Two ways to mix gray
Black and white is the direct method, and it works. The catch is that black is far stronger than white, so the ratios are lopsided:
| Black : white | Result |
|---|---|
| 2 : 1 | #78766E, charcoal |
| 1 : 1 | #A9A7A1, mid gray |
| 1 : 2 | #CFCDC9, light gray |
| 1 : 4 | #E5E5E2, very pale gray |
Notice the slight warmth in every result. Real "black" paint is rarely perfectly neutral; ivory black leans warm and Mars black slightly brown. The black used here is #1C1B18.
Complementary colors plus white is the painter's method. Opposite colors cancel each other's hue, leaving a neutral that still has a trace of color. These grays look more alive next to other colors than black-and-white grays, which can look flat or "dead" in a painting.
Grays from complements
| Mix | Result | Tint |
|---|---|---|
| Red, green, white (1:1:1) | #8E7874 | Warm, slightly mauve |
| Red, green, white (1:1:4) | #D5C9C7 | Pale warm gray |
| Burnt umber, ultramarine, white (1:1:2) | #B5BABB | Almost perfectly neutral, a touch cool |
| Cyan, magenta, yellow (1:1:1) | #6C6851 | Dark, olive-tinged |
Burnt umber and ultramarine is a favorite of landscape painters because the pair balances so well. Leave out the white and it makes a dark gray close to black (#393F40), handy for shadows. Lean the mix toward the blue for a cool, stormy gray or toward the umber for a warm, stony one.
The cyan, magenta and yellow result shows how hard it is to get a neutral from three primaries: real pigments never cancel perfectly, which is exactly why printers add a separate black ink (the K in CMYK).
Warm gray or cool gray?
Decide what the gray sits next to. Against warm colors, a slightly cool gray looks neutral; against cool colors, a slightly warm one does. To warm a gray, add a touch of red, orange or umber. To cool it, add a touch of blue. Use the tuner under the recipes to try each change in quarter-part steps.
Gray in interior paint
Wall grays are mixed by machine from colored tints, not from black and white, so they all carry an undertone: green, blue, violet or beige. That's why a gray chip can look completely different on your wall. Our greige page covers the warm gray-beiges, and gray lists cool and neutral shades with HEX codes.
Digital gray
On screen, gray is any color with equal red, green and blue values: #808080, #A9A9A9 and so on. No mixing is needed. If you want a gray that harmonizes with a brand color, shift it slightly toward that hue; a gray with a few points more blue, such as #7F8790, often looks more polished than a pure one.
A caution about the swatches
Each result here comes from a model that estimates how pigments absorb and scatter light. It captures the big effects, such as black overpowering white, but not every quirk of a particular brand. Dry a test swatch before you commit, especially with acrylics, which darken a little as they dry.
Charcoal, greige and blue-gray
| Shade | Recipe in parts | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Charcoal | 2 black, ½ white, ¼ ultramarine | #4A4843 |
| Greige | 1 burnt umber, ¼ yellow, 6 white | #F3ECE0 |
| Blue-gray | 1 ultramarine, ½ burnt umber, 4 white | #D7E1EB |
Charcoal is almost all black, and the quarter part of blue keeps it from looking flat. Greige and blue-gray both start from umber and white; the difference is whether you add yellow or blue as the tint.
Matching a gray you already have
Touching up a gray wall or model means matching an existing color, and grays are hard because the undertone is subtle. Hold the original next to a sheet of white paper first. If it looks slightly green, yellow or violet against the white, that is the tint you'll need.
Mix a plain gray a little lighter than the target, then add the tint in tiny amounts and compare on a scrap, letting it dry each time. Most paints dry a shade darker than they look wet, and grays show it more than strong colors do.
FAQ
What two colors make gray?
Black and white. Two complementary colors, such as red and green, plus white also make gray.
How do you make gray without black?
Mix complements, for example burnt umber with ultramarine, or red with green, then add white.
Why does my gray look blue or brown?
Your black or your complement mix isn't neutral. Add a little of the opposite color: orange or umber to a blue gray, blue to a brown gray.