How to Make the Color Purple and Create Different Shades

Learning how to make the color purple starts with mixing red and blue, but the shades you choose can affect the result. The right combination can produce a vibrant purple, while others may turn out dull or muddy. This guide shows you how to mix purple and adjust it to create lighter, darker, warmer, cooler, and muted shades.

PURPLE = BLUE + RED

How to Make the Color Purple (Quick Guide)

Here’s a quick look at the general steps of making the color purple:

1. Add equal amounts of red and blue to your palette.
2. Mix the two colors thoroughly.
3. Test the purple on white paper.
4. Add more red for a warmer purple.
5. Add more blue for a cooler purple.
6. Add white to make the purple lighter.
7. Add a small amount of yellow to mute the purple.

What Is Purple?

Purple has a long history, symbolizing several things, such as luxury, wisdom, and mystery. It is a secondary color that is intermediate between red and blue and closely resembles the appearance of violet. In fact, the untrained eye can confuse purple with violet and vice versa.

How to Make the Color Purple: The Basics

What You’ll Need

Like with making other colors, you will only need basic art materials to make the purple color, namely:

• Paint, Watercolor, or Dye: Choose red and blue as your starting colors. Having several shades of each will give you more control over the resulting purple.
• Mixing Palette: Use this to hold your colors and give you enough space to combine them gradually.
• Palette Knife: This helps thoroughly blend paints without loading your paintbrush with unmixed colors. For watercolor, you can use a brush instead.
• White Paper and Paintbrush: Test your mixture on white paper so you can see the true shade and make adjustments before using it on your project.

How to Make Purple

Now that you have your materials ready, you can start with the basic combination most of us learn on the color wheel: red and blue. While red and blue make purple, not every combination produces the same result. Some reds lean toward orange, while some blues lean toward green, and these undertones can make the resulting purple look dull or muddy.

For a cleaner purple, try a cool red such as alizarin crimson or quinacridone magenta with a red-leaning blue such as ultramarine. If your purple isn’t turning out as expected, try a different red or blue rather than simply adding more color.

Basic Blue + Basic Red

Here are the steps you need to take if you’re using the two basic colors:

1. Grab your blue paint, watercolor, or dye, and put a drop or dollop on one side of your mixing palette.
2. Right next to it, add an equal amount of your red coloring agent.
3. Slowly spread the red color to the blue area with your palette knife to allow them to mix. Then, mix them until they’re well blended.
4. Dip your wet paintbrush in the mixture and brush it on your white sheet of paper. Check if the purple color created is what you’re expecting.
5. If it seems more reddish or bluish than purple, add a little more blue or red, blend, and test.

RED + BLUE = PURPLE

Basic Red + Ultramarine Blue

Another excellent way on how to make the color purple is by mixing equal parts of primary red and ultramarine blue colors. Simply follow the same steps as above.

Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson Red

This color combination will give you a deep purple color without changing its shade. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Grab your ultramarine blue paint, watercolor, or dye, and put a drop or dollop on one side of your mixing palette.
2. Right next to it, add thrice the amount of your crimson red coloring agent. Meaning, you will need to follow a 1:3 ratio.
3. Slowly spread the red color to the blue area with your palette knife to allow them to mix. Then, mix them until they’re well blended.
4. Dip your wet paintbrush in the mixture and brush it on your white sheet of paper. Check if the purple color created is what you’re looking for.
5. If it seems more reddish or bluish than purple, add a little more blue or red, blend, and test.

How to Make Purple Shades

How to Make Vibrant Purple

If your standard red and blue mixture produces a dull purple, try mixing magenta and cyan instead. These colors can produce a cleaner, more vibrant purple because they introduce fewer unwanted undertones into the mixture.

Start with equal amounts of cyan and magenta, then adjust the proportions if you want the finished purple to lean warmer or cooler.

VIBRANT PURPLE = CYAN + MAGENTA

How To Make the Color Purple Darker

The color purple in itself is already dark. But what if you want to make it even darker because that is what your artwork requires? Perhaps you need to create shadow effects, dark background, or dark elements that need to stay in the background.

Here’s how you can make dark shades of purple:

Muddy Dark Purple

Add a very small amount of black to your purple to create a darker, more muted shade. Start with less than you think you need, then mix and test before adding more. Too much black can quickly overpower the purple and make it difficult to correct, so build up the darker color gradually.

MUDDY DARK PURPLE = PURPLE + BLACK

Richer, Darker Purple

To create a rich, dark purple without immediately reaching for black, adjust the red and blue already in your mixture. Adding a little more ultramarine blue can deepen the color while keeping it recognizably purple. Work in small amounts and test the mixture as you go to give you more control over the undertone and help prevent the purple from becoming muddy.

RICH DARK PURPLE = PURPLE + ULTRAMARINE BLUE

How To Make the Color Purple Lighter

Now that you know how to make the color purple darker, it’s time to learn how to lighten your purple coloring agent. Whether you want to create light purple from the original set or what you created, you can use two colors: white and light yellow.

Basic Light Purple

The easiest way to have a lighter shade of purple is to add a little amount of white paint, dye, or watercolor into the mix. Use a drop or small dollop, then add more when needed.

LIGHT PURPLE = PURPLE + WHITE

Bright, Light Purple

For a bright, light purple, start with a vibrant purple mixture and gradually add white. Using a clean purple before lightening it will generally give you a brighter result than trying to brighten a dull mixture afterward. Add the white a little at a time, mixing thoroughly between additions until you reach the value you want.

BRIGHT LIGHT PURPLE = VIBRANT PURPLE + WHITE

How To Make Cool Purple Cooler and Warmer

Changing the color temperature of purple is easy. All you have to do is adjust the amount of either the red or the blue color in the mixture.

Basically, add more blue if you want a cooler purple color, and add red if you need warmer purple. Here’s what you need to do:

1. Add a small amount of red or blue.
2. Blend the color.
3. Check whether you have already achieved the right temperature. If not, repeat the steps until you already have the right temperature.

TIP: Make sure you choose the right shade of red or blue. As a general rule, it’s best to use the same color as you used when you mixed the purple.

But if you’re using the purple already available in your set, choose warm blue shades and cool red shades. Here’s a list to help make the selection process easier for you:

Warm Blues:

• Brilliant Blue
• Cobalt Blue: This shade of blue is actually neutral, but it can make your purple cooler
• Cyanine Blue
• Indigo Blue
• Mountain Blue
• Phthalo Blue: Make sure you pick the phthalo blue with a red shade instead of the one with a green shade because the former is warmer than the latter.
• Ultramarine Blue
• Victorian Blue

COOLER PURPLE = PURPLE + BLUE

Cool Reds:

• Alizarin Crimson
• Carmine Red
• Crimson Lake Red
• Opera Red
• Primary Red
• Quinacridone Magenta
• Rhodamine Red
• Scarlet Lake Red

WARMER PURPLE = PURPLE + RED

How To Make the Color Purple Muted

Adding yellow to the purple color can lead to a muted shade, but make sure you choose the right shade of yellow. You must also consider the temperature of the purple you want to make.

• Soft, earth-toned, muted purple: Gradually add a small amount of yellow ochre to your purple paint, watercolor, or dye
• Warm, muted purple color: Gradually add a small amount of any yellow shade that leans more toward the oranges
• Cool but muted purple color: Choose the cadmium yellow shade as an additive

MUTED PURPLE = PURPLE + YELLOW OCHRE

Common Purple Mixing Mistakes

If your purple isn’t turning out as expected, check for these common problems:

• Purple Looks Muddy: One of your starting colors may contain an undertone that is neutralizing the mixture. Try changing your red or blue.
• Purple Looks Too Red or Too Blue: The proportions are uneven. Add a small amount of the opposite color rather than starting the mixture again.
• Dark Purple Looks Almost Black: Too much black was added at once. Start with tiny amounts when darkening purple.
• Light Purple Looks Chalky: Adding a large amount of white can reduce the intensity of the original purple. Start with a vibrant purple and add white gradually.
• Every Mixture Looks Different: Measure or visually compare the amounts of red and blue if you need to reproduce the same purple later.

Tips on How To Make the Color Purple

While the steps on how to make the color purple are straightforward, there are some important considerations to remember. After all, colors are a bit more complicated than we think.

Mixing Paints

When mixing paints, pay attention to the undertones of your red and blue. A red with yellow undertones or a blue that leans green can result in a duller purple, while cooler reds and warmer blues generally produce cleaner shades.

• Mix your colors gradually and test them on white paper as you go.
• If you find a purple you like, make a quick swatch and note the colors you used so you can recreate it later.
• For larger projects, mix enough paint at once since matching the exact same purple a second time can be difficult.

Mixing Watercolors

With watercolors, you can change the value of your purple simply by adjusting the amount of water: more water creates a lighter, more transparent purple, while additional pigment produces a stronger color. Test your mixture on watercolor paper and let it dry before making final adjustments, as watercolor can look different once dry. Keep your brush and water clean as well, since traces of other pigments can quickly affect your purple.

How To Make the Color Purple FAQs

In Conclusion

Purple is a color that might seem unimportant compared to the more commonly used ones in art, such as red and black. But it can actually help you paint beautiful flowers, lights, and more. You can even dye fabric and other items with it to add more creative colors to your fashion style and home or office interior.

So start making different shades and temperatures of bright or opaque purple by following the color combinations and tips shared in this how to make the purple color guide.

More Color Mixing Tutorials:

• How to Make the Color Orange
• How To Make the Color Green
• How to Make the Color Brown
• What Colors Make Pink