Painting students often ask about the differences between Titanium White and Flake White. Its common knowledge that Flake white has less tinting strength than Titanum, and that it can be a but more resistant to pressure, or “stiffer” than titanuium. Lead based flake white,  the template for the more available and safer Flake white Hue, is less viscous and more “ropey”than any other white…but it’s lead content make it an unappealing choice for most of us.

Flake white essentially tints a color it is mixed with, makes it a  less intense chroma without changing the value very much.
Titanium white acts stronlgy on a color’s value, flake works more on a color’s vibrance or chroma and has less effect on the value. Together these two paints can make a powerfull tool.

I made this chart to illustrate the difference in tinting power and how Titamnium and Flake white interact when mixed with a color. As you move down the chart, the mixtures have progressivly more of the white added to Cerulean Blue. If you look carefully you can see that there are a lot of interesting, subtle ways to use these two whites to solve a myriad of painting problems, especially if you look at the shift in color temperature indicated by the arrrows in the middle of the chart. Check it out, look carefully and I think you will see some interesting things happening. All colors are Windsor Newton.