Mixing recipe
How to mix warm grey
Target
#8B8378
Recipe mixes to #8E857B
A warm grey is a neutral with a little brown in it. The base is white and Ivory Black, which on their own make a slightly bluish grey, and Burnt Umber with a part of Yellow Ochre pulls it to the warm side. The ochre is what keeps it from looking like plain mud.
The recipe
Step by step
Build the pile from the biggest, lightest component and work toward the strongest tinter. Check the pile against each swatch before moving on.
- Start with 5 parts Titanium Whitepile #F6F6F4
- Work in 4 parts Ivory Blackpile #94999E
- Work in 2 parts Burnt Umberpile #8D857F
- Work in 1 part Yellow Ochrepile #8E857B
A simpler mix
White, Burnt Umber and Cerulean Blue, with no black, gets to a good match from three tubes. It is a touch darker and slightly greener. The blue and umber are near-complements, so this version is the more lively grey of the two, and the one to use next to skin tones.
What goes wrong
The black-and-white stage is cool and looks wrong for a warm grey; that is expected, the umber and ochre bring the warmth after. Add the ochre last and a little at a time: too much and the grey turns to a putty color. If it goes too warm, a touch of black cools it faster than more white. Ivory Black (tinting strength 4, where a cadmium is 1) is the paint to be careful with here: it goes in last, a knife-tip at a time, and a little too much cannot be mixed back out.
Related colors
Results vary with brand, lighting and medium. Acrylic dries a touch darker than it looks wet. Treat this as a mixing aid, not a lab instrument: it tells you which tubes to reach for and roughly in what proportion. Fine-tune the last stretch by eye.