The pink shade is lively, vibrant, and one of the essential colors you need to learn how to create in case you run out of it while working on your next artwork piece.
Although there are different nuances to this pretty color, the composition of all shades of pink isn’t that hard at all! And if you have your artistic sense in check and know what colors make pink, with some basic knowledge, you’re good to go!
So, without further ado, here’s all you need to know about the colors that make pink so you can easily make it on your own!
Short Answer
One can easily answer with red and white. However, there’s more to pink than that, and the same could be said for red, the base color used to make this luscious shade.
If you’re looking to create a specific color, here are some suggestions:
- Ruby red makes shimmery pink
- Crimson reds make pinks with some blue and purple in them
- Venetian reds make pastel pinks
- Rose reds colors make soft pinks
- Naphthol reds make vibrant, neon pinks
Although white plays a major role in determining the intensity of the resulting pink color, the quality of the pink all boils down to the base red that you choose. If you’re not sure what pink you’ll get out of the red color you have at your disposal, making a few swatches on a clean piece of paper wouldn’t hurt.
From here, what’s left is how to mix red and white to get the best results!
See also: What Colors Make Brown?
Start Practicing
Before you start, be sure that you have these items available:
- A sheet of paper
- White color
- All red shades that you have
Next, you can draw circles or squares on the white sheet. Finally, fill them with the red shades and the white color you have. If possible, add a note below each square or circle of the combination of colors you made so you can recreate them later.
You’ll notice how different red shades make different pink hues. From there, you can build a pallet of your own to use in your painting.
Mute your Pink Shades
Most likely, you’ll need to mute your pink shades if you’re working on a very intricate design. Darker pinks will add the depth and unique shading that most paintings need, so you need to know how to make it.
How to mute your pink, you ask? The answer is to combine it with its complementing color. The complementing color for pink is yellow-green, although you have to be careful as you do this step as it’s more of a trial-and-error process, and it depends on the ratio of the color against its complement.
Make Your Pink Shades Lighter
This step might seem unnecessary, right? The easiest way to make a pink lighter is by adding extra white color to your mixture. This isn’t necessarily incorrect, but there’s also a better way to do this in case you run out of white color.
Using light yellow shades can help bring your pink color into the light end of the spectrum. In addition to that, yellow adds substance to your pink, unlike white, which can add a washed-up, dull quality to it. This is something that not many artists want, particularly if they want their pinks to pop up.
Cadmium yellow is a great shade to make pinks lighter, but make sure to add it in moderation to avoid paint disasters.
Create Peachy-Pink Colors
If you have multiple shades at your disposal, combining white with yellow won’t only make your pink lighter but also add a bright coral quality to it.
Remember to keep the ratios that you’ve used in mind in case you run out of this shade. Experimenting is a great idea, as it’ll help you have a base knowledge of all the shades you’ll use, especially if your work is still in progress.
Read also: What Colors Make Yellow
Colors that Contain Pink
If you still haven’t found the perfect pink shade, you might not be looking for pink at all. There are some other options available, like searching for other colors that contain pink.
Here are some examples of tints that contain this gorgeous color:
Blue and Purple Tints
When pink is mixed with blue or purple, you’ll get violet shades, which will show the pink color to varying degrees. Lavender and mauve, for example, err more on the pink side, while violet is almost dominated by bright purple.
Gray Tints
Gray tints that contain pink make pastel-like neutral tones that usually go great in decor. Heather is a prime example of that, although it might be a bit hard to nail that exact shade.
Other Tints
If you still haven’t found the perfect pink shade you’re looking for; it’s likely in this ‘miscellaneous’ section. Take the cream color, for instance; it might seem like a very dulled brownish color, but if you look closely, the faint pink in it might be exactly what you need for your next art project.
The eggplant tint is also a great, dark color resulting from mixing a little bit of red, purple, and a lot of black paint. It’s a deep, bold color that might give you the pink accent you’re looking for.
Last but not least is magenta. This vibrant, charming color is the product of mixing blue with red and is an excellent element to add to highlight certain parts of your artwork. Plus, it does have a little pink in it!
Final Thoughts
Pink is such a fun color to play around with! Especially if you have numerous colors and shades to help you practice your mixing skills. To fully understand what colors make pink, the best way to start is to try out different red shades like ruby and crimson.
Following that is applying the techniques used for muting or making pink lighter; these techniques will help you get an endless amount of shades from which you can choose!
Lastly, be sure to always experiment with other colors. Although the two primary colors for pink are red and white, other colors complementing pink can give you jaw-dropping results.