How to Make Teal – Guide with all Mixing Recipes

Teal is a beautiful and calming color, halfway between blue and green. While you can easily go out to the art supply shop and purchase a tube of teal paint, there is a great deal of satisfaction that can come from learning how to make teal paint yourself. As with all colors on the spectrum, there are many unique and interesting shades of teal that you cannot necessarily buy pre-made. In this quick and inspiring guide, we show you what colors make teal, and how to create some of the most wonderful shades of teal to use in your designs.

What Two Colors Make Teal?

Teal can be mixed with a combination of blue and green. In the same way that there is a wide array of different shades of teal, there are many different shades of green and blue that you can use. The particular blue and green shades that you choose to use when learning how to make teal paint will directly affect your final color.

How to Mix Different Shades of Teal Color

We have curated the most popular shades of teal and give you the mixing recipes on how to mix these color shades with paint pigments:

Dark Teal

• 2 parts Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
• 1 part Phthalo Green (Blue Shade)
• A touch of Ivory Black or Burnt Umber

Deep Teal

• 2 parts Ultramarine Blue
• 1 part Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade)
• A touch of Mars Black

Crystal Teal

• 2 parts Cerulean Blue
• 1 part Viridian Green
• A bit of Titanium White to add a crystalline brightness

Teal Blue

• 2 parts Cobalt Blue
• 1 part Phthalo Green (Blue Shade)

Tropical Teal

• 1 part Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
• 1 part Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade)
• A touch of Cadmium Yellow Light

Traditional Teal

• 1 part Prussian Blue
• 1 part Hooker’s Green

Egyptian Teal

• 2 parts Phthalo Blue (Red Shade)
• 1 part Phthalo Green (Yellow Shade)
• A small touch of Quinacridone Magenta for a hint of historical depth

Common Teal

• 1 part Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
• 1 part Permanent Green Light

Aquamarine Light Teal Color

• 2 parts Cobalt Teal Blue
• 1 part Phthalo Green (Blue Shade)
• A generous portion of Titanium White

Bright Teal

• 1 part Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
• 1 part Green Gold
• A touch of Hansa Yellow Light

Dull Teal

• 1 part Ultramarine Blue
• 1 part Sap Green
• A small touch of Raw Umber or Burnt Sienna to mute the vibrancy

Pale Teal

• 1 part Cerulean Blue
• 1 part Viridian Green
• A larger portion of Titanium White for paleness

Tea Green Teal

• 2 parts Phthalo Blue (Green Shade)
• 1 part Yellow Ochre
• A touch of Titanium White

What Colors Make Teal Muted?

When it comes to muting any color, the best method is to add a touch of color from the opposite end of the color spectrum. As such, because teal is a cool color, you can mute it slightly by adding a touch of a warm shade like red or orange.

If you want a more subtle mute and a brightening effect, try adding a little warm yellow, like cadmium yellow to your mix. For a darker muted teal hue, add a touch of dark red like burnt umber.

What Colors Make Teal Lighter and Brighter?

When it comes to making your teal shade lighter and brighter, you have two basic options. The first is to use a touch of white paint, and the second is to add a little yellow. Each method has its advantages and disadvantages, and the one you choose will depend on the final teal color you desire.

Adding white to your teal mixture is a great way to lighten it and make it a little softer. Adding white does not change the tone of your teal hue which is great if you are happy with the shade. One thing to watch out for when adding white is that it can dull the brightness of your shade a little.

If you do not want to dull the brightness of your teal, yellow is a great color to add.

Adding yellow has the opposite effect to adding white. It will change the tone of your teal, making it lean a little more towards green. Adding yellow will not, however, dull the brightness of your teal, instead, it will make it sing a little more.

When it comes to adding a touch of yellow to any shade of teal, it is important to use a cool and bright shade, like lemon yellow. A warm yellow will mute your teal because it contains a touch of red.

What Colors Make Teal Darker?

In the same way that there are a couple of ways to make light teal colors, there are a few different methods that you can use to make a darker teal shade. The first two ways involve using darker blue or green hues in your primary mix. These methods are fantastic if you do not want to dull the tones of your shades of teal. The third method that you can use is to add just a touch of black to your teal shade.

Always remember to be very careful when adding black to your mix, as it can quickly become overwhelming.

What Color Is Teal?

Teal is a beautiful cool shade of blue-green color. Soaring in popularity in the 1990s, this calming shade can be seen in a wide range of different products and sports apparel. For example, the jersey of the San Jose Sharks was created in this stunning shade and the default background of the Windows 95 desktop also features this color.

Although not particularly common in everyday fashion items, many formal dresses come in various shades of teal.

As a color on the cooler side of the spectrum, teal is a relaxing and calming color. Like many other colors that are a part of the cyan color group, the close relation to bright calming seas and the cool sky give teal these properties.

The similarities between teal and other cool shades like turquoise, lend it the connotations of open communication, stress release, and emotional stability. Teal sits between blue, yellow, and green, and possesses the qualities of all three of these shades.

Combine the cool calmness of blue, with the balance and freshness of green, and the bright happiness of yellow, and you have a gorgeous light teal shade.

How to Make Teal Pop with Complementary Colors

Although shades of teal are typically beautiful and impactful on their own, pairing them with their complements is a wonderful way to make them sing in a different octave. So, what two colors make teal pop? Depending on the shade of your teal, it can be heightened with a touch of coral or burnt umber.

As you know, complementary colors are those that sit across from each other. As teal is a combination of blue and green, its complements will sit somewhere between red and orange. White is also a fantastic shade to emphasize the brightness of different shades of teal.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Two Colors Make Teal?

To make a basic teal shade, you simply need an equal 50/50 combination of blue and green. For a more complex shade, you can brighten your teal by adding white or yellow or darken it with a touch of black.

How Do You Lighten Shades of Teal?

There are two primary methods that you can use to lighten shades of teal. The first is to add a touch of white to your teal color, and this will dull the brightness slightly. If you want to retain, or even amp up the brightness of your teal color, you can add a little cool yellow.

Charlene Lewis( Content Creator and Creativity Writer )

In 2005, Charlene completed her Wellness Diplomas in Therapeutic Aromatherapy and Reflexology from the International School of Reflexology and Meridian Therapy. She worked for a company offering corporate wellness programs for a couple of years, before opening up her own therapy practice. It was in 2015 that a friend, who was a digital marketer, asked her to join her company as a content creator, and this is where she found her excitement for writing.

Since joining the content writing world, she has gained a lot of experience over the years writing on a diverse selection of topics, from beauty, health, wellness, travel, and more. Due to various circumstances, she had to close her therapy practice and is now a full-time freelance writer. Being a creative person, she could not pass up the opportunity to contribute to the Art in Context team, where is was in her element, writing about a variety of art and craft topics. Contributing articles for over three years now, her knowledge in this area has grown, and she has gotten to explore her creativity and improve her research and writing skills.

Charlene Lewis has been working for artincontext.org since the relaunch in 2020. She is an experienced writer and mainly focuses on the topics of color theory, painting and drawing.

Learn more about Charlene Lewis and the Art in Context Team.