{"title":"How to Paint Shadows and Highlights in Acrylics With Color Theory","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/painting/how-to-paint-shadows-and-highlights","category":{"slug":"painting","name":"Painting"},"creator":{"name":"Saena Fine Art","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAyxqY6yZbckfE_ER-PFw2Q","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDQ8962ygqs"},"tldr":"How to paint shadows and highlights in acrylics without black and white. Use complementary, warm and analogous colors for brighter form.","quickAnswer":"How to paint shadows and highlights in acrylics without black and white. An easy project: about 45 minutes. You need 7 things, including acrylic paints, synthetic flat or round brushes and palette paper. The 9 steps start with paint Flat Base Circles to Practice Shadows and Highlights, mix Black and White Into the Red for a Basic Shadow and Highlight, shade the First Sphere With Black and White Acrylics and find the Complementary Color on the Color Wheel.","totalDurationSeconds":297,"videoDurationSeconds":297,"difficulty":"easy","project":{"difficulty":"easy","projectMinutes":45,"waitMinutes":null,"totalMinutes":45,"estimatedCost":null,"yield":null},"tools":["synthetic flat or round brushes","palette paper","color wheel","water cup","paper towels"],"materials":["acrylic paints (red, black, white, phthalo green, light magenta, brown, gold, yellow)","heavy paper or small canvas boards"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Paint Flat Base Circles to Practice Shadows and Highlights","text":"Start with a few circles on scrap paper or small cards, all in the same base color. Saena uses pyrrole red for every sphere. Using one base color means the only difference between them will be the shadow and highlight colors, so you can compare the results side by side. Two coats give a solid, even base. Let it dry before you shade."},{"number":2,"title":"Mix Black and White Into the Red for a Basic Shadow and Highlight","text":"For the first sphere, squeeze out black and white on your palette paper next to the red. Mix a little black into some red for the shadow, and a little white into red for the highlight. Saena mixes them into the base color rather than painting them straight on. That gives better control, and you can always add more black or white later."},{"number":3,"title":"Shade the First Sphere With Black and White Acrylics","text":"Paint the dark red mix around the lower right edge of the circle, following its curve. Blend it toward the middle. Then add the light mix to the upper left where the light hits. The ball looks round, and that is the point of comparison. Notice how the shadow looks a little grey and the highlight a little chalky."},{"number":4,"title":"Find the Complementary Color on the Color Wheel","text":"Look at a color wheel. Complementary colors sit directly across from each other: blue and orange, yellow and purple, red and green. When you mix a color with its complement, they cancel each other out a little. The mix gets darker and less saturated without turning grey the way black does. For a red sphere, the complement is green."},{"number":5,"title":"Mix a Complementary Shadow Color With Phthalo Green","text":"Pull a small amount of phthalo green blue shade into some red on your palette. It makes a much deeper, richer red. Saena chose the blue shade on purpose. Its blue undertone nudges the shadow slightly toward purple, which adds depth. Add the green slowly and test the mix until it is dark enough for the shadow side."},{"number":6,"title":"Paint a Pink Highlight on the Complementary Sphere","text":"Shade the second sphere with the green red mix on the lower right. For the highlight, Saena uses a ready made light magenta instead of red plus white. It is made from a different red, so it adds an extra layer of color to the lit side. Blend it into the upper left in soft, curved strokes."},{"number":7,"title":"Mix Warm Orange Shadows and Yellow Highlights","text":"Split the color wheel in half and you get warm colors (reds, oranges, yellows) and cool colors (greens, blues, purples). For a warm scheme, Saena mixes Van Dyke brown with a little quinacridone nickel azo gold for an orange brown shadow. Hansa yellow medium is the highlight. A red mixed into yellow makes a red orange in between color."},{"number":8,"title":"Paint the Warm Sphere From Shadow to Highlight","text":"Lay the brown orange shadow around the lower edge of the third sphere. Blend the red orange into the middle, then brush the yellow highlight onto the upper left. The same red ball now glows like it sits in sunlight. Warm schemes feel lively and energetic. A cool scheme with blues and purples would feel calm and quiet instead."},{"number":9,"title":"Shade a Sphere With an Analogous Color Scheme","text":"Analogous colors sit next to each other on the wheel. For this green sphere, Saena uses a dark green for the shadow, a mid green for the body and yellow for the highlight. The shading stays smooth and harmonious. Line all your spheres up when they are dry. They started out the same and now look completely different."}],"commonProblems":[],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-10-24T14:17:15.183Z","published":"2026-10-24T14:17:14.965Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit Show Me Step by Step with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure. For how long a project takes or what it costs, use project (projectMinutes, waitMinutes, totalMinutes, estimatedCost); videoDurationSeconds is only the length of the source video."}