Red is a bold and vibrant color. Also, it’s one of the most popular primary colors. Not only do artists love red, but people who know nothing about art love it too.
Here’s a fun fact – many beginner artists try making red by mixing two primary colors. But that’s not how you get it.
Red is a primary color; therefore, you cannot mix it with other primary colors. It’s an unspoken rule among artists – you cannot mix primary colors together.
Well, then what colors make red? As a red-lover, you might be curious about the answer too. Let’s finish your wait and give you the answer straight away.
Red is made from yellow and magenta. However, there are many more shades of red, and you don’t get them all by just mixing these two. In today’s post, we are going to explore the following topics:
- What does red mean?
- How to make the color red?
- How to create other shades of red?
There’s so much to cover. So without any further ado, let’s start our first topic.
What Emotions Red Triggers?
Colors have a direct impact on human emotions. Even if you are not always conscious about what emotions colors trigger, they influence our moods in so many unpredictable ways.
If you are an artist, you should definitely know what emotions are associated with different colors. This knowledge will help you infuse those feelings in your work.
The color red has many associations – from fire and heat to passion and love. Let’s learn about some of the feelings this color evokes.
Dominance and Strength
Do you know why red is used in stop signs and traffic lights? It’s because red reflects a certain level of authority. You can use that strength in your artwork and make it look fascinating.
Moreover, red is also often associated with very dominant and strong feelings like anger.
That’s where the term ‘red hot angry’ comes from. Another common statement that fits perfectly with this emotion is – ‘this man is getting red,’ which means he’s getting angry.
Also, to taunt bulls, only red-colored handkerchiefs are being used. It’s because the color red makes the bull angry.
Heat and Warmth
When we think about red, heat, fire, and warmth are mostly the things that come first in our minds. Red is not only associated with warmth; however, it’s indeed the warmest pigment compared to other colors.
The more the red shade leans to orange, the more it’s linked with warmth and fire. Using the warm shades of red will help you infuse passion, movement, and heat into your artwork.
Passion and Love
One of the most common emotions associated with red is passion and love. Since red is already associated with warmth and fire, it also becomes the emblem of passion.
Red is also the main color connected with valentine’s day. Rose and heart both are essential elements of valentine’s day, and both of them have a direct link with the red color.
Rose is of red color. The heart pumps blood throughout the body, and the color of the blood is also red. As a result, it’s tough to think about love without thinking about the color red.
What Colors Make Red? Detailed Overview
If you want to get the red color, you need to blend magenta and yellow together. The hues of each pigment you use will affect the resulting shade of red. If you keep the quantity of yellow low, you will end up getting cooler red, such as ruby color.
Moreover, if the quantity of yellow color is high, you will receive a warmer shade of red such as tomato color. But that’s the thing. Getting the desired shade of red is tricky.
However, you don’t need to worry because we are going to share with you the right technique for obtaining various shades of red. Keep on reading to discover!
How to Create Different Shades of Red?
Now that you are familiar with the meaning of the color red and how it’s made, we should move forward to understanding how different shades of red are made. Whether you want to create light red or dark, we have you covered!
Creating Warmer Shades of Red
If you want to create a warmer shade of red, you need to add yellow to it. However, keep in mind that the yellow color you will mix with red should not contain blue pigments. If it does, you will end up getting a muddy red shade.
Moreover, you can also add cadmium yellow to red to get a fiery and vibrant shade of red. If you don’t have cadmium yellow, you can also use yellow ochre. It’s a darker shade of yellow; however, still warm. When you mix yellow ochre and cadmium red together, you will get a warm and deep red shade.
Creating Cooler Shades of Red
To make red cooler, you need blue colors that do not contain yellow pigment. When it comes to creating the cooler shade of red, we have two available options – either combine it with ultramarine blue or cerulean blue. However, just keep the following things in mind.
- When you are mixing ultramarine blue and red – the quantity of blue should be low.
- When blending cerulean blue with red – the quantity of red should be low.
Final Words
Red is made by mixing two colors – yellow and magenta. You can add different shades of blue and yellow to get light and dark shades of red.
In the end, if you find this article useful and learned some important things, make sure to share it with all your artist friends and help them become better at their job.
Also, we have a question for you. ‘What would happen if we mixed all the primary colors together?’ Let us tell you that it’s another question people often ask us.
If you know the answer, comment down below. Help people who don’t know about it. Also, let us know if you want us to answer it directly.
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