Tints, shades and tones — Art, 7–10
One colour can become lighter, darker or softer without turning into a completely different colour.
Changing a colour's value
A tint is a colour made lighter, usually by adding white. A shade is made darker, usually by adding black, and a tone is softened by adding grey. The colour family can stay recognisable while its lightness changes, giving you more than one version of blue, red or green.
Why artists make colour families
Artists need several light and dark steps to show a rounded object, a distant place or a clear difference between parts. A single flat colour cannot do all those jobs. Painters, printers and designers have long adjusted colours with white, black or grey when they needed a controlled range instead of many unrelated colours.
Three greens for one tree
Start with one green paint. Mix one spoon of white into two spoons of green for a light tint, keep some original green for the middle leaves, then mix a little black into another spoon for the darkest shade. Put the light tint on leaves facing the sun, the original green beside them, and the dark shade underneath.
The black-makes-it-better trap
Many people add lots of black when they want a darker colour, because black clearly makes paint look dark. The reasonable problem is that it can make the colour muddy and hide its original character. Try adding a tiny amount first, compare it with the original, and remember that a dark colour can still be bright or colourful.
Where colour families are useful
Illustrators use colour families for skin, plants, clothes and skies. Designers use them to make a poster readable, with a lighter version for the background and a darker version for words. On a website or game, several steps of one colour can show selected, unselected or important buttons without introducing a new colour each time.
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