By CraftingStepByStepPublished
Based on a video by willkempartschool.
Most colour mixing goes wrong because people chase everything at once. Will Kemp works in a fixed order instead - hue first, then value, then saturation - and each stage only asks one question.
The whole demo here is matching a single yellowy orange from three primaries. Two things are worth stealing regardless of what you are painting: squint at the mix against the target so the two either merge or they do not, and remember that acrylic dries darker than it looks wet.
8 steps · about 4 minutes.Check off each step as you go and your progress saves automatically.
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.
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.
Tip
Red is the strong colour in this pair. A speck moves it a long way.
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.
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.
Tip
Imagine the two in black and white. That is the value comparison you are making.
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.
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.
Tip
Be brave and keep mixing. A complement looks alarming going in and settles as it blends.
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.
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.
Tip
Mix more than you think you need. Matching the same colour twice is harder than mixing enough the first time.
Keep going
How to Paint a Lighthouse in Acrylics
Liquitex
Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Set (24 tubes)
Artist-grade pigment at student pricing, buttery enough to blend and thick enough to hold a stroke. The set most acrylic painters start on.
Benicci
Benicci 16-Piece Artist Brush Set
Every shape you actually reach for (round, flat, filbert, liner, fan) in nylon that keeps its point and does not shed. Comes with a palette knife and case.
FIXSMITH
FIXSMITH 8" x 10" Stretched Canvas (12-pack)
Pre-primed cotton canvases in a bulk pack so you can just start painting. The low-stakes surface for practicing before the big piece.
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