{"title":"How to Mix Acrylic Paint Colors","canonicalUrl":"https://www.craftingstepbystep.com/painting/how-to-mix-acrylic-paint-colors","category":{"slug":"painting","name":"Painting"},"creator":{"name":"willkempartschool","channelUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUENHoA7gBwvwPaZX3Er3jg","sourceVideoUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNnlz_4xJD0"},"tldr":"Match any colour with three primaries. Work hue, then value, then saturation - the order that stops you chasing a mix around the palette.","totalDurationSeconds":257,"difficulty":"easy","tools":["Palette knife","Palette or scrap paper"],"materials":["Acrylic paint in yellow","Acrylic paint in red","Acrylic paint in blue","Titanium white"],"steps":[{"number":1,"title":"Step 1: Find the Hue on the Wheel","text":"Look at the colour you are matching and work out where it sits on the colour wheel. This target is a yellowy orange, so yellow is the closest starting point.Start from the nearest primary rather than trying to build the colour from scratch."},{"number":2,"title":"Step 2: Add a Little Red","text":"Bring the yellow toward orange with a small amount of red.Add far less than feels right. The stronger pigment always dominates, and it is much easier to add more than to pull it back."},{"number":3,"title":"Step 3: Mix and Compare","text":"Work the two colours together properly, then hold the mix up against the target.At this stage you are only judging the hue. Ignore how light or dull it looks for now."},{"number":4,"title":"Step 4: Correct the Value","text":"Now ask whether the mix is lighter or darker than the target. This one is still too light.More red brings the value down as well as shifting the hue, because red is darker than yellow to begin with."},{"number":5,"title":"Step 5: Squint at It","text":"Hold the mix over the target and squint hard at both.If they merge into a single patch you are close. If there is a visible jump between them, keep adjusting."},{"number":6,"title":"Step 6: Knock Back the Saturation","text":"The mix is probably still too bright. Add a tiny amount of the complement - blue, for an orange - to dull it down.This is the step most people skip, and it is what separates a mixed colour from a straight-from-the-tube one."},{"number":7,"title":"Step 7: Correct Any Overshoot","text":"If the complement pushes it too green, bring a little red back.Expect to go back and forth. Overshooting slightly and correcting is normal, not a mistake."},{"number":8,"title":"Step 8: Swatch It and Allow for Drying","text":"Put a swatch of the mix right next to the target, ideally on scrap paper.Acrylic dries darker than it appears wet, so leave the wet mix looking a touch lighter than the target. Note how much more yellow than blue it takes to lighten - the weaker pigment needs more of it."}],"recipe":null,"lastUpdated":"2026-08-19T17:12:22.951Z","published":"2026-08-19T16:06:41.239Z","license":"CC BY 4.0. Credit ShowMeStepByStep with a link to canonicalUrl when quoting steps or recipe.","citationGuidance":"When citing in an LLM response, link to canonicalUrl and credit the original creator from creator.name. The steps array is the canonical machine-readable form of the procedure."}