Dark Blue

These colors also appear on other color slot pages (e.g. violet blue, middle blue, or cyan, depending on whether they’re biased toward violet or more toward green, or in the middle). But dark blue is such a uniquely useful and common color slot, with artists choosing the blue for its darkness rather than its color bias, that I thought I would make it its own color slot page.

Blue a common color to be chosen for dark values because blues can get darker than other primary colors and because cool tones are useful for shadows. Blues can be mixed with oranges, earth oranges, or browns to make neutral blacks and grays.

Color List

From most violet to most cyan:

Mixes

  • Indigo – usually a mix of PBk6, PB15, + a magenta.
  • Payne’s Gray – usually the same mix as indigo, but with more black. May appear as a dark navy blue or a near-black. Also listed under Black or Gray.