches for “tunable” pigments that can shift colors based on environmental conditions or external inputs. This could allow materials to dynamically change color for adaptive camouflage, sensors, and displays.
The history of pigment use traces the ingenuity of humans extracting color from the natural world. While new methods have broadened our palette, natural pigments maintain their artistic allure. The path of discovering and combining pigments will continue expanding into new creative frontiers.
Conclusion
When different pigments are mixed together, the resulting color depends on the specific primary colors used and their ratios. Combining primary pigments produces secondary and tertiary colors, while mixing complements or adding white/black shades the hue and intensity. Particle size, concentration, mixing medium, and other factors all affect the final color. Traditional natural pigments came from minerals, insects, plants, and animal byproducts. Modern synthetic pigments expanded the range of stable colors available. Ongoing research is developing new sources of pigments, some with tunable color-changing properties. The quest for new pigment colors fuels innovation at the intersection of science, nature, and art.