MIXORA CONCEPT
Mass tone
The appearance of a paint in a relatively thick, concentrated or opaque application.
Mass tone shows the dense face of a color, while undertone shows its direction when the film becomes thinner or lighter. Both observations are useful because mixtures may expose behavior that a thick swatch conceals.
What “Strong evidence” means
The core definition or effect is well established across authoritative standards, foundational research or a broad research literature. The label does not make every practical prediction certain.
VISUAL EXPLANATION · MARKER BOARDA nearly black mass tone may reveal a blue-violet undertone when scraped across white.
Mass tone describes a viewing condition, not a separate pigment or permanent property independent of thickness.
Am I judging the dense paint, its thin edge or its mixture with white?
The color character a paint reveals when spread thinly, diluted or mixed with a light color.
→colorOpacityHow strongly a paint film hides the surface or color beneath it.
→colorPigmentA material that changes reflected or transmitted light through selective absorption and scattering.
→colorTint strengthHow strongly a color influences a mixture, often judged by how much it changes white or another standard paint.
→SOURCES & TRUST
References
Last reviewed
- 01Modern Color Mixing GuideGeneral reference
GOLDEN Artist Colors · GOLDEN Artist Colors
Practical artist-paint reference showing mass tone, undertone and mixing behavior.
What the source labels mean
- Primary source
- Original work, experiment, standard or historical text.
- Academic source
- Scholarly research or review published for an academic audience.
- Reference source
- An expert standard, encyclopedia or institutional explanation that summarizes a field.
- General reference
- A practical specialist resource useful for application, but not treated as decisive research by itself.