How to Mix Alizarin Crimson & Prussian Blue to Make Black

Traditional black tube paint tends to be dull and lifeless. That's why many artists avoid it on their palettes and opt to create their own custom black mixtures instead. Mixing your own black paint will add to the luminosity of your painting's darkest areas. There are many color combinations you can use to create black, but combining red and blue with an earth color is a traditional method that creates a black that holds its own brilliance in your painting. Oil, acrylic and watercolor painters will can make black using this method.

Prepare

• 1

  Place equal amounts of alizarin crimson, Prussian blue and burnt sienna on your palette.

• 2

  Mix the three paint colors together with a palette knife.

• 3

  Test the color on a scrap piece of paper or canvas to see if it is the color you want. Allow your mixture to retain some of the colors from the parent colors. When you brush your colors on your paper or canvas, the results will be lively.

• 4

  Fine tune the color by adding additional amounts of alizarin crimson, Prussian blue and burnt sienna until you find the mixture you are looking for. Be careful not to over-work the mixture since that tends to result in dull paint.