What Color Does Red And Purple Make? Color Mixing Guide For Kids

Purple has always been considered a color of royalty.

It has its ties with kings and queens from the ancient world. The color purple is, without a doubt, a majestic one!

Red, orange, yellow, violet, green, brown, the color palette available to artists is just huge. Red is a rich color that can be traced back to ancient Egypt, where it was a sign of celebration and vitality, as well as destruction and evil.

There is no doubt that colors play an essential role in our lives. It is a source of pleasure for everyone.

Colors can change your moods, reduce and increase stress levels, cause excitement and also soothe you when you are tired.

Colors fall into two categories, warm and cool. Warm colors like red, yellow, orange and a combination of these give the illusion of warmth and heath as they remind us of sunlight.

Cool colors like purple, green and blue provide a sense of calm and relaxation as they remind us of nature’s elements like the sky, water, and grass. After you are done reading about purple and red color combinations, do check out our other articles on what color is ebony and what color is cyan.

Different Shades Of Red And Purple

Hue refers to the origin of color we observe. Artists create the shade of a color by mixing black with any pure color from the color wheel.

Shade is basically a hue or mixture of pure colors to which there is only the addition of black, which makes the color darker, whereas tone is a hue or mixture to which the only grey is added, which makes the color lighter.

There are many different shades of red and purple color. For example, mixing red and blue make purple color and then different shades of purple can be obtained by mixing red and blue in distinct ratios.

Red is one of the primary colors, which means it is a pure color, and it cannot be created from colors such as green and blue. Other primary colors include yellow and blue.

However, it can be made by color mixing of yellow and magenta. The colors red gives us by mixing it with other colors include maroon, magenta, burgundy.

Maroon is a dark, brownish-red color that is made by combining red and blue. Pink is made by mixing white and red.

Red-orange is a mix of two portions of red together with one part of yellow. Orange yellow can be created by mixing one portion of red with two portions of yellow with one part of red.

Purple is a secondary color. In earlier times, a lot of work went into extracting purple due to the fact that dye came from a species of snails known as ‘Bolinus Brandaris’, and it was rare to the point that its weight was worth in gold.

To harvest the dye, the snail’s shell had to be cracked, and purple-producing mucus was extracted and exposed to sunlight for a precise amount of time. It took 250,000 of these snails to produce one ounce of dye.

To make purple now, mixing two colors, red and blue, has to be done. Shades of purple include lavender, Heather, and Orchid.

Lavender is made by mixing purple and white. Another shade of purple, mauve, is made by adding white to a combination of red and blue.

What happens when you add red to purple?

Before we explore what happens when you mix both of these fantastic colors together, we need to learn what color theory is.

Color theory refers to the set of rules and principles related to the science and art of using colors. Color theory sets guidelines that enable designers and artists to choose the right color combinations to achieve the results they desire.

The color wheel is the centerpiece of Color Theory. Colors on the opposite side of this wheel create complementary colors. These colors are highly contrasting, which helps them appear brighter.

Combining two or more colors is called color mixing. Pure black, white, and grey color does not contain hue.

You would think mixing red and purple will get burgundy, but that’s not the case! Purple and red make a mixture that seems to be reddish purple which is slightly brighter in appearance than maroon. This color is magenta.

However, if you are dyeing your hair using these colors, the result is different. Depending on the ratio of red and purple you plan to use while dyeing your hair, you will most probably end up with burgundy or mulberry hair color, rather than a shade of purple.

How to mix red and purple?

The mixing ratio of two colors determines which color you will end up getting. Too much of one color, and you can miss the color you are looking for.

Creating magenta from the mixing of purple and red requires you to be careful as too much red can give it a tint towards red, and too much purple will give it a purplish-red tint.

You should start by adding red to the purple and mixing them really well. If you don’t like the color, you should add more red.

To make sure that you get the brightest color, it is important to make sure that the colors being used have one color pigment and not several. This is usually mentioned on the manufacturer's website.

It is also important that you do not mix the colors thoroughly. You have to remember the exact amount of red you are adding so that you have it when you want to touch up your color.

Adding white color can help if you want to lighten up the colors produced after mixing. If you have done everything in the right proportion, you will get magenta as your final product.

Mixing Red And Purple With Other Colors

If you want to paint and are looking for others, many of them can be made by mixing red and purple with other colors in the palette.

You might think mixing purple and red with blue might give you another combination, but that’s not the case. Both red and blue are primary colors, the mixture created from this combination will be a darker shade of purple. Mixing purple with green gives you a dark greenish-brown color.

Combine purple with yellow to create brown. Red, when combined with green, gives yellow. The mix of red and yellow gives the color orange.

Purple and red mixed together with green will give a muddy brown color. Combine red and magenta to create red violet color. Adding red, purple, and yellow green gives cyan.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for what color does red and purple make then why not take a look at what color does blue and red make, or what color does pink and purple make fact