Pink and Black Make What Color When Mixed Together?

It’s time for another of our color mixing experiments! Today’s investigation will examine the answer to the question, “Pink and black make what color when mixed together?”

As background, my name is Lillie, and I’m a teacher and artist who loves diving deeply into queries like, “What colors make pink?” All the art here is hand-drawn by yours truly, and the answers are gleaned from personal experience. Let’s start by looking at what the colors at hand look like when swirled, but not yet mixed…

Pink and Black Make What Color?

Now that we’ve seen how pretty black and pink look together (they’re beautiful when juxtaposed, don’t you think?) it’s time to ascertain what color they make when mixed. Here’s the thing, though — there’s more than one answer.

Shades of Pink, Purple, Brown, or Gray

As you can see from my illustration, below, depending on what type of pink you use as your “ingredient” color, and depending on how much black you add, the resulting mix could have three different results. The most common answer — and the easiest to reproduce with your own art supplies — is that mixing the two colors makes a dark pink shade — quite a bit dustier than the magenta that red and purple make.

A “shade” is defined in art as a darker version of a color that happens when black is added. This dark pink shade can look almost purple, maroon (what red and black make), or magenta, depending on your incoming pink — as shown below.

Second, mixing the two colors can yield a muddy brown color that’s only slightly pinkish (as shown in my above drawing in the middle left). Depending how much white is in your pink, you might get a light tan or khaki, too.

Finally, if the pink is light enough (with a whole lotsof white in it), the mix can produce a gray color — much like we get when mixing white and black together. Yes, there is a tinge of pink or brown in it if you look closely, but gray would be the overall “read.” This color could be useful for a cute bat drawing or two!

So, Pink and Black Make What Color?

I hope this lesson has been useful, as well as intriguing. Now you know that there are several possible answers to what happens when you mix pink and black together — and though the most common answer would be “dark pink,” you can also get purples (though not quite midnight purple), browns, or even grays.

What colors should I mix together next? Do share! Oh, and check out “Is Pink a Warm Color?”

Want more? Pop over to my articles on what pink and brown make, and the hardest shade of pink to spell: Fuchsia — or is is “Fushia?”