Color Theory : Mixing Dark Colors and the problem with Black Paint

[@violasigalit2425]

Thank you! I'm a total beginner, who took just a few lessons, but one thing I hate that my teacher does, although I asked her not to do it - she paints pure black outlines of every shape in the picture, then we cover it with colours and make it lighter white. I hate those stark black shapes, and I hate how muddy the dark colours often look in the end. Now I understand why. :)

[@JulieHiltbrunner]

I scrape the carbon off the bottom of my camping cookpot and mix with linseed oil. That’s a gorgeous carbon black on the cheap. Making my next video on it!

[@themysteriousdomainmoviepalace]

This was great! you're such a master, Florent!

[@vincentde6680]

Of all the painters I've seen so far on KZbin you do the best at explaining things. Keep up the good work :)

[@Kalembastudioart]

Thank you so much for taking the effort to share this. When students understand this their painting journey becomes so much better. I use 60% French Ultramarine and 40% Burnt Umber. It gives me a perfect lively black. I will try other mixes now! Cheers Tony

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Yes, this is the proportion needed to get the "classic" black, it works great. Have fun experimenting with other pigments then ! See you Tony !

[@francinefarley6840]

Florent Farges - arts

[@cristianoangelo3460]

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[@joeleugene4406]

@Cristiano Angelo instablaster =)

[@cristianoangelo3460]

@Joel Eugene I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site thru google and I'm waiting for the hacking stuff now. I see it takes quite some time so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@stevefranklin9176]

Thanks again Florent. I can see how the constructed dark values can be and advantage even on the same cloth that may have different reflected light. Say a blue reflected light on a black sleeve and yet on another part of the black clothing could well be subjected to a more red reflected light.

[@jimmiesutton8468]

Wonderful instructions, my Friend, was just working on a portrait with very dark flesh and was driven up the wall until I used some of the combinations that you just blessed me with! You have made this very clear.Thank you very much! Jimi

[@Bococha]

You are absolutely magnificent! Thank you for sharing in such an enjoyable way this.

[@christopherhanson9578]

Ivory black creates silvery cools that are very nice in skin tones. It works well because the lights are cooler and darks warmer usually.

[@gabriellebullock5344]

Excellent lesson; much appreciated.

[@callmedeno]

So helpful, would love to see a graphic that shows these colour values for all the main painting colors like you have in the video placing them all on the chroma wheel for reference

[@catherinecervas3726]

Wonderful video Florent! Thank you

[@sammariofan]

Wonderfully explained thank you

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're welcome, thanks for watching.

[@viniciusgarcia1404]

Hey, thank you for sharing this, my black mistures was very dull :)

[@annieblooms]

Invaluable lessons as l watchers your tutorials!! Thank you!

[@liyue8772]

I really enjoy watching your video. Do you have a video on painting black dress or jacket?

[@shaneth3178]

Wow this was great! I've been hand finishing frames at my job, where I mix acrylic paint to get certain finishes. (Acrylic because it's water based and easier to control on wood, for us anyway) I've been doing it for the past six years, and the tip on not using straight up black will definitely help to not make the colors muddy. Very comprehensive, thank you so much for the video!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're welcome, thanks for watching.

[@shaneth3178]

Oh and have u checked out digital painting? Really cool

[@FlorentFargesarts]

No I don't have the equipment yet, I really want to get into it some day. Is there anything good you can suggest ?

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks a lot ! I'll have a look !

[@shaneth3178]

No problem, and I tried mixing burnt umber and ultramarine blue today for a frame today, and it worked perfectly 😊

[@MrTawes]

Thanks, wonderfully presented.

[@nicolastockar]

Thanks for sharing

[@myutub090571]

Mixing a touch of black helps to neutralize vibrant hues.

[@bbcb1856]

Love this wow

[@philsmith7398]

Nicely explained, thanks!

[@vi8445]

Thank you so much. Keep up with the good work.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You're welcome, thanks for watching.

[@doctormarazanvose4373]

At 8:54 he has created three animals - we have two deer sandwiching a hybrid elephant monkey with a bushy tail - wizardy at work

[@defin99]

I use a mixture of dark colours cool or warm depending on what i'm painting but i still use a smidgen of ivory black if required.

[@Wildboy789789]

you just helped me out greatly, essentially black is 2 dark colors that mute themselves... I am trying to save money and make every color with around 5 paints, I know its impossible but I want to get close... tell me what you think, I'm going with titanium white, iridescent white (to mix with color for metallics), Quinacridone Crimson (its purpleish but very red unfortunately not very dark), Phthalo Blue (dark powerful blue, Green Shade) (perfect), and Indian Yellow (a dark orange but glazes powerful yellow)... I am ok with my green being a bit muted and natural, and because the red isn't too dark I can get pretty good orange, and I should get not a neon purple but a deep rich purple... i suppose id make black with all 3, because the dark green and dark red will make a dark almost black brown

[@sepsax]

Firstly, thanks for the video Florent, you've shared with us some very useful information. Could you or someone else please help explain? Perhaps I'm missing something. Why is it better to use, say, Burnt umber + Ultramarine blue, rather than Burnt umber + a little touch of Ivory black? From the video I understand that both Ultramarine blue and Ivory black have cool tone to them, so they will both drop the chroma anyway. I just tried the two mentioned mixes and can't notice any difference. Is the combination of Burnt umber + Ultramarine blue better mainly because it is easier to mix the right tone with them, whereas with black one needs to be very cautious? From my experience, black really makes colors muddy, but I can't figure out why. I don't think it's just because it makes warm colors more neutral, it's also its overall physical character. Or maybe it's simply because I'm unable to mix it properly.

[@Hadoken.]

Why are transparent pigments better for dark tones? I'm practicing in a monochromatic palette (using a semi opaque cheap burn umber I bought, never used it before so it's possibly less opaque than better brands) , however I'm noticing that transparent colors are a pain to control. Drawing, edges and tone (at least by layer buildup in an alla prima setting using some solvents or a medium) end up a very sketchy mess because the paint needs to be scrubbed on and must dry before going over and refining it with thicker or more opaque color, because otherwise a new layer just skates over the last one or I end up removing the layer below (maybe I'm doing something wrong). So, although I understand why it's good for darks to be laid on the canvas thin, build them up and enhance a sense of depth, I don't see why the pigments themselves need to be transparent.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Transparent pigments are generally better for dark colors because of the physics of light hitting them and bouncing back to the viewers eye. It's the same phenomenon happening with gloss and mat computer screen. Gloss screens have a better surface transparency and give better dark colors. Now, it doesn't mean that the layer should be thin though... Transparent pigments are not only for glazing. I said transparent pigments are better, not that they should be thinly applied. If you find it hard to handle, this is probably because you don't have a brush that's loaded with enough paint. I made a video on this subject recently. Plus, it's a pain to control if it's the only thing you have to paint with. But if you use opaque for the lights and transparent for the darkest tones, it should be alright. And finally, in the case of your monochromatic palette I would even suggest only opaque colors. Transparent pigments need opaque pigments to support them, it would be a mistake to use only transparent to build the core of the painting.

[@Hadoken.]

Hmm, I see. How would one go glazing or painting thinly over opaque colors with transparent colors then? Unless you let the color dry a bit, be tacky to the touch, it's not easy to apply it without loading a truckload of paint, and when you're going back and forth and building up, where's the limit? By the way, I do load my brush with paint on the first layers, but that's the issue, after that layer I have to go opaque and thicker. The reason I'm trying to figure out this procedure is because I'm trying to figure out how to paint thinly, in layers, alla prima, but with also accuracy if I need to, sorta like a watercolor. This seems to have been the basic way Frazetta started, and to me it seems pretty intuitive to how I draw, so I'm trying to see if I can replicate this idea. But that's also why I'm thinking that maybe it's the color I've got that's to blame, or even the surface.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

You have to choose to paint in the fresh paint or wait for it to dry completely. It's not a good idea to paint in between. I guess from your description that this is your issue... If you really want to paint thinly and glaze, you need to wait for the underlayer to be really dry. It's very important. If it takes too long to wait, either use a fast drying medium or schedule your working sessions to let the paint dry.

[@Hadoken.]

I know the layers technique needs each layer to be dry, what I cannot understand is how Frazetta did it in one session, without letting the layers dry. Most of his paintings were done overnight or in few sessions, mostly wet into wet, and if you see you can tell that by all accounts this guy painted in very thin layers. It's just weird.

[@FlorentFargesarts]

It is weird, I don't get how it works... but maybe you should not try to replicate this technique. Focus on the look you want to obtain for your painting and try to get there by your own means, developing your own technique. It's always difficult to translate a technique from one artist to another.

[@jamesoliver505]

Why not just add burnt umber to your black to neutralize its blue properties??

[@mariaxose2884]

Muy bien explicado, gracias...

[@stevecaudell8609]

So if you want to do a monochrome painting do you use black and white to mix your different values or do you start out mixing your own black first?

[@Tt-t100]

But why painters in the past like Caravaggio used black like bone black or Vine black, how to use it as they did?

[@scuderiapraga6815]

Perfect instructions!

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thank you very much !

[@ARedMagicMarker]

"How you can create this black dress without using any black paint." Me: WITCHCRAFT!!!!!!!!!

[@liciachiappori9990]

trés interessant comme toujours.Merci.

[@DRSulik]

It's true, Mars black has a blueness to it, and Carbon black has a warmness to it. That is why one does not mix Mars black with warm colors. Use Carbon black to mix with warm colors.

[@ceceliapritchard9454]

You explain things well but am still not clear as to the meaning of chromatic. Is it the value of the colors? I did watch the first video. I was taught color, hue, and value

[@nowherenowhere9214]

AMAZING !!!

[@convolution223]

My paintings are drying dark and muted. how to stop this from happening? i'm barely using any medium mixed with it if it all. this happens on canvas and on wooden panels

[@JulieHiltbrunner]

0vrStart you have to seal the painting with varnish when completely dry. Takes months. Damar varnish is good.

[@alizamirza739]

you're amazing👍thanks

[@FlorentFargesarts]

Thanks ! :)

[@rainerleimeroth417]

Thanks Florent, so well explained

[@SebastianTinajero]

If I was going to paint black hair , would using the darkest black I can get using ultramarine blue and burnt umber be fine or would black mixed with an ultramarine blue work better?

[@carlpen850]

I removed black paint from my palette by the end of my freshman year of college, I make my blacks - "darks" by mixing complementary colors, this way I can lean my darks to either the warm or cool side. I still have tubes of black paint... I wouldn't be without it... I do many works that are done completely in the gray scale, mono tones and just plain old black and white.

[@bqgin]

What about burn umber + ivory black? Why do you all insist on ultramarine + burn umber? Ivory black is so cheap and abundant, there is no reason to waste ultramarine for mixing black.

[@themachine266]

Nr 666 thumbs up yes 😆

[@JonnyChaos]

I'm colourblind an this mixing business is too complex for me, i'll just stick with black.

[@renatobfa]

I respect your try, but... Black not suited to make flesh tones? Say that to Anders Zorn.

[@ushabhattacharjee3421]

I hate banana