* Hey guys, it's Rae here and welcome back to another episode of "Trying Out Paint Colors that Have Been Lost to History."
So as you guys know, throughout history
there was all kinds of like, crazy and kooky ways that people made paint.
Like for example, part 1 on this video, people used crushed up mummies and poison and in today's video, cow urine.
*Cow mooing*
And obviously in modern day, you know, we have synthetic pigments,
we don't have to use pee anymore.
And it kind of sucks because these once super sought-after colors, they don't really exist anymore. Or if they do exist,
they're illegal to find, they're hard to find, dangerous to find, and you just can't get ahold of them.
*Whispers* Until today!
Because, ladies and gentlemen,
I have found an artist who studies all of these rare colors that you absolutely cannot find anymore, and with synthetic pigments
he recreates these super rare paints that I bought. And just as a bonus for you guys,
I'm also gonna go through my private
collection of paints that I have and I'm gonna swatch them next to these rare colors.
That way you guys can see the difference between like, the modern synthetic colors vs like, these old-school replica colors.
But before we get into it, of course, if you would like to see my artwork
I will leave my art Instagram here as well as my TikTok where I have art tutorials and art tips. So...
With that being said guys, let's just get into it.
Ahhhhh!
Here it is, I am so so so excited to be working with this today!
Oh my gosh.
Now, I just wanna say on behalf of Ryan the artist who makes these, whatever you order,
usually the package isn't all beat up like this one. That entirely is my fault.
Not today, Satan. Not today.
I'm so excited so let's just get right into it. So our very first color that we're gonna test out is -
Ooh! "New" vermillion.
Vermillion is such a beautiful color. It's a color you don't really see anymore.
Now, what made this paint so sought-after in ancient times was that vermillion was made from cinnabar. And
cinnabar, if you don't know, contains highly toxic amounts of mercury.
And it's recorded that the miners who would mine this would only live about an average of three years because it was so toxic to get.
You'll see this used a lot during ancient China, so like, pretty much like the Mulan era, you know how there's all kinds of red?
Yep. Cinnabar.
Highly toxic mercury.
All right, so let's see what color vermilion originally was.
All right. So I'm just gonna swatch right there.
Oh, this is thick! Thicker than a Snicker!
So right off the bat,
it's a very vibrant red. It's almost, dare I say, orange.
Let's thin it out a little bit and see how red it is.
Oh she is thick, like, super thick! Oh my gosh.
This is like, the truest red I have ever seen in my life. If I could describe it,
it's kind of like cad red, except somehow redder than red.
Usually oil paint goes from like, really dark to really light but this is just like, through and through, a perfect red all the way.
Wow!
All right, so the first one is cad red oil paint, and cad red is like, a very similar color to vermilion.
If I can get it out...
Ugh! Ee! Ugh! Heh!
Get out!
Okay. All right. Let's see.
*Music*
It's very similar, but it's not as...
red. This red is not red enough. It's, it's orange-red.
I would rate this maybe an 8 out of 10 for like, the duping scale.
Next up I have scarlet oil paint.
Uh yeah, scarlet is not even close to it. it's kind of like a blue red.
It doesn't have like, that natural earthy tone to it, you know? 4 out of 10.
Next up we'll have cad red acrylic paint.
This cad red is much more like, synthetic color. It's deeper, it's darker. I'm gonna rate that 3 out of 10.
Aw, my nail chipped.
*Mario losing music*
The next one is - oh, it's a throuple!
The next contestant is Indian yellow.
So, Indian yellow. What can I say about Indian yellow?
I would say that Indian yellow is probably worse than Mummy brown from last video. What's worse than using crushed up dead mummies?
If I can get this open, I can tell you.
Indian yellow was originally made by feeding a certain cow a diet only of water and
mango leaves. They would pee onto sand, you would get the clumps of wet sand and powder that into
Indian yellow. And basically it was a very cruel practice, a lot of cows died from starvation for this,
it was insanely hard to get and you can definitely see why we don't use it anymore.
So, let's see what cow urine yellow used to look like.
Oh wow!
This is like, the perfect mustard natural color. It's so incredibly beautiful. Oh my god!
Let me try thinning it out and we'll see how bright it can get, because damn!
That is beautiful. I'm not usually a fan of yellows,
but oh my god! I have never seen an oil paint go from like, an earthy natural color all the way down
into like, a vibrant, neon-ass yellow. That is amazing.
So first up is probably the most common yellow that you see when it comes to oil paints and that's yellow ochre.
They're very similar, it's just this one's a little bit more plain and washed out compared to this one. 8 out of 10.
All right, cad yellow. Let's see what you got, baby.
Cad yellow, beautiful color, but I would say no way. Too vibrant, too bright. Let's see true permanent yellow.
That is so weird! Like, the top color's this color and the bottom color's this color. It's like two colors in one.
Whoa! I feel really bad for the cows,
but I could see, like, a thousand years ago not having yellow, I could see why they would do that.
Let's see what's next.
Next up appears to be the blue which is la piece...
puzzle?
Lapis lazuri - lazul - lazuli!
Lapis lazuli.
Now lapis lazuli is actually, you can actually buy it. Out of all of these, you can actually still buy this one.
But it's gonna cost you because this color comes from a precious stone that is mined in
Afghanistan. You see this color a lot in ancient history when it comes to like, China, pottery, clothes,
and of course painting. Now for this one, we have like, no choice but to thin it out to see the true color
so, let's see.
*Whistles*
Oh my god, this is like my ideal blue. When I think of like, the prettiest blue to ever exist, this is it. Oh my gosh!
This kind of looks like watercolor except it's not, it's oil paints.
I don't think the camera is gonna be able to pick up just how rich this color is,
so I'm gonna try to insert a color corrected picture. THIS, this is what would be royal. Like, this rich deep blue that like, screams
SOPHISTICATION!
Beautiful. Oh my god!
Alright, so let's check out the dupes and maybe, just maybe we'll be able to get something as rich as this. First up,
ultramarine blue.
Ooh, kinda!
Eh. You can tell this color is, like, it's a beautiful color,
but you can tell it's like, made in a lab. 7 out of 10.
Ultra blue.
Yeah, no way, that's even more synthetic color.
Phthalo blue, spelled PH.
Oh yeah, no way. That's way too blue. 3 out of 10.
Lastly, we have thalo blue, spelt TH.
That's way too much. Oh my god. I just like, wasted half of that tube. Dang it!
Aw, this is such a pretty color. It's like Lisa Frank blue.
So pretty! Oh my gosh, but again, it looks like it was created in a lab.
It doesn't look like, as rich and royal as this one so 3 out of 10. Okay, and lastly, I am
ecstatic for this color, like honestly, I was gonna make a video JUST on this color alone.
Now this color again, is a replica because I believe it might be illegal to
buy the real thing and I'll show you guys right now what it is.
Now this color, my friend, is called Vantana black.
It's actually VANTA black,
vanta black, but for some reason I kept saying Vantana. It's vanta.
Now this color is one of the most sought-after black colors in the world.
Unlike other black colors, this absorbs
99.6%
of all light, making it one of the darkest, most black colors in existence.
When you look at pictures of it,
it looks like Photoshop,
it looks like somebody just cut out a piece of a photograph. Like, it doesn't even look real! Now,
his version is called V Black. Again, you
normal people don't even have access to the real one and I am so excited to see what he cooked up to be like the replica of it.
Alright, so just put some down. Let's see how dark this color is.
Oh, she's very dark. This is so cool. It almost looks like India ink, like, that's how dark it is. That is so cool!
Let me try to thin it out and we'll see how light it gets.
Oh wow! Oh my god, that is weird. It doesn't light hardly at all.
There. That is the lightest I can get it. Wow.
This color pops off. Oh my god! Alright, so starting off with the dupes,
we are going in with Ivory black, and Ivory black is kind of like, a washed-out gray color.
Now, I know on camera they look almost identical but I can tell that this one is much more yellow and lighter than this one,
so that's, that's kind of interesting. I'm giving it 8 out of 10.
Next up we have Mars black, which I don't think I've ever used -
ooh, very pretty!
Oh, yeah, that's very very similar. But it's a lot more thinned out. It's a very good dupe,
it just reflects way more black than the V black. Very interesting.
And lastly - if I can open it!
Ah, I ripped my glove!
India ink, the blackest, darkest matte black I personally know of. Now, I'm just gonna go straight in the India ink.
Oh my god, is India ink darker? I don't know,
we'll see when it dries but I think that might be a little bit darker! Wow, that is so crazy,
so basically his version of the V black is literally like India ink except in the form of oil paint.
Wow, that is mind-blowing. Wow!
Honestly, he did a good job making this. Good for him.
*Music*
Now onto the painting. Now, something I really want you guys to know is that these colors, they're gorgeous,
they're beautiful
and whenever I do realistic work, you know,
there's a lot of toning down and muting and I just could NOT,
absolutely could not do that to these beautiful colors.
Like, I want them to shine through in all their potential. So I'm not gonna lie, today's artwork, it's pretty weird.
I took a very fauvistic approach to the artwork,
I really focused on color opposites, because I feel there is no other art style that even comes close to displaying colors
like fauvism.
*Music*
And here is the final piece. I am OBSESSED with these colors. Every individual stroke has a piece of life to it,
it's so vibrant and
even when you compare it to just like, my hand, you can see how vibrant it is compared to life.
It is insane. I am so sad these colors have been lost to time, they are
incredible, but if you want to buy some for yourself,
I will link Ryan's eBay down below so you can purchase them, as well as part one to this video,
so anyway guys, thank you so much again for watching. Don't forget to hit the subscribe button,
I will see you guys next video and please stay safe. Bye.
*End music*