When I first started taking watercolor seriously, I remember how often I’d ruin a painting with a muddy color. Either I’d mix too many pigments, or I’d reach for the wrong hue entirely, thinking it would work. That’s when I started creating a color mixing chart for watercolor, and I haven’t stopped using it since.
I still have that original chart taped to my studio wall, stained and splattered from years of use. It’s one of the simplest tools I rely on, but it’s saved me so many headaches over time. It’s helped me paint more intuitively, pick the right hue the first time, and avoid those frustrating moments where the color on my palette doesn’t match what’s in my head.
In this post, I’ll walk through exactly how I made my chart, why it still works for me, and how you can build your own version that makes your painting life easier. Whether you're new to watercolor or you've been at it for years, this is a grounding practice that can help you get closer to the results you’re aiming for.
Color Mixing Chart for Watercolor: Why It’s Still My Favorite Tool
A color mixing chart for watercolor isn’t just a pretty grid, it’s a roadmap. When I’m reaching for a secondary color or trying to tone something down without making it dull, I glance at my chart. It gives me real-life results from my actual palette, not idealized colors from a textbook or digital mockup.
It also speeds things up. When I'm in the middle of painting and I need a warm neutral or a shadowed green, I don’t want to stop and mix blindly. I can just scan my chart and see which combo gives me that tone.
Many beginners skip this step and rely on guesswork or pre-mixed sets. But getting to know how your specific paints behave with each other is one of the best ways to improve color harmony and avoid muddy results. Even experienced painters can get surprised by certain combinations, especially with more granulating or staining pigments. This chart keeps me honest.
Key Points
- Test your actual paints, not theoretical ones: Every brand and pigment behaves differently. Use your own palette.
- Include all combinations—even the ugly ones: Unexpected mixes teach you what not to do and help you recognize problem combos.
- Keep it visible: Tape it inside your watercolor sketchbook, pin it to your wall, or tuck a smaller version into your travel kit.
How I Made My First Watercolor Mixing Chart
I started with a 12-color palette and a ruler. I drew a grid—12 rows by 12 columns—and labeled each row and column with a color from my palette. You can make it square if your palette is balanced, or use a rectangle if you have more warm colors than cools, or vice versa.
In every box where two colors intersected, I painted a swatch of the two mixed together. Diagonal boxes were the pure colors, and every other square was a 50/50 blend. Some boxes came out beautiful, some were awful. But the full picture helped me avoid repeating bad mixes and lean into surprising successes.
You can take it a step further by making two swatches per box, one where Color A is dominant and one where Color B is dominant. That way, you see how shifting the ratio affects the tone. This helps tremendously when trying to get warm neutrals or subtle shadow hues.
Since then, I’ve made updated charts as my palette evolved. Some versions include a light and dark variation of each mix. Others are just quick swatch sheets for new colors I’m testing. For example, when I added quinacridone rose to my setup, I made a small chart to see how it played with my existing yellows and blues before I used it in a finished piece.
If you’re new to this, you might find fun watercolor techniques helpful as a companion. Mixing is just one part of mastering your palette.
Helpful Variations and Extra Mixes
Once you’ve got your basic chart, you can start branching out. I created a separate chart just for greys – since neutral tones are surprisingly tricky in watercolor. You can check out my full walkthrough of how to make grey in watercolor if that’s a challenge for you too.
I’ve also made skin tone mixing charts over the years, especially when I was painting a lot of portraits. This was a game changer for understanding warm vs. cool skin tones, and how different reds and yellows interact. Here's a post on how to make watercolor skin tone that might help if you’re exploring that area.
Other times, I make themed charts. For example, when I painted a forest series, I tested every green combo I could—warm yellow + phthalo green, burnt sienna + ultramarine blue, etc. It helped me discover the full range of earthier, more believable greens I could mix without relying on sap green straight from the pan.
Keeping It Realistic and Reusable
There’s no one perfect chart. Some people go wild with full-blown mixing journals, others just keep a loose sheet in their watercolor storage box. The key is to build something that reflects your paints and your style.
I’ve made charts that are tiny and portable, and others that are full-page reference tools. Some are messy and scribbled, others more clean and labeled. All of them are useful in different ways.
A few things I’ve learned:
- Use actual mixing ratios (1:1, 2:1, etc.) if you want more control and repeatability.
- Don’t worry about aesthetics—this is a working tool, not a showpiece.
- Make a new one every time your palette changes significantly.
If you like working with unusual materials like watercolor pastels or water-soluble wax pastel, you can make separate charts for those too. Anything that helps you make faster decisions while painting is worth the time upfront.
Related Tools That Support Color Mixing
There are a few tools I use alongside my mixing chart to keep things running smoothly. For one, using the best tape for watercolor paper ensures I can test swatches without the page buckling. I also keep a few sketchbooks on hand with different paper types like this hot press watercolor sketchbook and this sketch pad for watercolor, so I can see how the same mix behaves across surfaces.
Paper texture can dramatically change how a color mix settles, especially with granulating pigments. What looks beautiful on cold press might look flat on hot press. So it helps to try your chart on the type of paper you use most often, or make duplicates on different surfaces.
And if you’re trying this while traveling, you might find my travel watercolor book setup useful. I keep a mini version of my chart tucked in there too. It folds up neatly and stays protected inside a zippered pouch.
If you want to get even more into how pigments interact, I’d recommend checking out the Smithsonian Museum Conservation Institute's pigment reference. It’s a reliable and in-depth source that breaks down how pigments have been historically used and how they age over time.
Final Thoughts
No matter how digital things get, I still love having a physical color mixing chart at arm’s reach. It’s a low-tech way to trust my instincts and speed up my choices. I’ve been painting long enough to know that even experienced artists second-guess their mixes. Having a chart makes it easier to commit.
If you haven’t made one yet, it’s worth taking an afternoon to build your own version. It’ll serve you for years, and you’ll probably wonder why you didn’t do it sooner.