haasje dutchairbrush
Air-Valve Autobot!
I got asked a question about this in a PM, but I thought it might be some usefull information to share.
As those who have mixed their own colors might have noticed not all primary colors lend themselves particulary well to mix secondairy colors. Often the color will not come out realy vibrant but a tad "muddy".
This is due to "color bias". This means the color encroaches a neighboring hue on the color wheel. Even the purest primary colors will have a color bias as they can never possess the purity of scattered light. The color it is biased to will affect to a certain degree the result of mixing that color.
The easiest way to understand this:
-mixing all 3 primaries results in brown
-for a secondary color you mix two primaries. Neither of those primaries can shift (have a bias) towards the 3th primary as that would add the 3th primary making it brownish (muddy)
When working a lot with colors you may without knowing already take this into account as from experience one knows which colors are best mixed to get a nice secondairy color.
To know what color to mix one can use the following reference (as not all airbrushbrands use the "normal" color names some experimenting might be in order with certain brands
):
The above is a short explenation, if you want tor read up on this:
https://sites.google.com/site/scienceofcolour/color-bias-of-artist-pigments
http://willkempartschool.com/the-hidden-secret-of-colour-mixing/
ps As with anything in painting this is not necessairily a bad thing, its just something one should be aware of. For backgrounds for instance, that are often a bit out of focus or less vibrant in color, this is actualy an advantage
As those who have mixed their own colors might have noticed not all primary colors lend themselves particulary well to mix secondairy colors. Often the color will not come out realy vibrant but a tad "muddy".
This is due to "color bias". This means the color encroaches a neighboring hue on the color wheel. Even the purest primary colors will have a color bias as they can never possess the purity of scattered light. The color it is biased to will affect to a certain degree the result of mixing that color.
The easiest way to understand this:
-mixing all 3 primaries results in brown
-for a secondary color you mix two primaries. Neither of those primaries can shift (have a bias) towards the 3th primary as that would add the 3th primary making it brownish (muddy)
When working a lot with colors you may without knowing already take this into account as from experience one knows which colors are best mixed to get a nice secondairy color.
To know what color to mix one can use the following reference (as not all airbrushbrands use the "normal" color names some experimenting might be in order with certain brands
):- Reds with a blue bias (not suited for orange): alizarin crimson, carmine, crimson lake, magenta, opera, rhodamine, rose madder, scarlet lake
- Reds with a yellow bias (not suited for purple): cadmium red, chlorinated para red, chrome orange, English red oxide, fluorescent red, Indian red, light red, permanent red, perylene red, phioxine red, red lake, red lead, sandorin scarlet, Venetian red, vermillion, Winsor red
- Yellows with a blue bias (not suited for orange): aureolin, azo, cadmium yellow lemon, cadmium yellow pale, Flanders yellow, lemon yellow, permanent yellow light, primary yellow, Winsor yellow, yellow light
- Yellows with a red bias (not suited for green): aurora yellow, brilliant yellow, cadmium yellow medium and deep, chrome, gallstone, golden yellow, Indian yellow, Mars yellow, Naples yellow, permanent yellow medium and deep, raw sienna, Sahara, yellow lake, yellow ochre
- Blues with a red bias (not suited for green): brilliant, cobalt, cyanine, indigo, mountain blue, ultramarine blue, verditer blue, Victoria blue
- Blues with a yellow bias (not suited for purple): Antwerp, cerulean, compose, intense blue, manganese, monestial blue, Paris blue, peacock blue, phthalocyanine blue, Prussian, Rembrandt, speedball, touareg, turquoise, Winsor blue
The above is a short explenation, if you want tor read up on this:
https://sites.google.com/site/scienceofcolour/color-bias-of-artist-pigments
http://willkempartschool.com/the-hidden-secret-of-colour-mixing/
ps As with anything in painting this is not necessairily a bad thing, its just something one should be aware of. For backgrounds for instance, that are often a bit out of focus or less vibrant in color, this is actualy an advantage
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