Quick answer
Mix two complementary colors until they cancel, then add white. Ultramarine blue + burnt sienna is the classic pair. Tip it toward the sienna for a warm grey, or toward the blue for a cool one. You can also mix grey from red, yellow and blue plus white. Black + white works too, but the grey looks flatter.
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Two ways to mix grey
A grey is a color with little or no hue. All that changes from one grey to another is its value (how light or dark it is) and its slight lean toward warm or cool. There are two basic routes:
- Black + white. Simple and predictable. The catch is that many blacks aren't perfectly neutral. Tinted with white, ivory black often reads slightly cool or bluish. These greys can also look flat next to vivid color.
- Complements + white. Mix two complementary colors until they cancel into a near-neutral, then lighten with white. These are called chromatic greys. Because they're built from colors, you can tip them warm or cool and they harmonize with the rest of your palette.
Try it: Mix a grey
Open full mixer →The best complementary pairs for grey
- Ultramarine blue + burnt sienna is the classic. More sienna gives a warm grey, more ultramarine a cool, silvery one. It's ideal for skies, stone and clouds.
- Ultramarine + cadmium orange gives a slightly cleaner, brighter neutral than sienna.
- Phthalo green + alizarin crimson is very strong, so it makes deep, clean greys with a little white.
- Dioxazine purple + a lemon or Hansa yellow gives soft, warm stone greys.
Mix the two colors first, without white, until the pile looks neither clearly blue nor clearly orange (or red/green, violet/yellow). Then pull portions into white for a value range. Check the temperature after adding white, because white cools most mixtures slightly.
Tip: Greys look colored next to strong color. A neutral grey beside a red can look greenish. Judge greys in place on the painting, or against a grey card, not in isolation.
Grey mixing chart
Each mix includes white. Ratios are parts by volume, and the swatches are model estimates.
| Pair | Result | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Ultramarine + burnt sienna | Versatile neutral grey | Easy to push warm or cool |
| More sienna | Warm grey | Stone, wood, warm shadows |
| More ultramarine | Cool grey | Skies, water, steel |
| Phthalo green + alizarin | Silvery grey | Clean, transparent darks |
| Violet + yellow | Soft warm grey | Gentle, natural neutrals |
| Black + white | Neutral grey | Quick and flat. Leans slightly blue |
Make a grey value scale
A useful exercise is to mix a five- or seven-step value scale from your darkest chromatic mix to near-white. Keep the steps even. Squinting helps you see whether one jump is bigger than the others. A scale like this trains your eye for value, which matters more than hue in most paintings, and gives you ready-made greys for shadows, overcast skies and atmospheric distance.
Common grey mistakes
- Too much white too soon. Adjust the hue balance of the dark mix first, then lighten it. Correcting temperature in a pale tint takes far more paint.
- Greys that are all the same. A sky, a stone wall and a shadow on white cloth are all "grey," but each leans differently. Mix several, warm and cool, light and dark.
- Dead, flat greys. Black and white alone can feel lifeless next to rich color. Add a touch of a color from your painting, or switch to a chromatic grey.
- Muddy greys. If a grey looks dirty, too many pigments are probably involved. Go back to two complements and white.
- Judging in isolation. Place the grey next to its neighbors before deciding it's wrong. Context changes how greys look more than any other color.
Using greys in a painting
Greys make the colors around them look more intense, so a painting built on gentle chromatic greys lets a few saturated accents sing. Many painters keep a pool of grey mixed from the colors already on the palette, so it automatically matches the painting.
Watercolorists get greys by diluting instead of adding white. Mixtures with ultramarine granulate into lovely speckled textures. Payne's grey, a premixed blue-grey, is a convenient shortcut, especially for skies and seascapes.
Recipes by medium
Proportions are starting points in parts by volume. Pigment strength varies by brand, so add strong colors gradually. The swatches are computed with Pigmento's pigment-mixing model and are approximations.
Neutral grey
1 Ivory Black + 6 Titanium White (parts). Quick and predictable. Expect a slightly cool lean.
Warm grey
1 Ultramarine Blue + 2 Burnt Sienna + 6 Titanium White (parts). Extra sienna warms it, for stone, sand and old wood.
Cool grey
2 Ultramarine Blue + 1 Burnt Sienna + 6 Titanium White (parts). Silvery and atmospheric, for clouds and distance.
Silvery cool grey
1 Phthalo Green (BS) + 1 Alizarin Crimson + 6 Titanium White (parts). A clean, strong grey. Both pigments are powerful, so start small.
Warm stone grey
1 Dioxazine Purple + 2 Lemon Yellow + 4 Titanium White (parts). Soft and warm, for buildings and rocks in sunlight.
Blue-grey
1 Payne's Grey + 5 Titanium White (parts). A fast shortcut for skies and water.
Granulating neutral
1 Ultramarine Blue + 1 Burnt Sienna (parts). Dilute for pale greys. Granulation adds texture.
Sea grey
1 Phthalo Blue (GS) + 1 Burnt Sienna (parts). A cool, slightly green-blue grey for water and storm skies.
Soft violet-grey
1 Cadmium Orange + 1 Ultramarine Blue (parts). Lean it blue for shadows and orange for warm overcast light.
Paints used in this lesson
Shop links coming soon- Ivory Black
- Titanium White
- Ultramarine Blue
- Burnt Sienna
- Phthalo Green (BS)
- Alizarin Crimson
- Dioxazine Purple
- Lemon Yellow
- Payne's Grey
- Phthalo Blue (GS)
- Cadmium Orange
Student-grade paints work for every recipe here. Single-pigment artist paints mix cleaner and stronger. We may add affiliate links to paint sets later, and they will be clearly marked.
Frequently asked questions
What two colors make grey?
Black and white make the simplest grey. Any pair of complementary colors also makes a grey when balanced and lightened with white: ultramarine and burnt sienna, ultramarine and orange, phthalo green and alizarin crimson, or purple and yellow.
How do you make grey without black?
Mix two complementary colors until they neutralize each other, then add white. Ultramarine blue plus burnt sienna is the most popular combination.
How do you make warm grey or cool grey?
Start from a chromatic grey and shift the balance. More orange, sienna or red makes a warm grey. More blue or green makes a cool grey. Adjust after adding white, because white cools mixtures slightly.
Why does my grey look blue or green?
Many black pigments tint toward blue with white, and greys also look tinted next to strong colors. Warm the grey with a touch of sienna or orange, and judge it in place.
How do you make grey with primary colors?
Mix red, yellow and blue into a dark neutral, then add white. Adjust until it looks neither warm nor cool: more blue if it reads brown, more red or yellow if it reads blue or green. The exact pigments matter, so start with small amounts of each.
How do you make light grey paint?
Start with white and add your dark neutral (for example ultramarine + burnt sienna) a tiny amount at a time. Going from white toward grey is much easier to control than lightening a dark grey.