If you’ve been painting for any amount of time, you’ve likely noticed there are many different types of reds, blues, and yellows to choose from. The selection of pigments available comes with a wide variety of names as well as different hues and chroma. With so many options, selecting a set of primaries can be overwhelming. This article will help demystify how to begin approaching this topic and help you pick out the best set of primaries for your approach to painting.
First, some foundational knowledge, understanding the difference between “Additive” and “Subtractive” mixing and how color gamut comes into play;
Color gamut is the number of colors any medium can reproduce. For example, one selection of paints might make a more ‘limited palette’ or ‘smaller gamut’ while another selection of paints might make a wider gamut available to the artist. This is also applicable for computer screens, printers, and cameras, but we will primarily focus on painting.
“Additive” Primaries (RGB)
What makes any color “Additive”? Generally, this is commonly understood by looking at the way computers handle color, specifically RGB (red, green, and blue). The colors in RGB are laid on top of one another via the light in your monitor, and this adding of lights together can create many other colors through various combinations. This is known as ‘additive color mixing’. The specific colors of the lights that yield the biggest gamut of additive mixtures are called the additive primary colors. In this case red, green and blue, but what about for painters?
“Subtractive” Primaries
Paint has the limitation of being physical media, rather than light generated by a screen or bulb. You’ll notice that no matter how much light is in the room, when paints are mixed, they inevitably get darker and lose chroma. That’s because when you mix paints, you are absorbing the wavelength, or “subtracting” the color from the mix of reflected color. This makes paint “Subtractive” rather than “Additive”.
With this in mind, we want to select colors that when mixed still create the widest gamut for us to create with. Usually what comes to mind is the red, yellow, and blue model of thinking which was first proposed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in his 1810 work: “Theory of Colors”. However, we have learned more recently about how to create the widest gamut of color and know now that the CMY model is the most effective. CMY stands for Cyan, Magenta, and Yellow and came into use over time as more people from various fields, mainly those from a printing background, became familiar with the subtractive model in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (Page 6)
The Palettes
With that out of the way, let's look at a few “primary” palettes, including CMY and RBY models just to show some examples of what can be used with Nova Color Paints.
CMY Palette
123 Cadmium Yellow Light
135 Phthalo Turquoise
190 Fluorescent Magenta
This palette is good for a wider gamut but requires thinking like a print maker would and how the paint will “subtract” from the other pigments. Also advised to use something like 109 Carbon Black for the “K” in CMYK as a deep rich black can’t be made from these paints alone. It should also be noted that while the 190 Fluorescent Magenta is great for creating vivid colors, it does have a lower lightfastness rating. If you want to use this outside or have your work be more resistant to discoloring over time, I’d recommend using an alternative such as 147 Quinacridone Magenta instead.
Charles Winter’s 20th Century Palette
115D Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
114 Alizarin Crimson Hue
107 Hanza Yellow
You can tell from the image above that something like a rich purple or bright orange or green will be a bit harder to achieve in this limited palette. These pigments, while still useful for various applications, have gone out of style for primaries as others have filled their place over time. However, it would be interesting to use for a more period-specific look for your paintings. Or if you wanted to really highlight a secondary color, like a nice vibrant purple such as #181 Quinacridone Violet, you could mix it with the purple created with this primary set so that it can still align with the palette, but the purple can be pushed more chromatically.
Zorn Palette
125 Cadmium Red Medium
183 Bone /Ivory Black
118 Titanium White
121 Yellow Ochre
The “Zorn” palette was popularized by Anders Leonard Zorn. You’ll notice this palette is less about getting the widest gamut but instead focuses on a more limited palette. It replaces the blue hue with Bone/Ivory Black and Titanium White instead, ultimately to control the value of your work, but many still consider this combo to be a “primary palette”. It’s notable that you’d use a Bone/Ivory black instead of a Carbon Black or Mars Black, as the Bone/ Ivory has a slightly cooler hue when mixed with white, (and especially so when next to the warm Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Red) which is why instead of pure black, I mixed a medium gray before making the secondaries.
“Classic” Primaries
123 Cadmium Yellow Light
125 Cadmium Red Medium
122 Ultramarine Blue
This set of primaries is visually closer to what most people would consider “Primary colors” or certainly closer to what is taught in most grade schools. You’ll notice the purple
is less chromatic than the CMY yet more so than the Zorn or 20’s Century option. The mixed black is also much darker, thanks to the depth you can get with the Ultramarine, than the CMY option, yet not as dark as the Zorn palette which utilizes black in place of its blue hue. These are good to compare where you might want a wider gamut or the ability to mix a nice black without relying on a separate paint.
In closing, there are many different palettes you can choose your primaries from and get varying results. Some are better for an older, more limited style while others have a wider gamut that can really make your work pop with its chroma. Really think about what your work means, how you want to mix, and think about the hierarchy within your color range.
Sources: Handprint.com, Bruce MacEvoy, 2023 Huevaluechroma.com, David Briggs, 2012 Color And Its Reproduction, Gary Field, Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, 1988. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Theory of Colours. London: English Translation from Charles Lock. Available from Gutenburg.org.
