Pigment pair · PW6 + PB28
Mixing Titanium White and Cobalt Blue
Nine steps from one to the other, worked out with a spectral model rather than by averaging screen colors. Half and half gives #5D94D7. Click any step to open it in the mixer.
The full range, Titanium White to Cobalt Blue
Ratios are parts by volume, the way you would put them out on a palette.
These two cancel each other almost completely. Somewhere in the middle of this range sits a gray with no lean at all, which makes this one of the most useful pairs on a palette: it gives you shadows and grays without a tube of black.
The quietest point: #F8F7F3
At pure this pair is at its most neutral. That is the mixture to reach for when you need a shadow or a gray that still belongs to the rest of the painting.
Titanium White is much the stronger of the two. The ratios above are by volume, so the first step away from pure Titanium White already changes a lot less than the last step towards it. Put out less than looks right and work towards the color; going back costs far more paint.
What you are working with
| Pigment | Index | Strength | Opacity | Lightfast | In |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Titanium White | PW6 | 8/10 | opaque | excellent | Oil |
| Cobalt Blue | PB28 | 4/10 | semi-opaque, granulating | excellent | Oil, Watercolor |
Strongest white there is. Lightens a mixture but also chalks it; use as little as you can get away with to keep the chroma.
A neutral blue, low in tinting strength. Ideal for skies that should not go harsh.
Now do it with your own paints
This page assumes two tubes. The mixer works from everything on your palette at once, and from a color you pick out of your own photo.