Chromilla paint mixing tool

Guided Session

Guided Session: Paint From a Photo, Step by Step

Pick a photo, your medium and your paints. Chromilla breaks it into a few big areas and walks you through them one step at a time.

1. Your photo

Medium

Acrylics dry 10–15% darker, so mix slightly lighter than your target.

About acrylic

Fast-drying, water-based and forgiving. Great for layering, but the color shift between wet and dry catches most painters out.

Mixing tips

  • Mix a touch lighter and warmer. The binder dries clear and the value drops.
  • Add a slow-dry medium or a fine mist of water to keep the mix open longer.
  • Test a swatch on scrap and let it dry fully before committing to a large area.
  • Clean brushes immediately. Once dry, acrylic is permanent.

Paint brand

How a Guided Session works

  1. Pick a reference photo, your medium (acrylic, oil or watercolor) and your paint brand.
  2. Chromilla simplifies the photo into 5 to 10 big areas. Switch off any area you would rather leave out, such as a sign or the sky.
  3. You get a painting order, with a short reason wherever the order matters, and a tube mix for each area.
  4. Work through the plan step by step, save it to come back later, and compare your painting with the photo at the end.

What is free

The breakdown, a mix for every area and the first 2 steps of the plan are free. The rest of the plan opens with a Chromilla Pro trial or subscription.

What it cannot do

  • It does not draw the image for you. You sketch the main shapes yourself, and the Grid Drawing tool can help you transfer them accurately.
  • It is not paint by numbers: there is no numbered canvas or outline.
  • It plans the big shapes and leaves the detail and edges to you.
  • Results depend on the photo. Strong color casts, dim light or heavy filters change the areas and the mixes.
  • Mixes are a starting point. Check each one against a dry swatch before you commit.

Questions

How do I paint from a reference photo step by step?

Simplify the photo into a few big areas of color, decide which ones go down first, mix a color for each area, then paint them one at a time and refine at the end. A Guided Session does the planning from your own photo: it splits it into 5 to 10 big areas, puts them in a painting order and gives a tube mix for every area.

What order should I paint in?

Where the photo makes depth clear, paint what sits behind first so the shapes in front can overlap it, and leave small details for the end. After that it depends on the medium. In acrylic and oil, big darks and midtones go down before the lighter areas. In watercolor you cannot paint light over dark, so work from the lightest areas to the darkest and leave the paper bare for the whites. Guided Session follows these rules and tells you when to wait for a layer to dry.

Is a Guided Session the same as paint by numbers?

No. There is no numbered canvas and no outlines to fill. You sketch the main shapes yourself, and the plan gives you the order to paint the big areas in and real tube mixes from your own paints.

Which paints does it work with?

Acrylic, oil and watercolor. Pick your medium and your paint brand, and every mix is worked out from the tubes in that range.

What happens to my photo?

Chromilla finds the big areas in your browser. To name the areas, a smaller copy of the photo is sent through a server function to an AI model, which returns the names. Chromilla does not store that copy. If you save the session, a small copy is stored with it in your account so you can resume. The photo of your painting on the last screen stays on your device.

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