With Prussian blue being one of the dominant dark blues for most types of painting, we constantly see questions from the arts and crafts community to try and ensure that they are getting the most out of their paints. Although we have already covered a number of the questions that we see, we have noticed more and more people asking for a list of Prussian blue complementary colors.
Although the perfect complementary colors for your specific needs are going to depend on what you are actually doing in your artwork, there are a decent number of solid options that can work with Prussian blue in many situations. If you do use Prussian blue paint on a regular basis then testing out these seven complementary colors are definitely worth the time.
Thankfully, many of the complementary color suggestions featured in our article are colors that many artists will already carry in their paint collection. This works to your advantage advantage as it is likely that you will have some of these complementary colors in your collection already helping to keep your costs down.
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Prussian Blue And Burnt Umber
Our first recommended complementary color to use with your Prussian blue is burnt umber offering a very popular earthy color that goes well with Prussian blue in various situations. Due to the massive popularity of burnt Umber there is a high chance that many of our readers will already have it in their collection.
Due to the dark nature of both colors, they can work well togather as dark base layers using Prussian blue for a dark sky and the burnt umber for the wood of trees for example. As you layer up your artwork with other colors to add detail, the base layers continue to compliment each other and work well.
Although rare, you can also mix Prussian blue with burnt umber for a nice dark blue that has a red/brown glow to give a sun rise or fire effect against the night sky. Thankfully, some of the other colors later in our list also compliment burnt umber and Prussian blue allowing you to compound their complimentary effects.
Prussian Blue And Black
Although black is not technically a complementary color for Prussian blue, it does go very well with it due to the dark nature of the blue. Although we would recommend that you use your black as a base layer and then a Prussian blue layer on top of the black rather than mixing the two together, there are a number of possibilities that work well.
There are a range of different shades and hues of black out there with the majority of them doing well with Prussian blue. With black being such a popular paint that works well in so many situations with so many other colors, the vast majority of our readers will probably already have a black paint in their collection.
With black being such a diverse color it also works with the majority of the other featured complimentary colors in our article. As you can see, compounding these featured colors in the article can really help to product a great end result.
Prussian Blue And Venetian Red
Although Venetian red is a less popular color, it can offer a surprising amount of versatility when used as a complementary color as a stand alone option or when mixed directly with Prussian blue. Although we feel that Venetian Red is the best option, there are a few similar reds that offer similar levels of compatibility.
The majority of people needing a solid red to go with their Prussian blue will probably be using it as a stand alone options or mixed with other colors for figures in their painting with the Prussian blue being more of a base layer or in other figures. In some rare cases, you may be able to mix your Venetian red and Prussian blue to great effect.
We know that most of our readers won’t carry Venetian red in their paint collection due to it being a less common color. Thankfully, a tube of Venetian red is cheap so most people will be able to pick one up without breaking the bank or potentially use a similar shade of red if they already have a suitable option in your collection.
Prussian Blue And Cobalt Blue
A nice regular blue can be a great complementary color to your Prussian blue opening up what you can actually do with the various blues in your collection. Although you can technically just lighten your Prussian blue if needed by adding a little white, it is usually easier just to carry a regular blue color in your paint collection instead of trying to lighten your Prussian blue.
Although there are a range of suitable regular blues that you can use, our favourite has to be Cobalt Blue with it being one of the most popular blues out there. As you can see from the color sample above, the two go together well and you are able to use each color in layers very well in your painting.
Although you can mix your Prussian blue and cobalt blue together if you wish, the Prussian blue will often over power it so we usually recommend that you use them as stand alone colors or mix them with other colors. This opens up even more possibilities for your palette as the cobalt blue offers more versatility than your Prussian blue due to it being lighter and mixing better with lighter colors than your Prussian blue can.
Prussian Blue And Pale Cyan
Flipping directly over to the other end of the scale, many people do like to have a light blue as a complementary color to their Prussian blue but this does tend to be a little more niche than a regular blue covered above. There are a number of suitable light blue options out there with Pale Cyan being one of our favourites as shown in the color sample above.
We know that pale cyan is not a popular color and that it can be difficult to find in arts and crafts stores though but the majority of the similar colors can work well with your Prussian blue paint. Again, we would recommend that you don’t mix your pale cyan with your Prussian blue due to the darkness of the Prussian blue easily over powering your pale cyan so using them as a stand alone color or when mixed with other colors is usually the best route to take.
If you do have a regular blue in your collection and don’t want to pick up a tube of a light blue paint then you can usually add a little white to a regular blue to bring its shade down to a suitable level with ease. When it comes to layering, you can use either Prussian blue or your pale blue as your base layer with the other on top of it depending on what you are doing with both options working very well.
Prussian Blue And Burnt Sienna
Our regular readers will know that we are huge fans of burnt sienna and the other earthy colors but in some niche cases, both raw and burnt sienna can work well as a complementary color to Prussian blue. Going with Burnt Sienna does tend to be the better option over raw sienna depending on what you are doing but both options can work well.
As you can see from the color sample above, you can often mix the two colors or layer them in quick succession to get a glow effect against a night sky for a fire or light. They can work as stand alones together in the same piece too but mixing another color with the burnt sienna does tend to offer a slightly better blend when used with Prussian blue.
As we said, this is a niche case but it can be used to great effect and is well worth playing around with if you already have a tube of burnt sienna in your paint collection. You are able to manipulate both the burnt sienna and the Prussian blue by adding more water for water color work too opening up the opportunities even further.
Prussian Blue And Gold
Although we don’t personally like using gold as a complementary color to Prussian blue, there was a phase where it was popular a few years back but the trend does seem to have faded amongst artists now. You can see the two together in the color sample above but you usually have to add other colors to your gold to get the two to blend well with each other in most cases.
If you are do have a tube of gold paint in your collection then you can put a small amount on your palette board to experiment with on some spare paper to see what you are able to get and if you like the look of it. Again, you can manipulate the pigment of both colors as a stand alone or when mixed together in their water color variants by adding more water too.
Although there is a phase on social media right now of artists producing a painting using only two paint colors and then manipulating the range available to them by mixing the two in different ratios, we still think that there are better options for your Prussian blue than gold. As with most things in arts and crafts though, personal opinion will definitely come into play for this one so you will have to decide on the route that you want to take.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over some of the better Prussian blue complementary color options that artists have available to them to an end. We hope that you have found our article beneficial and that we have helped to inspire you to use some often over looked colors with your Prussian blue to see the effect that you are able to get for your art work.
