How to mix

How to mix Charcoal paint

Real pigment ratios for charcoal (#36454F) in acrylic, oil and watercolour. The recipes below come straight from Chromilla’s mixer, calibrated to real manufacturer paint data.

Target colour

Charcoal

#36454F

Live mixer

Open this colour in the mixer

The Chromilla mixer is pre-loaded with #36454F. Change your brand, medium or palette and the recipe updates instantly.

Open in mixer

Recipes by medium

One default brand per medium. Open the mixer to swap in your own tubes.

Acrylic

Golden Heavy Body Acrylics

Mixed result

#384D5E

1. Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade) (PG36)43%
2. Ultramarine Violet (PV15)32%
3. Cobalt Blue (PB28)21%
4. Sap Green Hue (PY150, PG36, PBk7, PR101)4%

Dry-down

Dries slightly darker and a touch warmer.

Oil

Winsor & Newton Artists' Oil Colour

Mixed result

#394B59

1. Winsor Green (Yellow shade) (PG36)41%
2. Ultramarine Violet (PV15)33%
3. Indian Yellow (PR101,PY139)13%
4. Cobalt Blue (PB28)13%

Dry-down

Dries true to colour.

Watercolour

Daniel Smith Extra Fine

Mixed result

#3B4A53

1. Permanent Green (PY3,PG7)40%
2. Cobalt Blue (PB28)29%
3. Aussie Red Gold (PY83,PR101,PV19)20%
4. Phthalo Green (Blue Shade) (PG7)11%

Dry-down

Dries slightly darker and a touch cooler.

Common mistakes when mixing charcoal

Charcoal is a near-black with a cool undertone, and pure black paint gets you closer to soot than to charcoal, which has more life in it than a flat black does. Mixing black with a small amount of blue, or building the dark from a blue and a brown rather than from tube black, keeps some depth in the colour instead of it reading as flat and dead.

Related colours

More colours to try once you have charcoal sorted.