Mixing guide
How to mix shadow colors
A shadow is not the local color plus black. It shifts in temperature too, and which way depends on the light.
The single most common mistake in painting a shadow is treating it as a darker version of the lit color. A shadow is lit by something else — the sky, a wall, the ground — and it takes its color from whatever that is.
The rule that covers most situations: warm light gives cool shadows, cool light gives warm ones. Under a low sun the shadows go blue, because the only thing lighting them is the sky. On an overcast day, when the light itself is cool and diffuse, shadows warm up.
How far to push it is the other half. The difference between an overcast afternoon and late sun is not the direction of the shift but its strength, and that is what separates a painting that feels like a specific hour from one that feels like nothing in particular.
The mixtures
Each one worked out on a real palette with the spectral model. The number after the mixture is how far it lands from the target: under 2 you cannot see the difference, under 4 it does not matter in a painting.
Cool shadow on warm stone #7E7566
Sunlit wall, shadow side. Cooler and duller, not just darker.
9× Burnt Sienna +5× Titanium White +2× Phthalo Blue
7× Viridian +6× Burnt Sienna +2× Ultramarine
Thin wash, roughly 1 part paint to 3 parts water.
7× Yellow Ochre +2× Ultramarine
This palette cannot quite reach that color with 3 pigments in one mixture. What you see is the closest it gets, which is worth knowing before you spend an afternoon trying.
Shadow on white under blue sky #9FAABB
Far bluer than it looks until you compare it.
7× Titanium White +2× Ultramarine
8× Ultramarine +3× Burnt Sienna +3× Viridian
Very thin wash, roughly 1 part paint to 19 parts water.
10× Titanium White +5× Ultramarine +1× Yellow Ochre
Warm shadow, overcast light #6E6255
Diffuse cool light, so the shadow goes the other way.
10× Burnt Sienna +3× Titanium White +2× Phthalo Blue
5× Burnt Sienna +2× Payne’s Gray +1× Yellow Ochre
Thin wash, roughly 1 part paint to 2 parts water.
7× Yellow Ochre +5× Ultramarine
Deep cast shadow #3F4149
Where almost nothing reaches. Still has a color.
10× Ultramarine +5× Burnt Sienna +1× Yellow Ochre
8× Ultramarine +7× Burnt Sienna +4× Payne’s Gray
Full wash.
8× Ultramarine +3× Yellow Ochre
Worth remembering
- Mix the shadow from the local color, not from scratch. It has to belong to the same object.
- Keep the core shadow darker than the reflected light inside it, or the form goes flat.
- Shadows on a white object are the best exercise there is, because there is no local color to hide behind.
Your paints, your photo
These mixtures assume the palettes above. Tick off what you actually own and pick the color straight out of your reference instead.