Making A Color Chart

Written By David Steward

When I first began to paint I picked up a beginner acrylic set from a local department store. This set included tubes of red, yellow, blue, and green, along with white, and black. I took that set to my first painting class. In the weeks that followed I picked up other tubes of paint. Each time I went to the local craft store I looked for another color that I thought would help me with what I was painting. So in short order, my original 6 colors multiplied to about 30. Needless to say, I was struggling to mix colors, my attempts at color mixing were haphazard at best.

I came across an acrylic artist, Ashley Krieger, and her YouTube channel Creatful Art. Ashley had posted a color mixing video where she guides you through her process to create a color chart. Using 20 of my colors on hand I created my first color chart.

This first chart was very helpful when I had a reference picture to match. I could get in the ball park for most items I was trying to paint. Still, there was more to learn and practice.

Over time there have been three things which have helped me improve color mixing skills and stopped the madness of continuing to buy more and more colors. The first was taking a beginner acrylic class. This course taught the basics of acrylic paints, basic types of brushes and how to use them, and lots of techniques to get used to color mixing, blending, shading, etc. One of my favorite exercises was painting an apple.

The second area has been diving into color mixing resources from the site Draw and Paint for Fun. Artist Chris Brier, has an acrylic color mixing chart your can download or, like I did, choose to recreate it on your own. I placed this in my acrylic painting notebook along with color swatches of my paints. This has been a very good resource to quickly identify a starting point to mix colors. Chris also has a number of good color mixing videos on YouTube.

Finally, and maybe most important, has been practicing. The various painting courses I have been taking all center around a main piece you are working on in class along with homework. These assignments have ranged from still life’s, to seascapes, to portraits. So over the course of a 10 week class I will create 10 or so paintings. This challenges my creativity, my painting process, and my color mixing skills.

I continue on the journey to simplify my color palette and get more efficient mixing colors. Today my color palette consists of the following Liquitex Basics colors:

  • Cadmium Yellow Light

  • Cadmium Yellow Medium

  • Cadmium Orange

  • Cadmium Red Medium

  • Alazarin Crimson Permanent

  • Quinacridone Magenta

  • Diaxozine Purple

  • Ultramarine Blue

  • Phthalo Blue

  • Cerulean Blue

  • Phthalo Green

  • Light Green Permanent

  • Yellow Ochre

  • Burnt Sienna

  • Burnt Umber

  • Titanium White

  • Payne’s Gray

  • Mars Black

I also have these neutral colors to use when needed:

  • Unbleached Titanium

  • Raw Umber

  • Raw Sienna

  • Prussian Blue (Liquitex Heavy Body acrylic)

This past weekend I took on the task to create a new color chart using the 18 colors I use most often. Just another step in my journey to improve color mixing skills.

David Steward
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My First Painting