Being an artist, a painter, and a designer, you often have to do some fun experiments with color mixing, don’t you? Out of the bold colors, two of our favorite hues are purple and green. Both statement colors make their own identity on a painting, a dress, or an art piece.
But have you wondered what happens when you mix purple and green? Although these two bold shades are usually not mixed together, you must be eager to know what will happen if you eventually get green and purple mixed. Will they create another statement color or a trash color? These two vivid colors make a very neutral shade of subtle brown or muddy gray.
By mixing colors and experimenting with them, you are only expanding your color knowledge and creativity horizon. It allows you to broaden your familiar color palette. So, back to our topic, how do two bright colors create a neutral shade? Let’s see as we discuss the following in the article-
– Peeking into the color wheel
– A little about the color wheel
– How to make the color purple
– What color do green and purple make
– Tips on color mixing
– Design ideas by mixing green and purple
Table of Contents
Peeking into the Color Wheel
So, as we will be digging deep into the colors and how they are made, before that, you need to recollect the basic information about colors. Of course, the best way to do this is to look into the color wheel.
How do we organize the millions of colors in the world? The only way to do it is the color wheel. The color wheel introduces you to the primary color and color mixing that make hundreds of different hues. It also lets you understand the intimacy and connectivity between the colors.
If we start with the basics, the primary colors are at the very center, and the next tier is secondary colors. So, what are primary colors? These original colors eventually develop other colors, which cannot be broken down to any more primary hues. These primary colors are red, yellow, and blue.
Then what about the colors we are considering today? Green and purple! These are the secondary hues. How do these colors generate? You probably already know. Let me help you recollect all that color info.
A Little about the Color Green
The green hue is made by mixing blue and yellow. It is a color of nature. What comes to your mind when you think of the color green?
Nature, rebirth, growth, and life are all represented by green. Besides mixing blue and yellow to make green, the color is also generated by mixing yellow and cyan. When violet and green are combined, deeper and blue hues of green result, such as sea green, whereas more yellow or white results in a lighter shade, such as lime green or light green. You can add a touch of brown to your green to turn it more earthy and murky.
How to Make the Color Purple?
The color purple is a secondary hue generated by mixing proper amounts of blue and red. So, what does the color purple remind you of?
Purple has traditionally been associated with royalty, loyalty, wisdom, serenity, peace, and magic. As a result, purple paint is commonly utilized in interiors. The purple color represents all of the traits listed above. Other than making purple from red and blue, it is also created by combining blue and pink, depending on the desired outcome. Adding red to blue produces a deeper shade of purple, while pink coupled with light purple produces lilac and lavender colors. A warm aubergine or maroon tint may be achieved by adding a little brown, while a violet finish can be achieved by adding black.
What Color Do Green and Purple Make?
Now, we know the basics about colors, color theory, and the two bold colors we will be working on, green and purple. Let’s move on to answering the long-asked and wondered question, what color is created by mixing green and purple together?
Before giving the ideal answer to this question, you need to figure out a couple of variables that will need here. Before anything else, we need to understand the color values of these two colors. Let’s work a little on the colors’ brightness, vividity, and brilliance.
Purple is a combination of red and blue, as previously stated. However, there are many different hues of purple to pick from, so our purple may be either solid and vibrant or dark and ominous.
Our green may come in a variety of hues. It may be nearly neon in its brilliance on the one hand, and the other hand, a dark emerald or a pine tree in the dead of winter.
As we mentioned before, when purple and green are mixed together, the outcome might be either a brown hue or a muddy gray tint.
Brown and gray are generated when primary colors are mixed, making sense. Because we’re using three of the four primary colors, it’s no surprise that the end product will fall inside that range.
Another thing to think about is how much of each hue you use. If we add other green to the mix, our final product will appear more greenish-gray. However, if we use a lot of purples, brown starts to show through.
Aside from that, we must pay attention to the proportions of blue and red in our purple. If the shade is bluer, the color will be deeper and duller in the end. On the other hand, if red is the predominant color, the final color you will create will be brighter and with higher exposure.
How to Mix Green and Purple
Although the primary colors are red, yellow, and blue, the three colors, red, green, and blue, are thought to be the basis of all colors. While mixing colors, there are a few instructions that you need to keep in mind. We all know how mixing two primary colors creates a secondary color, and combining all primary colors makes it black.
But when mixing two secondary colors like purple and green, you need to be very careful about their proportions because a bit of variation may give you a different color than expected. The two colors are opposite or complementary, which states that they are very compatible and create a visual pleasure when placed in contrast.
For instance, mixing lighter purple tones with lime green will result in a pretty lavender, but you will get a muddy brown shade with equal pastel colors. Again, if you use bold green and purple, it will give off a neutral bluish tint.
Tips on Color Mixing
For amateurs in painting and color mixing, the color theory or even the wheel can be perplexing. So, to help you a little more, here are a few tips and tricks that will surely guide you in your colorful profession.
– When mixing secondary colors, you need to get a variety of shades from each of the secondary colors so that you can learn what different shades and tones of these specific colors can create.
– The proportion of primary colors matters a lot when creating secondary hues. For instance, you need to give a lower red than blue when making violet.
– When mixing two secondary colors, you usually generate muddy colors, for instance, gray, brown, black, etc.
To make opaque, prominently opaque, you need only a tiny quantity of the dominant colors, while for making a translucent color, you need a lot of that light shade.
– Try not to mix the two colors more thoroughly to get a more realistic outlook.
– To get a fresh green, you should be using phtalo blue and lemon yellow.
– If the color you just made seems too intense, lower the intensity by adding a complementary color.
– Before you apply the colors you just made on your art piece, test them out on a white piece of paper from time to time.
– Since colors like neutral brown and gray are lighter, you can intensify them by surrounding them with bolder colors creating contrast.
Design Ideas by Mixing Green and Purple
So, your question has been answered, and now you know you get a neutral muddy brown shade as you combine green and purple. But what can you do with this experiment and the resulted information? Your creative mind must be running like Flash on using this tertiary color as an artist. You must be wondering what things you can do with the help of the color wheel.
For this case, here are some ideas we can give you. Since the tertiary color that we just made is relatively neutral, you will want to use a brighter and bolder color beside it to create a contrasting look. Besides, you can do otherwise by emphasizing a bright color, even more, surrounding it with this earthy shade.
As in the case of interior designers, you might find this muted color very intriguing to use on the living background as you accessorize the room with bright furniture and art pieces. Besides, this color seems like a perfect candidate for a base shade to slowly render into a bold hue. The rest is up to you.
Final Verdict
Aren’t we looking at a tertiary shade that is hard to categorize? Yes, as you ask what happens when you mix purple and green, you cannot emphasize a specific hue because it can change depending on the secondary colors’ proportions. Since this color is almost out of a regular box, it can be hard to pull off in the right areas. But with an artistic mind, I’m pretty sure you will know how to make use of this.
Before running deep into the colorful imaginations, remember what possible opportunities you see with this. So, what’s your plan with the muddy shade?