Royal blue is without a doubt one of the most popular blue paint options on the market right now due to its versatility, availability, and low price tag. Due to being such a popular color for oil painting, acrylic painting, watercolor work, and various other arts and crafts, we constantly see requests for royal blue color combinations.
Due to seeing so many people reaching out and asking for various combination comparisons, we have decided to publish this dedicated article going over eight of the more commonly requested royal blue color combinations. Throughout the article we will be sharing an example of each of the combinations to show each color as a stand-alone or complementary option as well as a blend with royal blue too.
Our hope is that we will be able to help any of our readers who are looking for color combinations that involve royal blue for their artwork and help to ensure that you get the best possible match. As you may expect, different combinations are ideal for different purposes so there is no one size fits all option and some of the combinations tend to have more use cases than others too depending on what you are actually doing.
Royal Blue Vs Navy Blue
Royal blue and navy blue are very popular color options with royal blue tending to be a little lighter and easier to mix with other colors where as Navy Blue is a touch darker and can be harder to blend with some colors. Both are popular as a stand along color and when mixed with other colors but due to both royal blue and navy blue being so similar in shade, they tend not to be used mixed with each other on a regular basis.
Although the majority of paint providers do use a standardised shade for both color options these days, you can still find some formulas that have a slight tint of red or purple in their royal blue and a hint of black in their navy blue but this tends to be rare. That said though, these popular options for mixing each of the color options with other colors with black being one of the better colors that navy blue will mix well with.
If you are on a budget and only able to add one of these colors to your collection then we would usually recommend you opt to go with royal blue as it tends to offer more versatility. That said though, if you are able to add both colors to your collection then you can as although they are both a very similar shade to each other, it does tend to be common for people to carry both options in their art kit.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Navy Blue Color Code – #000080
Royal Blue Vs Cobalt Blue
Rather than asking for a direct comparison between the two, most people tend to reach out to ask if royal blue and cobalt blue are the same color. As you can see from our color sample above, they do look very similar to each other so it is easy to see why so many people think that they are the same as each other.
Although royal blue and Cobalt Blue are very close to each other, cobalt blue is a little lighter than royal blue but they often fit the same roles when it comes to arts and crafts. Due to this, you are usually able to pick up either option and use it as a stand alone or mixed with other colors without having to add both options to your collection.
If you are new to art and on a tight budget then this can end up saving you money as the differences between the two really are minimal the majority of the time. Both colors also tend to mix just as well as each other with other color options too as well as usually having the same or at least a very similar price tag too.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Cobalt Blue Color Code – #0047ab
Royal Blue Vs Sapphire Blue
Please note that “sapphire blue” is the only unique color option in our comparison list against royal blue in the sense that it does not technically have an official color. The sample of the two colors above are using the official sapphire blue color code for digital artwork but when it comes to the actual shade of paint, the products labelled as sapphire blue can vairy wildly to each other.
This is why we usually recommend that our readers try to pick up a Sapphire Blue paint product that they like the look of and test it on some canvas or paper to see how it takes their fancy. Depending on the formula, it can be very similar to royal blue as shown in the sample image above but it can be considerably lighter or considerably darker depending on the brand.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Sapphire Blue Color Code – #0f52ba
Royal Blue Vs Dark Blue
As the name suggests, dark blue is one of the darker shades of blue and tends to but slightly darker than royal blue but unlike some of the other color options in our list, the difference is noticeable between the two. Depending on your goals for your art, Dark Blue can be used as a stand-alone color, mixed with other colors, and mixed with royal blue all producing great effects due to the versatility of the color.
Due to this, many people will carry both royal blue and a darker shade of blue in their paint collection although the darker shade of blue may not actually be dark blue but an actual shade of navy. This all comes down to the personal preference of the artist as well as what they are planning on doing with their artwork.
If you are on a budget and can only pick up on option then we would highly recommend that you definitely go with a royal blue color. It offers better versatility as it can easily be mixed with lighter and darker colors where as dark blue only tends to do well with darker colors.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Dark Blue Color Code – #00008B
Royal Blue Vs Electric Blue
Electric blue tends to be considerably lighter than royal blue with the difference between the two being obvious to see. Both colors do blend well together for a number of different uses but can also easily blend with other colors or be used as a stand alone depending on the type of art you are involved in.
Due to this, it is very common for an artist to carry royal blue in their collection while also carrying a lighter blue such as Electric Blue but personal preference can definitely come into play. This is due to electric blue having more of a turquoise look in most paint formulas potentially restricting what you are able to use it for unless you are going to mix it with another shade of blue prior to mixing it with anything else.
At the time of writing, Cerulean Blue Hue is a very popular option for a lighter shade of blue and it does tend to be slightly more versatile than electric blue due to it being more of an actual blue than a turquoise. As electric blue and royal blue do fit different niches in your collection, it does tend to be wise to add either electric blue or cerulean blue to your collection in addition to a royal blue option.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Electric Blue Color Code – #7DF9FF
Royal Blue Vs Oxford Blue
Oxford blue is one of the darker shades of blue that has the same problems as the other dark shades of blue on our list when compared to royal blue. It is so dark that it does not offer the versatility of royal blue for general art due to only mixing well with black and a few select dark colors.
Although Oxford Blue may have a place in your collection of paints depending on the type of art you do, we tend to just recommend that our readers stick with royal blue due to the added versatility. If you do ever need a dark blue then you are easily able to add a darker color to your royal blue or simple go with one of the darker shades of blue that we covered earlier in the article.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Oxford Blue Color Code – #002147
Royal Blue Vs Indigo
Due to indigo being a shade of purple rather than a shade of blue, the majority of questions that we see between royal blue and indigo are based around blending and how the colors compliment each other. As you can see from our sample above, royal blue and indigo do work well together and blend well offering a larger number of practical uses in your artwork.
Indigo is just as versatile as royal blue too meaning that you are able to mix it with a wide range of other colors to get a huge range of uses out of the paint too. Due to this, we usually recommend that our readers try to carry both royal blue and a decent cheap Indigo in their collection as both colors do fit different roles.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Indigo Color Code – #4B0082
Royal Blue Vs Ultramarine Blue
Ultramarine blue is another unique color on our list as some manufacturers will offer both a royal blue product as well as an Ultramarine Blue product in their range and when you check the label, they use the exact same pigment chart meaning they are exactly the same just with a different name. As you can see from our sample above, both royal blue and ultramarine blue as extremely similar and essentially indistinguishable to the human eye so even if different pigment charts are used for the paints, they are still extremely similar to each other.
Due to this, we usually only recommend that our readers carry one of these options in their collection due to their similarities. Most of the time it comes down to if either royal blue or ultramarine blue are on sale at the time of purchase due to both products usually being the same price as each other too.
Royal Blue Color Code – #4169e1
Ultramarine Blue Color Code – #4166f5
Conclusion
That brings our article going over the more popular royal blue color comparisons that we see to an end. We hope that you have found it helpful and that we have been able to help any of our readers make a choice on a secondary color to use with royal blue in their artwork. As we touched on above, royal blue as well as some of the other colors in our list do offer a huge range of versatility due to being able to be mixed with other colors with ease when needed helping you get a wide range of effects out of them.
