Color Mixing Bible: All You'll Ever Need to Know About Mixing Pigments in Oil, Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache, Soft Pastel, Pencil, and Ink

by Ian Sidaway (Illustrator)

Mixing colors accurately may be an art unto itself. In fact, many artists are discouraged by the time and expense it takes to mix and match colors, and achieve the right results. Even more frustrating is the vast range of colors available. Now there’s a ready-to-use visual directory that takes all the guesswork out of mixing and matching colors . . . making every artist an expert! Color Mixing Bible provides a basic color palette for each art medium, demonstrating an array of two-, three-, and four-color mixes, as well as offering full explanations of various paints and pigments.

This invaluable guide features scores of tips and techniques for color mixing with oils, acrylics, watercolors, inks, pastels, and virtually every other art medium. It also includes in-depth information on how to determine the opacity and strength of a color, choose a color palette, mix whites, arrange and organize colors prior to mixing, use optical and physical mixing techniques, and much more! Plus, hundreds of color illustrations make everything simple. Whether one is an aspiring artist or working professional, Color Mixing Bible is an essential addition to every bookshelf.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Crafts, Reference, Design, Drawing

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Kim]

The introductory text, which makes up about a 1/3 of the book, is a solid overview of the history of color theory, leading the reader to what science has currently taught us about light and refraction. Totally easy to understand and follow - I recommend this for anyone interested in a basic understanding of how color works.

The remaining sections of the book deal specifically with brands of paints/art supplies with recipes for very specific colors. Pages and pages of charts with color swatches. This, to me, was overkill - while useful for a beginning artist, it could also become a crutch that prevented a painter from experimenting with their palette and reaching a better understanding of color on their own. Sort of like instead of learning a language before you travel to a foreign land, you choose to look things up in a dictionary.

[Rebecca]

I paint watercolors so I was looking for some good color mixing exercises. This book is kind of out of date when it comes to watercolors used and includes no pigment numbers for reference. Many of the colors are either discontinued, reformulated or just plain obsolete.

I will continue my quest for information in a more up-to-date book. Meanwhile, I have discovered the Munsell Color Wheel and am playing around with that.

[Jane]

Will have to buy this, full of awesome info to mix paints.

[Steph ✨]

[personal note: the edition I own has the ISBN 13: 978 186 155 6349]

[Ceidric Platero]

Not a comprehensive list of colors nor a comprehensive history of colors and pigmentation, but super interesting and useful for considering what paint to buy and how they'll interact with each other.

This book also gives helpful tips in considering limitations and advantages for different mediums when wanting to convey specific emotions/techniques to your piece. The author provided some good examples of applying color theory in the back :)

I read this book for mostly the content surrounding the bulk of the book (a color directory of various colors mixed with others), but I could see how the directory might be helpful to further solidify pigment purchase choices before starting a piece. I'm glad the author used common pigment names like "cadmium red" and "ultramarine" instead of just saying "red" or "blue."

[María Luisa]

Encontrar este libro fue un regalo para mi aprendizaje con los colores.

Si bien en términos de contenido escrito es breve, contiene un catálogo de combinaciones y mezclas de colores muy exhaustivo. Para diversas técnicas (óleo, acuarela, acrílicos, pasteles, lápices de madera) ofrece tablas referenciales de cómo se ven unos pigmentos mezclados con otros en diferentes magnitudes.

Lo recomiendo para cualquier persona que esté aprendiendo a pintar y necesite profundizar su entendimiento del color. Sin duda será una referencia constante, para estudiar el color y para planificar las paletas de mis proyectos.

[Giovanna Ortiz]

I’m still learning about color, and this book is helping me a lot. It shows how to mix different colors with clear examples.

The pages are full of color charts and simple tips. It’s very useful for painting, drawing, or using color digitally.

I like that it is easy to understand. I don’t need to be an expert. I can learn step by step. It also inspires me to try new combinations.

[Nicole Mosley]

A nice little color handbook for a variety of media.

[Christina L]

Fascinating intro into the science and history of color theory. Color mixing sections divided into different paint mediums. Useful and enjoyable book.

[Kelley S]

Great refresher of color theory and extremely helpful tool in helping me decide which colors I need and want to add to my personal palette.

[Willow]

Although this is a very good book it is not the best to work with would be greatly improved if it was spiral bound so you could easily keep the page to hand as you paint.

[Alexa]

Me agradan sus explicaciones detalladas, sobre todo las históricas del desarrollo de la teoría del color y de los pigmentos.

[Another]

Very good overview using many different materials.

[Tatjana]

I can't paint without this book.
Sometimes I mix mud, then more mud, then more mud still...
then I pick up the book and look for the color I want.

Yeah. Sure, the book probably has shortcomings, but I haven't seen them and frankly don't care.
My only complaint is that the cover seems to be wearing out... ;)

[Kristi]

magenta + yellow = red, shaded = adding black, tinting = adding white and pastel = adding grey

[Eileen]

History of color

[Sunny]

thanks