# Mixing shades of grey



## doug (Jan 27, 2014)

Hi All,

I require 13 colors for my project. Color number 1 is white and color number 13 is black. These are obviously straight from the paint tub. I need to mix the 11 shades of grey between white and black using white and black paint. I mixed 11 parts white with one part black, 10 parts white with 2 parts black and so on up to the 11th shade of grey 1 part white with 11 parts black. This didn't produce even shades of grey.

There must be a formula for this but I can't figure it out. How can I do this please?

Thank you.


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## Kaykay (Feb 26, 2014)

Black is very potent (I love it for this reason!) I often find if making brown for example, 90% orange (reddish orange, yellowish orange, depending on what I'm going for) and 10% black produce a dark shade of brown. Very little black is needed. I would try with as little black as possible, and gradually add tiny bits of black until you get to a dark grey. Even making a dark grey, you'll still be using more white than black.


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## AZACRYLIC (Feb 12, 2014)

Check out Frank Covino's book on Controlled painting. Page 83. Has good examples.


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## stephanberry (Mar 11, 2014)

As Kaykay mentioned Black is a very potent color. My best recommendation is to start with a pile of white on one side and a pile of black on the other from there you mix 50/50 to see the result. This is generally still too dark to be the half way in your grey scale but it allows you a starting ground for placement and you then cut into it with white to create the appropriate scale down. You can on a sheet of paper add slight amounts of either black (to make it a darker color on the scale then 50/50) or more likely white to bring the color down closer to white. Keep notes on how much you added to cut the color on each one and then pick the 10 that make the scale even. There are worksheets on the web that can help. I generally also buy all my supplies at http://www.jerrysartarama.com, they may have some stuff there for you in the free art lessons section.


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