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Pigments fall into two basic categories: organic and inorganic.
Organic Pigments
Organic pigments contain carbon. They tend to be transparent, light in weight and high in tinting strength-- especially those made synthetically. Inorganic pigments are mostly metallic compounds from metals. They tend to be opaque, heavy in weight and dense. Pigments with names like cobalt, zinc, iron, etc. are easily recognizable as inorganic.
Natural Inorganic Pigments
These are the natural earth colors (ochres, umbers, siennas), mined directly from the earth. Their color comes from the presence of iron oxides and hydroxides in the soil, along with varying amounts of clay, chalk and silica. When earth colors are calcined (roasted), their usual color becomes warmer and deeper, (e.g. calcined raw umber = burnt umber).
Synthetic Inorganic Pigments
These pigments are inorganic substances produced in the laboratory and are mostly metallic compounds (e.g. cobalt blue, manganese violet). There are also synthetic replications, like Mars Red and Yellow, of the natural earth colors. These factory equivalents contain fewer impurities and are smaller in particle size than their natural earth counterparts. Natural Organic Pigments. These are pigments of vegetable or animal origin, such as madder lake and ivory, bone or vine black, the last three of which are charcoals derived from the sources in their names.
Synthetic Organic Pigments
The list of synthetic pigments containing carbon (e.g. phthalocyanine blue, quinacridone red) continues to expand with the growth of organic chemistry. As a class, these pigments tend to be transparent, light in weight and high in tinting strength.
