Method One: How to Make Gray With Black and White
This first method is probably the easiest and most common way to create a shade of gray. If you want to know what two colors make gray, the answer is black and white. You simply need to combine equal parts of black and white paint, to create a lovely neutral shade of gray.
The 1:1 ratio of black and white is only the beginning of this method. You can alter the darkness of your gray by adding more or less black to your white paint.
If you are uncertain of how dark you want your gray paint to be, it is best to begin with your white paint and add small drops of black incrementally. As they always say, it is much easier to add more black than to take it away. Black is the stronger of the two colors, and you only need a touch of black to darken your gray significantly, but a lot of white to lighten it by a small amount.
Downsides to Using This Method
The gray you get from this method is very neutral, as it is neither cool nor warm. This may be ideal for some purposes, but overall this is not the most-loved method for making gray shades. Many artists prefer to use the other methods to create richer grays with different color biases, rather than using this rather flat and lifeless gray.
Another downside of using this method is that you are typically limited to the black or white you have in your palette, again reducing the variety of gray shades that you can make. Finally, many shop-bought black shades have base colors like green which can begin to show through when mixed with white. As a result, you have little control over the final gray shade when using this method.