Guides
Mixing guides
Notes on colour mixing for oil painters, backed by the same pigment physics the app runs. Each one exists because the problem came up at my own easel.
The Zorn palette argument is a gamut argument. Here is the gamut.
Portrait painters and landscape painters have argued about these four tubes for a century. A computed map of what the tubes can mix settles most of the argument.
4‑minute readHow to mix sage green in oils (and why yours keeps going minty)
Sage is closer to a grey than to any green in a tube. Thinking of it that way explains why it so often comes out minty or dead, and how to fix it.
4‑minute readMixing order: why the phthalo goes in last, a speck at a time
Most painters have turned a small pile of phthalo blue into a tennis ball of paint while trying to lighten it. The problem is the order the paints went in, and the fix costs nothing.
5‑minute readHow to mix skin tones in oils: recipes for light, medium and deep skin
Skin tones are all low-chroma oranges at different values. Getting the value and the dullness right matters far more than finding a particular red or yellow.
3‑minute readWhich limited palette should a beginner start with? Four common ones, compared
Every limited palette trades tubes for reach. Here are four common ones with the share of the wheel each can mix, and a recommendation depending on what you want to paint.
6‑minute readWhat colours make brown? Every route, with the proportions
Brown is a dark, dull orange. Once you see it that way, every pair of colours people recommend for making it turns out to be the same recipe.
3‑minute readWhat two colours make black? Six pairs, measured
No two paints make a true black, but several pairs come close. Here is how close each one gets, and what colour it turns when you add white.
3‑minute readWhat colours make teal, and why some palettes never get there
Blue and green make teal, but only if the blue already leans towards green. Most beginner palettes only have ultramarine, which leans the other way.
2‑minute readTitanium white vs zinc white: what actually changes in your mixes
Titanium white is about twice as strong as zinc white. Here is what that does to your tints, side by side, and when each white is the better choice.
2‑minute readUltramarine vs phthalo blue: strength, temperature, and what each mixes
Phthalo blue is about twice as strong as ultramarine and leans green where ultramarine leans violet. Here is what that means for the greens, violets and tints you mix from each.
The maps behind the guides
Or skip the reading
Load the tubes you own and the app draws your palette’s range for you.
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