Mixing guide
How to mix paint from a photo
By Marco, painter and founder of chromilla · Last checked August 2026
To mix paint from a photo, open it in a photo tool that reads real color, split the image into light, middle and dark value zones, and mix one zone at a time. Chromilla's Value Study does the split for you and gives each zone a Mix this button that opens a recipe built from your own tubes.
Why value zones come before color
A photo holds thousands of slightly different colors, and mixing every one of them is impossible. Grouping the photo into three value zones collapses that noise into three decisions: one dark mix, one middle mix, one light mix. Painters have done this by squinting for centuries; the tool just does the squinting for you and shows the exact color of each group.
- Start with 3 zones. Move to 5 or 7 only when the big shapes already read correctly.
- If every zone ends up the same lightness, the painting will read flat no matter how accurate the colors are.
- Judge the zones with the photo and canvas side by side, in the same light.
Block in the drawing with sketch lines
Before any paint, the drawing has to be right. Grid Drawing's Sketch mode strips the photo down to the subject outline and the edges between the big shapes, drawn as dark lines on a cream background with the red grid on top. That gives you a clean map to copy square by square, without the photo's texture pulling your eye. When the drawing is blocked in, switch back to the photo or the value zones and start mixing.
Mixing each zone with your own tubes
Each zone's Mix this button opens a recipe in parts, for example 2 parts Burnt Umber to 1 part Ultramarine Blue, solved from real pigment data for the brand and medium you picked. Mix on the palette, paint a small swatch, and let it dry fully before comparing. Acrylic dries darker, watercolor dries lighter, and the recipe's match percentage is measured against the dried result.
- Mix a little more of each zone than you think you need. Matching a dried mix exactly is much harder than mixing enough the first time.
- Keep a dab of each zone's mix on the palette edge so you can check new mixes against it.
- Reserve a swatch of each zone on paper; it becomes your map when you blend between zones.
Where photo mixing goes wrong
The three usual failures: the photo was shot under warm indoor light so every mix lands too orange, the screen is much brighter than the canvas so every mix lands too dark, or the zones were never separated so everything averages to mid-gray. Shoot the reference in daylight or near a window, lower the screen brightness to match the room, and keep each zone's mix to its own puddle on the palette.
Step-by-step
Open the photo in Value Study
Drop your reference into Chromilla's Value Study. It reads the photo and splits it into light, middle and dark zones, each with its average color.
Draw the big shapes first
Use Grid Drawing with the Sketch switch to turn the photo into clean dark lines on a cream background, then block the drawing onto your canvas square by square.
Mix the darkest zone first
Tap Mix this on the dark zone. Chromilla returns a recipe in parts, calibrated to your brand and medium. Paint a swatch and let it dry before judging it.
Work up through the values
Mix the middle zone, then the light. Keeping each zone to its own recipe is what stops the painting turning into one blurred mid-tone.
Correct by eye at the end
If a passage dries off, sample it with Mix Correction and Chromilla returns a one-step fix toward the target color.
Try it on your tubes
Open Value Study with your photo
Drop in a reference photo and get a mixable recipe for each value zone.
Open Chromilla →Frequently asked questions
- How do I mix paint from a photo?
- Open a photo tool like Value Study or Grid Drawing and Chromilla reads the color straight from the photo. Value Study splits it into light, middle and dark zones, and each zone has a Mix this button that opens a recipe you can make with your own tubes. Tapping any square in Grid Drawing works the same way.
- Can I do grid drawing with sketch lines?
- Yes. Grid Drawing has a Sketch switch that turns your photo into clean dark lines on a cream background: the subject outline and the edges between the big shapes, with no shading or texture. The red grid stays on top, so you can block in the drawing square by square before you paint.
- What is the difference between Sketch and grayscale?
- Grayscale turns the photo into tones of gray, so you study how light and dark each area is. Sketch draws clean dark lines on a cream background instead: the subject outline and the edges between the big shapes, with no shading or texture. Use Sketch to block in the drawing, and grayscale or a Value Study to plan the values.
- Which tools need Chromilla Pro?
- The core photo tools are free: Value Study, Grid Drawing, the first steps of a Guided Session, Color Gym and the mixing chart. Chromilla Pro adds the 5 and 7 zone value studies, Mix Correction, Area Sampler, Palette Cards, Tube Calibration, saving scanned tubes, and printing the grid at full canvas size. The pricing page lists everything.