Caroline
Orange and purple are two beautiful colors that have many different ways to be used. They can come in many shades and be used for lots of different art and decoration prospects.
But what color does orange and purple make when mixed? That is what we will be looking at in this guide so that you can use this combination to its full potential.
Not only that, but we will also show you some great combinations that you can try out yourself!
So get ready to see what these two lovely colors can accomplish when mixed together as well as how you can use some art tips to enhance your artwork.
How you can mix orange and purple?
Orange and purple are two colors that are very different, but maybe not as different as you may assume.
Looking at a standard color wheel, you will see that they are almost opposites on the wheel.
This means that they are not quite complementary colors technically, but they can still go really nicely with one another.
This can depend on what shades of the colors you use, but there are some stunning combos.
Now you may again be wondering what color you get from mixing orange and purple. The answer is that it can vary, but it will usually be a brown variation.
Often when mixing orange and purple, you will get a brown with a reddish tone to it. Depending on the tones you use, you may also get orange and purple variations and even some interesting pinks.
We will definitely go over some of these possibilities in greater details soon. You can mix these colors in many different ways depending on the art tools and mediums you use.
Paint is one of the best mediums to use when mixing colors, but even with paint you have many kinds to choose from. These different paint mediums can result in very different outcomes.
None of these are better or worse than the others, and it all depends on what you need for your artistic vision. Of course, there are tons of different mediums you can use to mix colors.
You can also use these colors in more practical ways such as home decor or graphic design. When mixing your colors, just be mindful of the different color tones and intensities that you mix.
Darker colors can overpower and consume lighter ones, and a greater quantity of one color can also swallow another.
We will be showing you a few ways you can mix colors while avoiding this as we move through the guide.
Are orange and purple a good combination to mix together?
Orange and purple are two really different colors in pretty much every way you can imagine. First of all, purple is considered a cool color whereas orange is a fiery warm color.
That’s not to say that warm and cool colors can’t go together, though! Both of these colors are also known as secondary colors, which means that they are combinations of primary colors.
This can all sound a bit confusing, but it’s rather simple when you know what’s going on!
Orange is a color made up of red and yellow and purple is made from red and blue. So, as you can see, all three primary colors are in use with these two colors.
That being said, both orange and purple can have many variations. We will show you some examples using color hex codes.
These codes can be typed into your favorite image search engine and you will see the exact colors we are referring to. Let’s start with orange.
You can have a deep and rich orange with #fa9200. Or, you may like a softer, pastel orange like #ffbb5c.
Then, for purple you might like a neon color like #bb29ff, or you might need a dark pastel color like #bf6be6.
This gets even more complicated as we start looking at the different combinations various shades can make.
The point is that orange and purple can be a wonderful combination in many cases, but some others may not look as nice together.
This is where you can experiment with different combinations to find out what works. As you play around with colors, you will start to get a feel for what color combinations work best!
As we proceed through the guide, we will also show you how you can anticipate the results and then tweak them to be exactly what you need for your artwork.
What results you can expect?
When mixing orange and purple together, you are essentially making a mix of all the primary colors. For this reason, you will probably get some kind of brown.
This is something we have touched on earlier in this guide, but let’s see how you can anticipate potential results.
You may be sure of getting some kind of brown, but what kind you get can depend on many things.
Not only that, but brown is also not the only color you can get. You might have a rich shade of orange like #fa9e00 and mix in a milder purple like #e8b8ff.
This combination won’t give you brown, but instead will give you a warm pink color. No matter what shades you mix, you will probably have a reddish undertone to the color.
If you have a stronger purple that is the dominant color in the mix, then the color you result in may have heavier purple or blue undertones.
It’s possible to create quite a wide variety of colors with orange and purple.
Combining these colors can be a bit hard to predict, but playing around with different combinations and experimenting can really help you eliminate some of the guesswork.
If you want to see how these colors can produce a darker shade of brown, you can mix a dark purple #693c80 color with a dark orange #f4c10b. This will give you a rich brown color with #af7f46.
The brown may be more neutral, but you could make it even darker and more chocolatey if you make the shades a bit darker than the ones we chose.
As with any color mixes you may work with, you can apply some basic logic to your color choices.
If you think about whether to go with light or dark colors before implementing them, you can control the shades you may end up with.
This is something we will go into greater detail on in the final tip. As you can see, combining orange and purple together can achieve some rather varied results.
Once you have experimented with these colors a bit, you will start to get the hang of what is achievable.
Now that we have a better idea of what orange and purple can give us, the next step of the guide will go over some of the uses you may have for these colors.
Best uses for orange and purple mixes
We have seen some of the combinations that orange and purple can create, but now you may be wondering what uses you could have for these colors.
As we mentioned earlier, you can expect to get reddish browns and dark pinks from this combination.
That is the simple version, but the more you experiment the more you will see what other colors are possible.
If you keep them separate, then you could include orange and purple together in a natural setting by having some flowers.
The flower could have orange and purple as its color scheme or you could have a bunch of orange and purple flowers in a bouquet.
That is just one example, but there are other mixtures of orange and purple that you could find in nature.
Another would be to have a plate with oranges and grapes on it to create a mix of these colors.
If you mix them to get a pink tone, you could use it in a sunset sky for one idea. For browns, you may use it for sand or rocks.
These are some ideas on how to use them for traditional paintings, but it doesn’t stop there.
If you are creating something like a slide show that needs a color scheme, then orange and purple would eb an unconventional but still interesting combination of a color scheme.
The different colors you can get from mixing them could also be useful for many purposes. As with anything involving color, it depends on you to see what you need it for.
The range of colors made from orange and purple is quite wide, and you have a lot of control over what these colors look like.
Even if you stick to the same colors but use different mediums, the results will also be quite different.
Now that you may have a few ideas for what to use your orange and purple mixes for, we shall show you a few more tips on how you can customize the colors to be exactly what you need.
Lighter and darker orange and purple mixes
When you are creating colors for your project, it can be tempting to mix the first shades of orange and purple you have in your collection and call it a day.
If you want to have more control over the colors, you will need to pay attention to the subtleties.
Earlier in the guide, we presented a few examples of shades you can get if you mix light, dark or both kinds of these colors.
The logic is fairly straightforward in that dark will make dark and light will make light. The spectrum of colors you can create is so wide, however, so the more control you have the better.
If there is a color mixture we looked at in this guide that you want to create, you may benefit from creating your own orange and purple colors.
This can give you so much more control rather than using the standard orange and purple paints in your collection. Remember that orange is made from red and yellow while purple is a mixture of red and blue.
You can create light or dark versions of these colors to make your base color you’re aiming for either lighter or darker as well. Adding small amounts of black or white can also help for this purpose.
However, instead of adding black or white you can maintain the undertones of your colors by using light or dark versions of colors like red, blue or yellow.
If you are trying to create a color combination, try to pay attention to the subtleties of the undertones and then use colors that match the undertones to change the brightness of the final color you are aiming for.
Sometimes it can take a lot of practice and some frustration to lead to the perfect color you need. We can guarantee that once you achieve the color you want, all of that hard work will be worth it!
In summary
Orange and purple are colors that one may not always picture together, but this guide has shown that they may be colors you want to consider using more often!
Not only this, but you now know the answer to the question of what color does orange and purple make when mixed.
We have discovered that there is no one answer to that question, and there is a huge range of colors waiting to be discovered.
Remember to try out colors with different brightnesses and undertones while also switching up the mediums you use.
With all these tips in mind, you will surely find some incredible applications for orange and purple!
