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 gray. 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 colors turn muddy?

Accepted Answer

Muddiness means you have unintentionally mixed all three primaries, which moves the color toward gray. 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 color with two pigments stays cleaner than the same color built from four.

Question 3

What three paint tubes can mix the most colors?

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 color using tubes I already own?

Accepted Answer

Tell Chromilla which tubes you have, then point it at the target color, 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 color 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 color 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 color without using black?

Accepted Answer

Darken with the complement of the color, or with a dark transparent pigment, instead of reaching for black. Black dulls chroma and often shifts the hue toward gray-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 color alive instead of flat.

Question 7

Why does my mixed color 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 watercolors 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 color 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 color 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 color 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 watercolor, 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-based paint color mixer that turns any color, from a photo, the camera or a hex code, into exact paint-tube ratios for acrylic, oil and watercolor, using Kubelka-Munk pigment mixing and aiming at the color after it dries. Around it sit tools for planning a painting from a photo, building and calibrating your palette, daily mixing practice, and running classes. It is built for painters who want to spend time painting, not guessing at the palette. The tagline is "Color for painters. Honest about paint," because it tells you when a color cannot be reached as readily as when it can. No color theory knowledge is required to use it.

Question 11

What else does Chromilla do besides mixing?

Accepted Answer

Chromilla started as a color mixer and still leads with it. Around the mixer are tools for the rest of the painting: Value Study and Guided Session turn a reference photo into a plan with a mix for every area, Palette Builder and Brand Converter keep recipes inside the tubes you own, Color Gym is a two-minute daily mixing drill, and Session Mode lets a teacher run a class of up to 10 painters from their phones.

Question 12

Do I need to know color theory to use Chromilla?

Accepted Answer

No. Chromilla does the color theory for you and hands back a plain recipe. You pick a color, 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 13

How do I fix a color 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.

Question 14

How much paint do I need to mix?

Accepted Answer

Open Scale this recipe under any recipe and switch to By area. Enter your canvas size, how thick you paint and how much of the painting is in that color, and Chromilla estimates the total with 20% extra so you do not run out. It is an estimate, so mix a little more for large areas of one color.

Question 15

What if I run out of a paint color?

Accepted Answer

Tap the menu on that tube in the recipe and choose “I’m out of this.” Chromilla re-mixes the same color from your remaining tubes and shows how close the new match is when dry. If another tube would get you much closer, it names it.

Question 16

Can Chromilla find the same color in another paint brand?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The free Brand Converter matches paints by their Colour Index pigment code first, so you find the same pigment in another brand. When no brand carries that pigment, it shows the closest color and warns that it will mix differently.

Question 17

What is a value study?

Accepted Answer

A value study, or notan, reduces a reference photo to a few areas of light, middle and dark. Painting those big value shapes first gives a stronger structure before you think about color. The free Value Study tool splits any photo into 3 value zones, or 5 and 7 with Pro.

Question 18

Can Chromilla turn a photo into a step-by-step painting plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Chromilla's Guided Session splits your photo into a few big areas, tells you what order to paint them in and gives an exact tube mix for each, in acrylic, oil or watercolor. The breakdown and first two steps are free.

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 colors turn muddy?

Why do my mixed colors turn muddy?

What three paint tubes can mix the most colors?

What three paint tubes can mix the most colors?

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

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

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

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

How do I darken a color without using black?

How do I darken a color without using black?

Why does my mixed color look different once it dries?

Why does my mixed color 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?

What else does Chromilla do besides mixing?

What else does Chromilla do besides mixing?

Do I need to know color theory to use Chromilla?

Do I need to know color theory to use Chromilla?

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

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

How much paint do I need to mix?

How much paint do I need to mix?

What if I run out of a paint color?

What if I run out of a paint color?

Can Chromilla find the same color in another paint brand?

Can Chromilla find the same color in another paint brand?

What is a value study?

What is a value study?

Can Chromilla turn a photo into a step-by-step painting plan?

Can Chromilla turn a photo into a step-by-step painting plan?