A calmer way to paint from photos
Painting from a photo, one honest step at a time.
Grid the drawing, plan the values, mix each zone with the tubes you already own, and watch your painting progress from first lines to the final check.
Get the drawing right first
Most photo paintings fail in the first ten minutes, not the last. Grid Drawing adds square cells to your photo, sized to your real canvas in inches or cm, so you only ever compare one small square at a time. Flip on Sketch and the photo becomes clean dark lines on a cream background: the subject outline and the edges between the big shapes, with no texture pulling your eye.
Plan the values before the color
A painting reads from across the room because of its values, not its hues. Value Study splits your photo into light, middle and dark zones so you can check the big shapes before any color goes down. If the three-zone version already looks like the subject, the color stage is mostly filling in.
Mix each zone with your own tubes
Every zone has a Mix this button that opens a recipe in parts, solved from real pigment data for your brand and medium. Mix a little more of each zone than you think you need, keep a dab of each on the palette edge, and let swatches dry fully before you compare: acrylic dries darker, watercolor dries lighter.
Track your painting progress
Save your painting and add a photo of it at each stage. The stage bar walks you from values to drawing, block-in, build-up, detail and the final check, and your private gallery keeps the reference photo next to every progress photo. Signing in is free, and only you can see your paintings.
Questions about painting from a photo
- How do I start painting from a photo?
- Break it into three passes. Grid the drawing first so the shapes land in the right place, plan the light, middle and dark values next, then mix a recipe for each value zone with the tubes you own. Chromilla's Grid Drawing, Value Study and mixer carry you through all three.
- 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.
- How do I track my painting progress?
- Save your painting in Chromilla and add a photo of it at each stage. The stage bar walks you from values to drawing, block-in, build-up, detail and the final check, and your gallery keeps the reference photo next to every progress photo so you can see how far it has come.
- How do I mix the colors in my photo?
- Value Study splits the photo 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.