Lesson 2: Building Depth Through Color Mixing

Introduction to Color Mixing for Depth

In this lesson, I’ll share one of my foundational techniques for achieving a painting with depth: creating deep, rich shadows without relying on black. By mixing Alizarin Crimson with French Ultramarine, I achieve a dark, saturated shadow shade that provides life and depth—qualities that pure black often lacks. Black can feel chalky and dull, so avoiding it helps keep my colors vibrant and prevents muddy grays. The slight transparency of this mixture allows light to penetrate through the canvas, adding an extra layer of depth to my artwork.

Preserving Intensity in Shadows

After mixing my deep shadow tone, I treat it like pure white for highlights, striving to keep it as clean as possible. Any contamination from other colors can cloud the mixture and weaken the shadow effect. I focus on working from dark to light, which helps me keep my layers neat and tidy; it’s usually much easier to add a lighter color on top of a darker one, as opposed to the other way around.

Using Opposite Colors to Tone Down Brightness

After I’ve mixed up my darkest shade, I make my way through the reference and start mixing lighter and lighter patches of color.

One of my favorite tips for when a color feels too intense—like an overly vibrant purple—is to add a hint of its opposite color. In this case, incorporating yellow or orange can help neutralize purple, bringing it closer to the natural hues you see on your reference. This color balancing technique is invaluable for capturing realistic hues in nature, whether it’s in a landscape or on a horse’s coat.

Watch my MasterDemo to learn more.

Organizing Your Paint Puddles

When mixing colors, I like to keep my paint puddles aligned in a row, moving from dark to light. This organization helps me keep track of which color goes where when I move onto the canvas. I visualize the reference as a “paint-by-number,” focusing on major color blocks first.

I avoid mixing every little color that I see in the reference at the outset. Our eyes naturally fill in minor details, so my goal is to build a simple palette with key colors and blend them as necessary as I go. I always try to mix slightly more paint than I might need; I like to be able to apply heavy brushstrokes, and I would much rather have a little paint left over instead of running out right when I’m in the middle of a piece!

Techniques for Accuracy: Squinting and Simplifying

A reliable technique I use throughout the whole process is squinting. This helps blur out details in my reference, allowing me to see large blocks of colors more clearly and focus on getting the big picture right. Once the primary colors are blocked in, I can then decide if I want to introduce any pops of brighter color at the end.

Watch my MasterDemo to learn more.