What Colors Make Gold? – Your Easy Guide for How to Make Gold Paint

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The color gold represents wealth, luxury, and grandeur, and therefore is a splendid addition to any artist’s palette. Mixing your own gold paint can be slightly tricky, however. In this gold mixing tutorial, we will cover everything you need to know about mixing gold, from just adding a golden hue to creating a glittering sheen to your artwork. Do you want to know what colors make gold? Let us take a deeper look into the influence of gold on human culture and learn how to mix gold paint.

A Closer Look at Gold and Humans

The color gold is a symbol of prosperity and wealth as it is named after one of the most valuable metals on earth. It has been held in high regard by people across all eras and cultures. It has been used as currency because of its rarity, and many beautiful pieces of jewelry have been made from gold for the same reason. Besides its obvious use as a symbol for money and wealth, it has also found a special place in human cultures and religious practices.

Religion and Gold

In a religious sense, gold has always been synonymous with divinity and power and was therefore used in many settings to depict religious icons. Many Christian mosaics feature the color gold to remind the religious viewer of the power and omnipresence of God. It was also a color that represented the search for knowledge, meditation, and self-improvement for the Hindus.

To further emphasize their wisdom, many gods of Hinduism are portrayed with golden halos around their heads.

Culture and Gold

Although appreciated by many cultures, each one bestowed the color gold with a slightly different and unique meaning. For certain European cultures, gold was viewed as representing spiritual enlightenment, while for Jamaican and Cuban people, the color gold represented sea travel and exploration. In many South American cultures, the color gold is connected to religion and church. In other places like Canada and North America, gold is associated with negative traits such as cockiness and overindulging.

Success and Gold

From the gold Rolexes and pens that people buy as signs of success to the medals given out at the Olympic Games, gold has always been associated with winners and champions. It represents the few who have taken on the challenges and risen to the top of the chosen fields.

It is due to this association that many of us view the color gold as a sign of wealth and luck.

How to Make Gold Paint

One of the most common issues that beginners have when learning what colors make gold is the problem relating to the sheen. Learning how to mix gold paint from other colors can be relatively easy, however, we need to be slightly more creative with our techniques when it comes to adding sheen to our gold paint. To make things significantly easier, we are going to go over a few of the basic concepts relating to the theory of color before we start the tutorial on what colors make gold. First, we need to gain an understanding of color bias and temperature to help us with techniques such as creating different shades of gold, adjusting the tone of your golden color, or creating shades of gold that are crisp and bright.

What is Color Bias?

Color bias is a concept that can be relatively easily understood if you have a basic grasp of traditional color theory. The fundamentals of traditional color theory are already familiar to most people. All variants of colors can be created by mixing primary colors, and colors compliment each other if they are positioned on opposite sides of the color wheel. Color bias is slightly less well-known than these basic mixing concepts. However, you will be able to mix an array of various colors easily once you understand color bias.

The term color bias refers to the relative temperature of any given color. Colors range in temperature from very cool (blue is the coldest color) to very warm (red is the warmest color). The color bias of a specific color is determined by which direction it leans toward on the color spectrum.

To give you an example, a shade of yellow is considered to be warm if it has a red color bias. By this we mean that there is a dash of red in the yellow, making it more orange in color, therefore noticeably warmer in shade. A yellow with a bit more green added to it will seem cooler as it leans more towards the blue part of the spectrum. It will be very helpful to your own color mixing endeavors if you have a basic understanding of the fundamentals of color bias. If one takes all the primary colors and mixes them together, the result will be a muted brown shade. Therefore it is necessary to consider the color bias when mixing two primary shades to make a vibrant shade.

If for example, you create a shade of green from a red-tinted shade of yellow mixed with a cool blue, it would result in a green shade that is muddy brown, as you have combined all three primary shades inadvertently. If you are reading this to learn how to make the color gold that is vibrant and warm, then it is important to remember that both the base colors that you use should have hints of red. If you would prefer to know how to make the golden color cooler, then make sure that there is a hint of blue in both of the base colors you are mixing together. Our color mixing guide will help you further if you are unsure.

How to Make the Color Gold: First Method

If you are wondering what two colors make gold, then this first method will answer your question. Yellow and brown are two colors that can be combined to create a gorgeous warm shade of gold.

It is important to use a warm brown and a warm yellow, as gold leans towards the warmer part of the color spectrum.

Brown is considered a rather neutral color, but there are many shades of brown to choose from. These two shades should be used if you wish to create a warm and beautiful gold shade.

• Brown ochre
• School bus yellow

Now that we know what two colors make gold, we need to know how much to use for each shade. If you want to create a basic shade of gold then simply add equal amounts of each color. This shade will be rather neutral and can be adjusted by playing with the ratios of each shade. For a bright and vibrant color, add more yellow to the mix, for a deeper and darker color, add more brown. Now that you know how to make the color gold, we can take a deeper look at the methods of adjusting the gold color’s tone.

How to Make Gold Paint: Second Method

Now we will learn how to mix gold paint using the three primary hues in this second method. Compared to the first method, this one is essentially a more in-depth and complex way to achieve the same result.

In this method, we will first make the brown shade, instead of just mixing yellow and brown together. It is essential to choose your shades carefully if we want the result to be a vibrant shade of gold. We suggest using school bus yellow and then adding these shades to make the brown.

• Cobalt blue
• Coquelicot red
• School bus yellow

To make a warm shade similar to the ochre brown in the first method, add equal parts of each primary hue. Once you are satisfied with the hue of your brown, then you can add the school bus yellow in an equal amount as the others to create a vibrant and vivid golden color.

How to Adjust the Tone of Your Gold Paint

Both the methods for how to make gold paint discussed above tend to mostly produce the same basic shade of gold with little variation. A variation of tones is required if we wish to create paintings that have a sense of realism. Next, we will expand your golden palette by suggesting some methods that are easy to follow.

How to Make the Golden Color Lighter

There are two options we can use to adjust the toe of our gold and make it lighter. To lighten the gold color you can either use a dash of extra yellow or a small amount of white paint to your other colors. Although there may be some undesirable effects from adding white, it can be an easy way to make your gold color brighter. Although it will brighten the tone of your color, it can also mute it. This will result in a gold color that is slightly less vibrant.

Another thing to keep in mind regarding the use of white is that it can be easily overdone, so rather go slowly and use small amounts at a time.

The second method for making your gold lighter is also our preferred method, which is to simply add more yellow. Since it is already a shared shade that is in your base colors, it will not make the shade any duller but will add more vibrancy to the shade. Just adding a bit extra yellow will go a long way to bringing out the bright and vivid aspects of your compositions.

Making the Color Gold Darker

When considering how to make gold paint darker, you will need to keep the final desired result in mind. You can just adjust the ratios of yellow and brown if you want to maintain the temperature of the gold hue. Brown will make it slightly darker, and yellow will make it slightly lighter.

The following advice can be applied accordingly, depending on the amount you would like to adjust the temperature of the shade of gold. For a gold shade that is darker and warmer, you should try adding an orange shade that is warm and deep to the gold paint. The warmth can be added by experimenting with a mixture of various warm tones in your collection.

How to Make Gold Paint Shine

Gold is a color known for its shine and luster, yet the combinations of colors we have looked at so far in this tutorial would not result in that desired glow. The addition of sheen will make your painting jump off your canvas and is rather easy to achieve. To add that extra sheen to your gold just go to an arts and crafts shop and get some gold glitter.

Now just add a dash into your paint and your golden paint will have an extra sparkle.

What Colors Make Rose Gold?

So far we have covered a range of techniques that result in various awesome shades of gold. You might be wondering what colors make rose gold as it is one of the more popular shades of gold currently. To achieve this shade, we need to add a dash of red, because as the name implies, roses are pinkish in color. We can also add a touch of silver to make our pink gold distinctly brighter and lighter than other gold hues.

Now simply adjust the ratio of the rose tint as you would with the other traditional golden colors.

The Various Shades of Gold

What color is Gold? There are many variations of golden shades, as with all the other colors in the spectrum. The relative temperatures of the various base colors you have chosen will determine the final shade of gold you end up with. Below we have included a table with a list of a few of the more well-liked shades of gold along with their associated RGB codes and Hex numbers. You can now see how many variations there are of gold from this table.

How to Make the Color Gold in Your Paintings Pop

So, once you know how to make the golden color, you may want to know how to use it properly to achieve the best results within your painting. Without further ado, let us move on to getting the most out of this stunning color!

How to Make the Golden Color Neutral

A neutral base should be used if you do not want your golden color standing out too much in your artwork. Your gold paint might need to be adjusted in tone, to avoid the color dominating the entire scene. Grey or brown can be added to your gold to tone it down slightly.

This will allow your gold to be used in a way that does not detract attention from the rest of your painting.

How to Make the Color Gold Richer

Once you have achieved the final look of your golden shade, there are other techniques to help make your gold look even richer in your art. The best method to do so is to use gold alongside other colors that enhance it.

Using a Base Color

Another method for making your gold look richer is by adding a layer of base color beneath your gold paint. The best color to use for this purpose is red as it brings out the richer tones of your gold color paint. Just apply a layer of red, then give it time to dry, and then simply paint the gold over it.

We can highly recommend this technique, and we guarantee that you will be surprised by the end result.

The use of Analogous Colors

Analogous color refers to colors that are similar in warmth and tone to the original shade. When looking at the analogous colors for gold, we will see that they are warm yellows, reds, and oranges. You can use analogous colors to add a vibrance to your paintings, but do not overdo it as this can lead to art that is too overwhelming. It is better to use more neutral colors when placed alongside gold.

 Sometimes bright red will blend with the shahid too much, so you might prefer to try using a muted red hue instead to add a slight gleam to your gold. Yellow is technically considered an analogous shade with gold, but the two are very similar, and overusing yellow can dampen the overall brightness of the gold.

Use of Complementary Colors

Using complementary colors alongside your gold color is another great method for making it pop. Using a cool color alongside the warmer gold can have a great dynamic visual effect on your artwork. The best colors to use are blue and purple, but purple is most likely the best of the two.

Keep the relationship between dark and light shades in mind when using these complementary colors alongside gold.

Dark color paired will recede into the painting and cool colors paired will tend to come forward in the composition. So for example, if you used gold to outline a purple object, it will appear as if the purple part is going inward and the golden outline will appear to stand out.

Use of Neutral Colors

The last way you can make your gold stand out in your composition more is by using neutral colors around it. These colors are naturally muted and will therefore become part of the background, allowing your gold paint to shine vividly. Due to their lack of vibrancy, grey and brown are good neutral colors to use alongside gold.

Black is another good shade to use and will help your golden paint stand out, as long as the gold is bright and glittery in comparison to the black. If the gold is too dark, it will appear muddy in color next to the black. Due to its incredibly vivid eye-catching nature, gold is a great color to use in your paintings. Learning how to make gold paint yourself is a great way to add more variety to your palette than simply buying a pre-made gold color.

How to Make the Golden Color Accentuated

You might decide that you want to use your gold color front and center stage of your composition. If you want the viewer’s eye to be drawn to a specific feature in the painting, then adding gold is a great way to do so. Your gold should be glittering and bright if you want to make it eye-catching. To create a metallic sheen, add some gold glitter to your paint. To make it slightly brighter, add white or yellow.

We hope that this tutorial has helped you understand this beautiful color better! You should now have total confidence when making the color gold yourself. You should also now understand how to use the color gold properly when painting your artwork.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Color is Gold?

To answer the question of what color is gold, remember what color we used with it mostly. Gold is considered a color that is part of the yellow spectrum but depending on how dark it is, can also be considered part of the brown spectrum.

What Two Colors Make Gold?

When you are making the color gold or in order to make gold paint you will need to add an equal amount of brown paint and yellow paint. Adjust the ratio to create your desired shade of gold!

What Colors Make Rose Gold?

When it comes to making this shade, you will need an additional color when mixing. Rose gold can be made by adding a touch of pink to your gold color, or it can be achieved by combining silver or red with the gold paint.

Larissa Meyer( Art Addict, Illustrator and Graphic Designer )

Larissa Meyer is a 32-year-old mother from Michigan and creative spirit since childhood. Her passion for painting and drawing has led her to an education as an illustrator and a career as a freelance graphic designer. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration and a degree in Graphic Design. Larissa is a talented artist who is able to master a wide range of styles and techniques to bring her artistic vision to life. Her greatest passion is currently fluid painting and epoxy resin art. Larissa’s love for art and her knowledge and experience in illustration make her the perfect Creative Director for our fluid-painting.com team. She is the creative head of our team and shares her passion and knowledge with our community through articles and tutorials.

As a mother of a 2-year-old daughter, Larissa also understands the importance of fostering creativity in early childhood. She uses her experience and knowledge to help other parents inspire their children and develop their artistic skills as well.

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