Paint Mixing Calculator
Pick a target colour and get approximate mixing ratios from primary colours (red, blue, yellow, white, black) for physical paint mixing.
Target Colour
#e85d75
RGB(232, 93, 117)
Mixing Ratios
Screen colours and physical paints differ. Use these as a starting point and adjust by eye.
About this tool
This calculator uses colour theory to suggest approximate mixing ratios for physical paint. The screen display may not match actual paint colours. Test small amounts first and adjust by eye. Transparency and colour mixing varies by paint brand and type.
How Paint Mixing Ratios Work in Practice
Pick a target colour and the calculator suggests approximate ratios from the standard primaries: red, blue, yellow, plus white and black for tinting and shading. Orange comes from roughly 40% red and 60% yellow; purple sits around 50/50 red and blue; a soft sage green needs about 60% yellow, 30% blue and 10% white to lift it from the muddy mid-tone you get with raw mixes. The maths is approximate because real pigments behave differently: cadmium red leans warmer than alizarin crimson, and cobalt blue is much greener than ultramarine. Two artists mixing 'red plus blue' will get visibly different purples depending on which red and which blue are in the tube.
Acrylic and oil paints follow similar mixing logic but dry differently. Acrylics darken slightly as they dry (around 5-10% shift toward the underlying tone) so always mix a touch lighter than the target if the painting is acrylic. Oils stay wet on the palette for hours and let you adjust as you go, but mineral spirits or linseed oil added to thin the paint will shift colour saturation. Test a small dab on the canvas first, let it dry properly, then commit to the larger mix.
Why Your Mixed Colour Drifts From the Calculator's Estimate
Pigment opacity is the biggest factor. Titanium white is very opaque and will dominate any mix it is in; using zinc white instead gives a more transparent, gentler tint. Phthalo blue and phthalo green are staining colours and a tiny amount overpowers everything else; cobalt and ultramarine are more polite and require larger ratios to show. The calculator assumes equal-strength pigments, which is why the suggested 'red 40%, yellow 60%' might land closer to orange-red rather than the bright orange you wanted: the red was a phthalo-based heavy tinter and grabbed the mix.
Lighting changes everything. A colour mixed under cool LED daylight bulbs (5000-6500K) looks completely different under warm domestic incandescent (2700K). Mix paint in the same lighting it will be displayed in, ideally near the actual canvas with the source colour reference held next to your test mix. Pair this with the [colour palette generator](/colour-palette-generator) when you are choosing target colours from a digital reference; it shows the hex codes and helps translate a screen colour into something achievable in physical paint.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I get any colour from the three primaries?
In theory yes, in practice no. Real-world pigments cannot mix to a fully saturated cyan, magenta or bright purple because each pigment absorbs a slightly different chunk of the spectrum, and the result of mixing two pigments is always more muted than either alone (subtractive mixing loss). For really vivid greens, pinks or violets, buy a tube of that colour rather than trying to mix it. Cadmium yellow plus phthalo blue gives a passable green; pure phthalo green is far brighter.
How do I make a colour darker without using black?
Most professional painters avoid black because it deadens any mix it touches. Use the colour's complement instead: deepen red with a touch of green, deepen yellow with violet, deepen blue with orange. The result is a darker, richer version of the original colour rather than a muddy grey-tinged version. Burnt umber and raw umber are also useful 'natural' darkeners that warm a mix while shading it.
Why does my white paint look different from another brand's white?
Titanium white (PW6) is brilliant, opaque and slightly cool. Zinc white (PW4) is semi-transparent and warmer. Mixing white (a blend of titanium and zinc) sits between the two. Different brands use different pigment blends and binders, so a Winsor & Newton titanium white will mix slightly differently from a Liquitex titanium white. Stick to one brand within a single painting if colour matching matters.
Can I mix watercolour and acrylic paint together?
No, not reliably. Watercolour uses gum arabic as a binder and stays water-soluble forever; acrylic uses an acrylic polymer that dries permanent. Mixing them gives unpredictable results: the acrylic film locks in the watercolour but can crack, and the layer behaves differently in different humidity. Stick to one medium at a time, or use acrylic glazing techniques to get the watery feel without combining the two.
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