How to Mix Any Oil Color You Want
- Uri Shavit
- Jun 16
- 2 min read
Updated: Jul 9
Most beginners treat color mixing like guesswork - dab, hope, repeat. Well, it isn't guesswork. There are really just two reliable ways to mix your way to any color you want, and once you know them the guessing stops.
Approach 1: the tonal method
Mix the value first, then the color.
To keep it simple, say you're working with just Burnt Umber and white (black and white works too). First, mix the value of the color you're trying to match - lighter or darker - and check it against your target until the value is identical. Only then do you add the color, nudging it until the mix matches completely.
If that feels backwards, that's normal - it isn't the "natural" way for us to think. Don't worry, I made a video that walks through it.
Approach 2: the intuitive method
Exactly what it sounds like - you work from instinct. Start with the color that looks closest to your target. From there, add other colors, raise and lower the value, adjust the hue, and keep going until you land on the exact color you want.
Less confusing, but still tricky - because now you are asking which colors to add, and how. That is the part the video answers in detail.
[IMAGE: a wooden oil palette showing a base color built up by value first, then hue, into a matched skin tone | Value first, then color | A palette knife building a color by value first and hue second on a wooden palette]
So which should you use?
Both work. The tonal method is the more reliable one while you are learning, because it forces you to solve value before you get seduced by hue - and value is what makes a painting read as solid. The intuitive method gets faster as your eye trains. Most painters end up blending the two without thinking about it.
The thing to hold onto: value first. Get that right and the color almost falls into place.
I hope this helped. Try both approaches on your next study and see which one your eye prefers.
If you want the exact palette recipes I use, grab the free skin tone cheat sheet.
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