It is only natural that magenta would see a spike in its popularity right now due to the various reds, pinks, and purples all seeing a huge surge in the number of people using them in arts and crafts. This has resulted in a range of different questions about magenta from the arts and crafts community with some looking to make their own magenta paint at home.
Due to seeing so many people reaching out, we have decided to publish this article going over how to make magenta paint at home to try and help any of our readers who are looking to start making their own paint. Although many beginners are often scared off when looking to make their own paints at home, it tends to be much easier than the majority of people think.
That said though, if you are a total beginner and are only looking to make your own paint one time, just going with a tube of magenta paint may be the better option. It will workout to be easier while often being around the same price unless you know for a fact that’s you need large amounts of magenta paint.
Is Magenta A Pink, Purple, Or Red?
Magenta is a primary color that can be used to make red, pink, purple and a number of other colors too. Depending on the specific hue of the particular magenta in question, it can look more like a red, pink or purple with most magenta’s tending to look like a pink.
The various shades hues of magenta paint are what tend to throw most people off when both identifying magenta as well as making their own magenta paint. For this article, we are going to be focusing on regular magenta that looks closer to a pink than a red or a purple but you are able to adjust ratios to tweak its color as required.
Please also note that there are a number of colors that are very close to magenta but are actually other individual colors that have additional ingredients in them in addition to magenta. We will be covering a number of these later in the article as some of our readers may want to actually use a magenta substitute rather than make their own magenta paints.
What Colors Do You Mix To Make Magenta?
Although it is not exact, the easiest way to make your own magenta paint is to mix a nice red and blue with a fifty-fifty ratio of each other. This tends to result in something close to magenta that you can then add additional red or blue to as required for tweaking to your taste.
We would recommend that you try something like cadmium red with cobalt blue If you have them in your paint collection. If you don’t currently carry these then any other red or blue that is not too dark or light can work well when making your own magenta paint.
As we touched on earlier in the article though, magenta is a primary color so you actually need a magenta base pigment to get a real magenta rather than the results of mixing red and blue that are only close. This is why a large number of artists will carry a tube of actual magenta paint in their collection.
How Do You Darken Magenta Paint?
There are a number of ways that you are able to darken magenta paint with the addition of a black or a dark green to the magenta usually performing well. We often see people asking why you would ever use green but it is due to green being opposite magenta on the color wheel resulting a nice darkening effect.
We would usually recommend that you use either a mars black paint or a dark green like hookers green paint for this as they tend to perform the best. That said though, most blacks and dark greens can work very well to darken your magenta.
Keep in mind that the ratios will totally change depending on if you are using black or a dark green paint to darken your magenta paint. On top of this, the ratios change depending on how much you want to actually darken your magenta too so start with a small amount of black or dark green for optimal results.
What Colors Are Close To Magenta?
Although they are not a true magenta, rose or violet can be close enough for some of our readers to use as a one for one swap with magenta. The actual type of rose and violet needed will depend on the hue but it can work well if you already have them in your paint collection.
We feel that permanent rose and opera rose are tow of the best color substitutes for magenta paint. Permanent rose is often the best option for a darker shade where as opera rose is better for a lighter shade but both can work well.
When it comes to violet, the best alternative for an actual magenta paint has to be quinacridone violet with it being a very dark color that is close to a dark magenta. The other violets can be hit and miss though and will often need you to add other colors to them to get them closer enough to magenta to be useful to you.
How To Make Magenta Oil Paint!
Making your own magenta oil paint is very simple and you simple take some magenta pigment and add it to a suitable oil medium such as linseed oil and mix the two together. Making your own oil paint does tend to be the easiest option for most people by far due to it being very beginner friendly.
We have our guide to oil painting mediums online that goes into a ton of detail on the various advantages and disadvantages of each medium if you don’t want to use linseed oil. If you are a beginner to making your own paints then we do usually recommend you just stick with linseed oil though due to it being a nice all round medium.
If you only need to make small amounts of magenta paint then just going with your a tube of magenta oil paint or mixing existing colors in your paint collection may be the better option. This will depend on your situation though with you being in the best position to make decisions.
How To Make Magenta Acrylic Paint!
Making your own acrylic magenta paint is also relatively easy with most beginners being able to do it with ease. You simple add some of your magenta pigment to some clear gesso acrylic and then mix the two together as required until you get the color that you want.
Although you can use white gesso when making your own homemade magenta acrylic paint, we usually recommend that you stick with clear gesso if possible. White gesso will need considerably more pigment for you to get a regular or dark magenta and take more time to mix correctly too.
This is why many beginners simple opt to go with a tube of magenta acrylic paint, mix colors in their collection, or use an alternative color that is close to magenta. If you are more experiences with making your own paint or have more time to mix your acrylic mixture then you can try it though.
How To Make Magenta Watercolor Paint!
We usually recommend that you have experience with making your own homemade paints prior to trying to make your own magenta water color paint due to gum Arabic being a paint to use. The process is simple enough with you just adding your magenta pigment to a suitable medium like gum Arabic and mixing the tow but you usually have to use the homemade paint that day or the day after.
This is due to the consistency of the gum Arabic changing quickly making it hard to use as an actual paint. Although you can rehydrate it, the results can be hit and miss and the water can often remove surprising amounts of your magnet as pigment from the gum Arabic lightening the potential color that you are able to produce.
This is why we usually recommend that our readers, especially beginners simple skip the process when it comes to water color and just go with a tube of magenta watercolor paint to save themselves the heartache. It is often cheaper and easier while offering a better end result making it the obvious option for most people.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how to make magenta paint at home to an end. We hope that you have found it helpful as it tends to be easy to mix colors in your collection to make your own magenta paint if you have the required colors already. On top of this, taking the pigment route can also be easy for most types of paint and will often workout to be cheaper for larger quantities of paint too.
