Reference
Color mixing chart: the paint mixing chart that behaves like real paint.
Most colour wheels online mix light, not pigment. That is why yellow and blue come out grey on a screen and green on your palette. Every swatch below is computed with a Kubelka-Munk pigment model using real tube data, so what you see is close to what your brush will do.
Interactive color mixing chart: mix any two tubes
The printable paint mixing chart
Every cell is an even 50/50 mix of the tube in its row and the tube in its column. Tap a cell to load that pair into the mixer above. Print the page for a chart you can pin next to your easel.
| Mix | CY | CR | QM | UB | PB | PG | BS | YO | IB | TW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cadmium Yellow | ||||||||||
| Cadmium Red | ||||||||||
| Quinacridone Magenta | ||||||||||
| Ultramarine Blue | ||||||||||
| Phthalo Blue | ||||||||||
| Phthalo Green | ||||||||||
| Burnt Sienna | ||||||||||
| Yellow Ochre | ||||||||||
| Ivory Black | ||||||||||
| Titanium White |
How to use a color mixing chart, step by step
Six steps that take you from a target colour to a mixed swatch that still looks right once it is dry. Around ten minutes at the palette.
Identify the target colour
Look at the colour you want and name three things about it: hue family, how light or dark it is, and how grey or saturated it looks. Judging value before hue stops you chasing the wrong tube.
Find the two closest tubes on the chart
Scan the row and column headings for the two pigments that sit either side of your target hue. Choose tubes whose undertone leans towards the target, for example a cool red for violets and a warm red for oranges.
Read the square where they cross
The cell where the row and column meet is a fifty-fifty mix of those two tubes. If that square is already close, you have your pair. If it is on the wrong side of the target, swap one tube rather than adding a third.
Shift the ratio towards the tube you need more of
Use the ratio ladder to move from 90/10 to 10/90 in steps. Mix in small increments with a palette knife, adding the stronger pigment last, since staining tubes such as Phthalo Blue take over a mix quickly.
Adjust value and chroma last
Lighten with white or a pale warm tube, and knock back chroma with a touch of the complement instead of black. Add these in tiny amounts, because both moves change the hue as well as the value.
Test a swatch and correct for dry-down
Paint a swatch on the same surface you are working on and let it dry before judging it. Acrylic dries slightly darker, watercolour dries noticeably lighter, and oil stays close to the wet colour.
How to read a color mixing chart
Primaries into secondaries. Cadmium Yellow with Ultramarine gives a soft olive green, not a bright one. For a clean green you want Phthalo Blue or Phthalo Green, because Ultramarine carries a red bias that dulls the mix.
Tertiaries and neutrals. Any pair sitting opposite each other on the wheel walks towards grey. That is the fastest honest way to knock back a colour that is too loud, and it beats reaching for black.
Value before hue. White does not only lighten, it cools and reduces chroma. Add it last and in small amounts, since a mix that looks right wet can read chalky once it dries.
Your tubes are not these tubes. A chart is a starting point. If you want the exact ratio for a specific target colour in your own brand and medium, the mixer does that properly.
Color mixing chart and paint mixing chart FAQ
What is a color mixing chart?
A color mixing chart is a reference grid that shows what happens when you mix two paints together. Each row and column is a tube, and the square where they meet is the resulting mix. Unlike a screen colour wheel, a paint chart has to account for pigment behaviour: two blues can give very different greens depending on their undertone.
How do I use a paint mixing chart?
Find your two tubes on the row and column, then read the square where they cross. That square is roughly a 50/50 mix. To get closer to a target, shift the ratio toward the tube whose hue you want more of, then adjust value with white or a darker tube rather than black.
What two colors make each secondary color?
Red and yellow make orange, yellow and blue make green, and red and blue make purple. In real paint the specific tube matters: a warm red with a cool blue gives a dull purple, while a cool red like Quinacridone Magenta with Ultramarine gives a clean violet.
Is a digital color mixing chart accurate for real paint?
Most digital charts are not, because they blend RGB light rather than pigment. This chart uses a Kubelka-Munk subtractive model with measured pigment data, so the squares behave like paint: mixes lose chroma toward neutral instead of brightening the way screen colours do.
Can I print this color mixing chart?
Yes. Use your browser print function and print in colour on matte paper. Bear in mind that inkjet ink and paint pigments are not identical, so treat a printed chart as a guide to relationships and ratios rather than an exact colour proof.
Why does my mix look muddy when the chart does not?
Mud usually comes from mixing three or more pigments, or from combining two tubes that sit opposite each other on the wheel. Keep mixes to two or three tubes, check the undertone of each one, and lighten with a pale warm tube rather than large amounts of white.
Does the same chart work for acrylic, oil and watercolour?
The hue relationships hold across all three, but dry-down does not. Acrylic dries slightly darker, watercolour dries noticeably lighter as the water leaves, and oil stays close to the wet colour. Set your medium in the mixer to get ratios corrected for that shift.
Skip the guesswork
Pick any colour, choose your brand and medium, and get the tubes and parts.