Question 1

How do I mix a clean green without it going muddy?

Accepted Answer

Use a yellow and a blue that both lean toward green, and keep red out of the mix. A bright, cool result comes from a green-shade yellow (like Hansa Yellow Light) plus a green-shade blue (like Phthalo Blue). Start at roughly 3 parts yellow to 1 part blue, then nudge blue in a little at a time. Green turns muddy when the blue carries red in it (like Ultramarine), because yellow plus blue plus red is the recipe for grey. If you only own a warm yellow and a warm blue, add a touch of white to lift the chroma back up.

Question 2

Why do my mixed colours turn muddy?

Accepted Answer

Muddiness means you have unintentionally mixed all three primaries, which moves the colour toward grey. Most muddy mixes happen because one of your two tubes secretly leans toward the third primary. Cadmium Red leans orange, Ultramarine leans purple, and many yellows lean warm. The fix is to pick tubes by their bias, not just their name, and to mix with two pigments where you can. A colour with two pigments stays cleaner than the same colour built from four.

Question 3

What three paint tubes can mix the most colours?

Accepted Answer

If you are limited to three tubes, choose a magenta, a cyan-leaning blue, and a mid yellow. Magenta plus yellow gives clean oranges and reds. Cyan plus yellow gives clean greens. Magenta plus cyan gives clean violets. A true red, true blue, true yellow set looks intuitive but mixes dull secondaries, which is why printers use magenta and cyan instead.

Question 4

How do I match a specific paint colour using tubes I already own?

Accepted Answer

Tell Chromilla which tubes you have, then point it at the target colour, and it returns the ratio that uses only those tubes. Chromilla reads a target three ways: your camera, an uploaded photo, or a pasted hex code. It then searches the pigment data for the closest mix your selected brand and tubes can actually reach. You get the tube list, the part-by-part ratio, and a swatch showing how the mix will look once it dries. You are never told to buy a tube you did not select.

Question 5

Can I match a colour from a photo or a hex code?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Chromilla accepts a live camera sample, an uploaded image, or a hex value like #3A7D44. For a photo, you tap the exact pixel you want to match, which avoids guessing from a whole image. For a hex code, paste it straight in, which is useful for matching a brand colour or a digital reference. The output is the same in every case: tubes, ratio, and a dried-down swatch.

Question 6

How do I darken a colour without using black?

Accepted Answer

Darken with the complement of the colour, or with a dark transparent pigment, instead of reaching for black. Black dulls chroma and often shifts the hue toward grey-green. To deepen a red, add a little of its complement (a green) or a touch of dark blue. To deepen a yellow, add a small amount of violet or raw umber rather than black. This keeps the shadow colour alive instead of flat.

Question 7

Why does my mixed colour look different once it dries?

Accepted Answer

Most paints shift in value and chroma as they dry, which is called drydown. Acrylics commonly dry slightly darker than they look when wet. Some watercolours dry lighter and lose a little saturation. This is why a mix that looked perfect on the palette can miss the target on the surface. Chromilla shows a dried-down swatch with the recipe, so you mix to where the colour lands, not where it starts.

Question 8

How accurate are the mixing ratios?

Accepted Answer

The ratios are calculated from measured pigment data per brand, not from generic colour theory. Each recipe targets the smallest visible difference between your mix and the target, measured as Delta E. A small Delta E means most eyes would call it a match. Chromilla is honest when a target sits outside what your selected tubes can physically reach, instead of pretending every colour is mixable. If you are close but not exact, Mix Correction compares your wet swatch to the target and tells you the exact drop to add.

Question 9

Does Chromilla work with my paint brand?

Accepted Answer

Chromilla uses brand-specific catalogs built from verified pigment data, so the ratios match the tubes you actually own. You select your brand, then your tubes, and recipes are generated against that exact set. It supports acrylic, oil, and watercolour, with mixing tips tuned to how each medium behaves. If your brand is not listed yet, the closest verified catalog still gives a workable starting ratio.

Question 10

What is Chromilla?

Accepted Answer

Chromilla is a web app that matches any colour to an exact paint-tube recipe. You give it a target colour from your camera, a photo, or a hex code, and it returns the tubes and ratios to mix it. It is built for painters who want to spend time painting, not guessing at the palette. The tagline is "Mix any colour. Honest about paint," because it tells you when a colour cannot be reached as readily as when it can. No colour theory knowledge is required to use it.

Question 11

Do I need to know colour theory to use Chromilla?

Accepted Answer

No. Chromilla does the colour theory for you and hands back a plain recipe. You pick a colour, it gives you tubes and parts, you mix. The contextual tips explain the why if you want to learn, but you can ignore them and still get the mix. This makes it useful for a first-week beginner and a working professional alike.

Question 12

How do I fix a colour that is close but slightly off?

Accepted Answer

Use Mix Correction: lay a small wet swatch next to the target and let Chromilla compare them. It reads the gap between your swatch and the target. Then it tells you the exact tube and amount to add to close the gap. This turns nearly right into right without starting the mix over. It is the difference between guessing a correction and measuring one.

Paint mixing FAQ

How do I mix a clean green without it going muddy?

How do I mix a clean green without it going muddy?

Why do my mixed colours turn muddy?

Why do my mixed colours turn muddy?

What three paint tubes can mix the most colours?

What three paint tubes can mix the most colours?

How do I match a specific paint colour using tubes I already own?

How do I match a specific paint colour using tubes I already own?

Can I match a colour from a photo or a hex code?

Can I match a colour from a photo or a hex code?

How do I darken a colour without using black?

How do I darken a colour without using black?

Why does my mixed colour look different once it dries?

Why does my mixed colour look different once it dries?

How accurate are the mixing ratios?

How accurate are the mixing ratios?

Does Chromilla work with my paint brand?

Does Chromilla work with my paint brand?

What is Chromilla?

What is Chromilla?

Do I need to know colour theory to use Chromilla?

Do I need to know colour theory to use Chromilla?

How do I fix a colour that is close but slightly off?

How do I fix a colour that is close but slightly off?