Tints, tones and shades: what they are and how to mix them
A tint is a color mixed with white, a tone is a color mixed with gray, and a shade is a color mixed with black. Together they turn one color into a whole family. Here are all three, mixed from the rust and the verdigris in Matisse’s Open Window, Collioure.
Tint: add white
A tint is a color with white added, so it gets lighter and softer. The more white, the paler it becomes, until only a hint of the color is left.
Tints of rust
Rust #B85F43 on the left, then more and more white
Pastels are tints. So are many of the soft colors we choose for walls. A tint keeps the color’s hue, but each step holds less of the color itself.
Tone: add gray
A tone is a color with gray added, so it gets quieter without getting lighter or darker. When the gray matches the color’s own value, every step in the row is equally light.
Tones of rust
The same value all the way, less color at each step
In everyday speech “tone” is used loosely, often for any lighter or darker version of a color. In color theory it means this: the color grayed down, its lightness kept. Tones are the dusty, muted colors that make a room or a painting feel calm.
Shade: add black
A shade is a color with black added, so it gets darker and deeper. Each step loses light and some of its color, until it is nearly black.
Shades of rust
Rust, then more and more black
So tint vs shade is simply white vs black: a tint climbs toward white, a shade sinks toward black. Here are all three for the verdigris of the wall in the same painting.
Tints
Tones
Shades
Mixing them in real paint
In real paint, white, gray and black change more than lightness: they can shift the color too. The strips above are worked out on screen, where the hue stays put. Paint is less tidy, and it helps to know how.
White. White makes many colors cooler and chalkier. A red can drift toward pink, and a brown toward a dull lilac. Add white a little at a time. If a tint looks lifeless, a touch more of the original color, or a little warm yellow, can bring it back.
Black. Black can change a color’s hue as well as darken it. Yellow and black make an olive green, not a dark yellow. For a deeper yellow, many painters reach for a darker neighbor, such as an ochre or a brown, instead.
Gray, or the opposite. You can tone a color with a gray mixed from black and white. Or add a little of its complement, the color opposite it on the wheel: a touch of verdigris quiets rust, and the mix often stays livelier than one made with gray. More on opposites in complementary colors.
To try it on screen with paint that mixes like paint, play Paint Mixer, our daily game: match three colors a day using ten common artist’s paints.
See the strips for your own colors
My Color Taste draws tints, tones and shades for every color in your palette. Add a photo to Image to Palette and scroll to Mixing strips. Tap a color to see it mixed with white, gray and black, and tap any step to copy its code.
The strips use the same math as the figures on this page. They are a good start for a lighter background, a quieter accent or a darker shadow that still belongs to your palette.
Good to know
A tone is not a shade
Tones keep the color’s lightness; shades lose it. If you want something quieter but not darker, you want a tone.
One color can be a whole palette
A tint, the color itself and a shade already give you a light, a middle and a dark. Many calm rooms are built this way.
Check in gray
Tints and shades change a color’s value; tones don’t. Switch Image to Palette to Gray to see it, or read look at your painting like a stranger.