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Value and chroma: the two dials that matter more than hue

If you get the value right and the hue slightly wrong, the painting still works. Get the hue right and the value wrong and it falls apart. This guide is about the two properties the color wheel ignores — how light a color is, and how intense — and how to control each one independently when you mix.

Value: see it first, mix it first

Value is lightness. A tube of Cadmium Yellow is about value 8 on a 0–10 scale, Ultramarine about 2, Cadmium Red about 4. The eye reads a painting primarily by value: squint and the hues vanish but the picture remains if the values are right.

Mix value before hue. Decide how light the patch needs to be, bring the mix to that lightness with white (or with a darker pigment), and only then nudge the hue. Checking: hold the loaded knife against the reference and squint, or photograph both in black and white. Painters who fix value last end up chasing it with white and washing out the color.

Chroma: how far from grey

Chroma is intensity. Tube paints sit near the top of the scale; the world does not. A sunlit lawn is far below tube Phthalo Green; a face is far below Cadmium Red; a clear sky is a greyed, lightened blue. Beginners paint everything at tube chroma and wonder why it looks garish. The fix is to lower chroma deliberately and save full-strength color for one or two accents.

Three ways to lower chroma, in order of preference:

  1. The complement. A dab of the opposite color greys the mix while keeping its value and most of its hue. Best for mid-tones.
  2. An earth color. Raw Umber, Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre are pre-greyed oranges and yellows; adding them lowers chroma and warms the mix.
  3. Grey or black. Fast, but black darkens as it greys and tends to shift yellows green and reds brown. Use it knowingly.

Sage GreenRecipe by paint setDusty RoseRecipe by paint setSandRecipe by paint setNeutral Mid GreyRecipe by paint set

White changes everything

White raises value and lowers chroma at the same time, and it cools most colors (a red tinted with white turns pink, not light red). The exception is yellow, which stays fairly warm. So when you want a light and warm color — a sunlit wall, the light plane of a face — add a little yellow with the white. When you want a light and cool color, white alone is fine. The PaintMixLab engine treats white as just another pigment for this reason; see the whites guide for which white to use.

Chroma and value together: the color string

A useful exercise: mix a color at tube strength, then make a “string” of five or six steps towards white and another towards its complement. You will see that the most useful colors live in the middle of both strings. Painting a subject from a pre-mixed string of values, each slightly greyed, is how many portrait and landscape painters keep color consistent across a session.

Light Skin ToneRecipe by paint setMedium Skin ToneRecipe by paint setBrownRecipe by paint setSky BlueRecipe by paint set

Common value and chroma mistakes

  • Everything at mid value. No real darks, no real lights; the painting looks foggy. Commit to a dark pile and a light pile early.
  • Full chroma everywhere. Grey most of it; let one area carry the color.
  • Darkening with black. Darken with the complement or a darker neighbour; keep black for value studies and a few specific colors.
  • Lightening with white only. Warm lights need a touch of yellow or the mix goes chalky.

Questions

What is the difference between value and chroma?

Value is how light or dark a color is; chroma is how intense or greyed it is. You can change one without the other: adding a complement lowers chroma at the same value, while adding white raises value and lowers chroma together.

How do you lower the chroma of a color?

Add a small amount of its complement (keeps value), an earth color (warms it), or a grey. Black works but darkens and can shift the hue.

Why does my painting look washed out?

Usually too much white used to fix value late, which raises value and kills chroma together. Mix the value first with the right pigments, and add a little yellow with white in warm lights.
Let the app do the arithmetic
PaintMixLab photographs the color and writes the recipe in parts for the paint set you own. Free for 3 days on iPhone.