What Colors Make Pink & How to Make Shades of Pink Color

You will undoubtedly stumble upon pink very often while painting. Therefore, it is extremely useful to not only know how to make pink in its simplest form but also what colors make pink different shades!

There are so many wonderful and interesting shades of pink you can create, once you know how. So let’s get started right off the bat with what two colors make pink!

What two colors make pink

Pink is a fascinating color because it is the ONLY color that gets its own name. For example, if blue is mixed with white it is called light blue, when green is mixed with white it is called light green and so on…

However, when red is mixed with white it is called pink.

The color chart below illustrates how to mix a basic pink color and what two colors make pink when mixed.

You will notice in the chart above, there are two different types of red (Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Red) being used to mix with white. Mixing different reds with white will create different versions of the color pink. So if you want to vary the shade of pink you will get, you can simply use a different type of red.

Is pink a warm color?

It’s quite likely that you’ve asked yourself the question – is pink a warm color? Many of us may assume that the answer is simple – yes. But if we take a closer look at this seemingly straightforward question, it can in fact be more complicated than we thought. For example take a look at the image of a flower below.

The power of color mixing

The true answer here is – it depends on the color we mix and that’s the power of understanding what different colors do when mixed together. So keep scrolling to the next section, where you’ll see in the color chart − how to make different shades of pink and what colors make pink warmer in temperature!

How to make different shades of pink

Once you have your base pink color mixed, you can begin to mix in different colors. For example if you want a warmer shade of pink, you can mix pink with yellow or orange. See how to make pink warmer in color temperature in the chart below.

You can see above that mixing yellow with pink makes the Alizarin Crimson pink much more of a standard pink color than its normal cool bluish pink color. Then, when the same Alizarin Crimson pink is mixed with orange it makes it into a deeper standard pink color.

Mixing yellow with the Light Cadmium Red pink makes it into a dusty rose color – much more peachy than it was before. And mixing the same Cadmium Red pink with orange makes it into an even warmer peachier color.

The shades of pink that are mixed with orange will be warmer than those mixed with yellow − since orange is warmer than yellow.

For more shades of pink, let’s next take a look at how to make pink darker…

What colors make dark pink

There are several ways to make dark pink. Along with so many hue and tonal variances possible depending on the types (and varying shades) of colors you use. Here are examples of four different dark shades of pink you can create. All four dark shades use the same dark color combinations but mixing them with different base pink hues.

In the color chart above, you can see the two different base pink colors mixed with Burnt Umber. The results are much more muted dusty dark pink shades of color. You could add more Burnt Umber to the mixture to get an even darker pink.

Another option (shown in the color chart above) is mixing pink with a Pthalo Green and Alizarin Crimson mixture. Alizarin Crimson and Pthalo Green mixed together create a very rich dark black color. So mixing this color mixture with pink, creates a wonderful rich dark pink color.

How to mix light pink colors

You can lighten any shade of pink you create by adding more white. Or a light hue of color such as a lighter yellow − if you just add more yellow to lighten however it may make the shade of pink to warm/yellow. So adding a little white to the pink color mixture you want to lighten will do the trick!

Mixing even more shades of pink

As mentioned throughout this article, there are many additional shades of pink you can create. Some we haven’t even touched upon being; mixing muted shades of pink and how to create pinks that are cool in temperature. As well as light shades of red you can mix, that may work as a pink depending on what you are placing it next too.

Additional Color Mixing Resource

If you want to go even deeper into mixing shades of pink, as well as red, blue, yellow, orange, green and many others… You can get the color mixing help you need with my Color Mixing Master Guide.

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