The Red Hue Group sits at the top center of the color wheel. It is home to Primary Red and the blue-leaning Crimson.
Primary Red sits at the top of every WCS chart and diagram, and is home to Primary Red and Blue leaning Reds labeled Crimson.
R1 is named Crimson after the classic painter’s Blue leaning Red color: Alizarin Crimson. Any warmer Orange leaning Reds past Primary Red, are in their own group, the RY1 Red-Orange tertiary mixing group.
The R2 Primary Red group is a bold, bright, exciting, sensual group of colors, that stands out loud in any composition.
R2 gives a pure heat, or fiery warm feeling, and is happy and exciting to look at. It can also be muddied up to the color of blood and gore, where it quickly becomes intense and sinister.
In contrast, the R1 Crimson group has a deeper, cooler feeling from the added Blue.
These colors come across as sexier, bolder, more sensual, and are more likely to envoke an enticing or desirable feeling, vs the pure joyful bursting energy of Primary Red by itself.
Deepened and darkened further, R1 can also get an evil, hot, devious and devilish vibe to it that can really draw in the viewer.
Raw gives us a range of Reds to meet all those moods right out of the bottle. When mixed together they can be crafted into each of these moody areas of the color wheel with a little practice.
R14 Cherry Bomb
Primary Red is a vivid color, so having a nice muted light valued Red, is a huge asset to any palette: Cherry Bomb. It’s been slightly muted and lightened, but both are done with care so that Cherry Bomb stands out as a R Hue Group light red MVP. It can lighten and tone down any color in the R Hue Group, while keeping each base color’s unique character intact, without going to far.
R16 Merlot
Merlot is a full intensity color thats just a bit lighter and more intense. It has a little more Blue added which keeps it fairly deep, while still keeping the intensity high making it a powerful mixing color. great for pulling the RV Hue Group a bit towards Red, or R2 towards Blue, while also increasing intensity and emphasizing Red and Blue leans in these mixes.
R17 Red Wine
Red Wine is a bit lighter and less desaturated than Brick Red, and is my go-to for this mixing group when I need Cool Red for creating dark values. Originally we thought Red Wine was at full intensity but it actually has a bit of a clean-dirty character. Its similar to Merlot but a little darker with a hint of muting, making it great for shadows.
R18 Brick Red
Brick Red(8) is cleanly but heavily desaturated Red, that is a color true to its namesake. It’s a great cool, earthy & rich, Red color that can give a deep & moody Blue vibe to any color in the whole Red Hue Group. Add bit of the very deep Plum from R2 and you have a cooler Red color that will share Plum’s depth and contrast.
R24 Light Red
Light Red is considered the “Primary Red” of the Raw Premium Pigments color line and that makes it one of the most versatile colors in the set. It can be used to pull any color towards Red, and also pull any color towards a middle value, at the same time.
R25 Chevelle
Chevelle is a deeper, cardinal, muscle car, hot, sexy, take on Red that’s been deepened just enough to give it some bold flashy character. It’s a bit deeper than Primary Red but still very high in intensity. Chevelle can spice up Light Red a little, and likewise, Light Red can tone down Chevelle a little.
R28 Blood
Blood is a cleanly desaturated yet quite muddied up Primary Red. Chevelle and Blood may have a hint of blue, but it’s not enough to make it read as very Blue leaning cool Red. Blood is great for tattooing it’s namesake, and is also great for deepening other colors like Light Red and Chevelle so they can be used as shadows.
R29 Plum
Plum is a favorite dark Red due to its Black undertone. If you are looking for a very deep Red that can give a tattoo a lot of depth without adding in black, Plum is your answer. It goes out anytime Red is in play and that deep contrast is desired.
These 8 colors from Raw Premium Pigments allow us to get a killer color range out of the Red section of the color wheel.
For mixing WCS shadow values (4-Dark & 5-Mixed-Black), use complementary colors across the wheel in the G1 (Secondary) mixing group.
Forest is a great choice for mixing deep to medium, cleanly desaturated neutral shadows.
Slip in some OG Green from G2 (Emerald) if going even deeper, or wanting a cooler shadow vibe.