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THE THREE WHEEL SYSTEM
IMPORTANT:

There can be a big difference in color from one screen to another, between what
appears on your screen and what comes out of your printer, or even from the
poster (CMYK space) to a screen (RGB space). It’s impossible to guarantee color
constancy on all screens and devices. I use the “monitor red *” as a reference
point: this color is 100% red on all RGB screens and in real life it’s comparable to
the Coca Cola red, or stop sign red… which is more or less cadmium red medium
PR108.

Color can’t always be reproduced with perfect accuracy, remember that the most
important is how colors are related to each other. And the most important for you,
as a painter, is to understand how your pigments behave.
COLOR MIXING WHEEL
Copyright 2020 Florent Farges
HOW TO USE THE COLOR MIXING WHEEL
Connect two pigments
to see the mixing line
(note: it may be a
curve, depending on
the pigments)
HOW TO MIX THE “RIGHT” COLOR

Let’s assume that I want to create a paint

mixture that has exactly the same color as
this purple ball right here.
HOW TO MIX THE “RIGHT” COLOR - STEP 1 - FIND CANDIDATE PIGMENTS
The first thing to do is to find a
couple of candidate pigments.
There are two options here : one, Quince. Rose
you already have your go-to palette Prussian Blue PV19
PB27
and your favorite pigments that you
use all the time or two, you select
pigments depending on the type of
subject you need to paint.

With this second, option, I would

need to pick the pigment that’s the
closest to the color of the sphere,
here, I think it would be cobalt violet
pv14 or ultramarine violet pv15.

But let’s say that we are using or

ordinary palette with no violet
pigment.
For this tutorial, let’s say that we can only use the two closest pigments we can find : in this case, for example, quinacridone
rose PV19 and prussian blue PB27. By navigating the color wheel, as shown above, I see that by mixing those two
pigments, theoretically, I can get the purple I need to paint the sphere.
HOW TO MIX THE “RIGHT” COLOR
STEP 2 - MIX IN THE RIGHT ORDER : HUE ➡ VALUE ➡ CHROMA

→ Hue
There is an order to follow if we want to get the right Hue is certainly the most commonly
color easily. First, hue, then value and finally chroma. known property of color. In fact,
most people use the word color
Let’s refresh our memories on hue, value and chroma when in reality they mean «hue». It
just to be sure. can be defined as a shade of the
spectrum of visible light. Red,
yellow, blue etc.

→ Chroma
Chroma can be defined as the level
of purity of a color compared to
gray. This is what we understand
when a color is said to be more or
less vivid. For those who use
→ Value computer image editing software,
The value of a color is its perceived chroma, although different, can be
luminosity. compared to saturation.
 1 - GET THE RIGHT HUE

Hue : So, first, hue : I’ve

mixed prussian blue and
Titanium White
PW6
quinacridone rose in
equal proportions. Of
course, here, it’s way too
dark so I add some white
to get closer to my target
color. I can see that the
result is too much on the
blue side, so what I’ll do is
add some more
quinacridone rose to pull
in the opposite direction. If
I add too much rose, I
need to balance again
with more prussian blue.
And with trial and error,
with subtle adjustments, I
create a hue that’s just
exactly what I need.
2 - GET THE RIGHT VALUE
Once I’m done with hue,
I can make the
highlights and the
shadows. I add ivory
black and I mix it with
prussian blue and IVORY BLACK PBk9
quinacridone rose to
obtain those darker
shades in the shadows.
I don’t use only black, I
adjust with the other
pigments and try to
keep the character of
the shadows. I am
going to make three
mixtures but you can
create the entire 9 step
value scale, the color
wheel and the diagrams
will help you do that.
 3 - GET THE RIGHT CHROMA
The final thing to adjust is
the chroma. During the
Titanium White > Lowers Chroma
mixing process, the
chroma can go out of Quincacr. Rose > Raises Chroma
control, so it’s important to
Prussian Blue > Raises Chroma
check that everything
looks fine before painting. Ivory Black > Lowers Chroma

In this case, prussian blue

and quinacridone rose can
make the chroma higher,
whereas black and white
will lower it considerably.
CREATE A NEUTRAL GRAY
COLOR MIXING EXERCISE

Here is an exercise to familiarize yourself with the mixing system. It will

help you learn how to navigate the mixing wheel.
STEP 1 : PREDICT THE RESULT OF THE MIX
Take two pigments at
random. Any of them…
Here, I have Burnt Sienna
and Cobalt teal blue.
Step one: Try to predict
what color will result from
this mix.
STEP 2 : TURN IT INTO A NEUTRAL GRAY
The entire exercise now consists in
finding a third pigment that can work as
a complement to this green mix.
Remember, a complement is always on
the opposite side of the wheel, so
we’re looking for a pigment that’s
somewhat opposed to the resulting
green mix. It doesn’t have to be
perfectly placed, take the best pigment
you have. It must at least be on the
other side of the wheel, so that the
central gray is included in the triangle
of the three pigments.
In our example, let’s make a triangle
with burnt sienna, cobalt teal blue
and… permanent rose (or quinacridone
rose), because it's a color that's ideally
located in relation to this green.
STEP 2 : TURN IT INTO A NEUTRAL GRAY
At this stage, I actually find myself with
three mixing primaries and I try to find
the neutral point of this gamut.
Somewhere in this triangle, there is a
very precise center point where all three
pigments neutralize each other. This
neutral point can be hard difficult to find
but if you have aimed correctly, using the
mixing wheel, your three pigments
should work.
I proceed by trial and error and I play
with the triangle formed by the three
pigments. As soon as one color
dominates, I add a little bit of the other
two to pull in the opposite direction. I
always imagine my little strings pulling on
each side of the triangle, I pull slightly on
one side, then on the other and so on
until I reach a mixture that does not have
the chromatic mark of any of the starting
primaries. As I progress, I should use
less and less paint and get closer and
closer.
STEP 3 : CHECK YOUR MIX
In the end, I add a little bit of
titanium white to make it easier to
find a neutral gray. Only white is
allowed for this exercise... no
other pigments! I compare using
my scale of values. If the gray
pulls too much on one side, I can
still adjust using one of the three
starting colors. I do this until I get
a gray as close as possible to the
neutral gray. No need to try to get
a perfect gray, the goal is simply
to be as close as possible.
Do this exercise 10 times using
different combinations and your
pigments will no longer have any
secrets for you!
COLOR DIAGRAMS
HOW TO USE THE COLOR DIAGRAMS 1/2

The color diagrams can help you create color scales to paint values easily. This color mixing system is called
“closed palette”.

The idea is to premix between 3 and 9 value gradations of a given hue to paint the volume easily and save time
during the painting.

Locate the local color and trace a “bow curve” connecting the black, white and local color (not a straight line).
HOW TO USE THE COLOR DIAGRAMS 2/2

CLOSED PALETTE

When you have found the right

diagram for the color you want to
mix, check the wheels to find the
appropriate pigments. Here, for
20RO, I choose Yellow Ochre,
Burnt Sienna, Alizarin Crimson,
Burnt Umber (+ some colors from
the blue side to balance). I mix
these colors in various proportions
to get a nice, even scale.

The number of gradations doesn’t

really matter, as you can mix
intermediate steps with your brush
but the color diagrams can help
you make up to 9.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 1/8
Cadmium yellow Titanium white
Yellow ochre
Burnt Umber lemon PY35 PW6
ANOTHER EXAMPLE Ivory black PBr7
PY42

PBk9

Let’s imagine that we need to paint

this yellow ball.

First, we need to find the right

pigments around the color wheel.
Going back to page 3 (or 5), we
see that yellow ochre (PY42) is 50
OY and cadmium yellow lemon
(PY35) 80 Y. Since these pigments
are the two closest we have, we
are going to use them both and mix
them to get a color in the 60 OY
range.

We will also use titanium white

PW6, burnt umber PBr7 and ivory
black PBk9.
I suggest to make high quality prints of the diagrams for better results.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 2/8
Cadmium yellow Titanium white
Yellow ochre
Burnt Umber lemon PY35 PW6
PY42
Ivory black PBr7
PBk9

FINDING THE LOCAL

COLOR

First, we need to mix the local

color.

By mixing various proportions of

Mix of Cadmium Yellow cadmium yellow and yellow ochre,
Lemon PY35 + Yellow
ochre PY42
we can get something pretty close.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 3/8
Cadmium yellow Titanium white
Yellow ochre
LOCATING THE LOCAL Burnt Umber PY42
lemon PY35 PW6
Ivory black PBr7
COLOR ON THE PBk9

DIAGRAM

Now that we have the local color of

our ball, we need to know where it
would fit in the color space of the
diagram. By simply dragging our
palette knife above the diagram, we
can see that it would apparently be
a 90 in value and a 70 in chroma.

To be honest, the numbers don’t

really matter here, what’s more
important is the position of this
color compared to the other ones in
the scale : it will be the one with
the highest chroma of the entire
scale.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 4/8
Cadmium yellow Titanium white
Yellow ochre
Burnt Umber lemon PY35 PW6
PY42
Ivory black PBr7
PBk9

MIXING THE MID-TONES

Next, let’s mix some mid-tones for

Adding burnt Umber our subject.
(PBr7) to make darker
shades
In this case, I have simply added
some burnt umber (PBr7) because
it’s a dark color from the warm side
of the color, closer to yellow. Ivory
black is too blueish in nature and
would tend to make the yellow
greenish.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 5/8
Cadmium yellow Titanium white
Yellow ochre
COMPLETE THE BOW Burnt Umber PY42
lemon PY35 PW6
Ivory black PBr7
CURVE PBk9

I continue to mix mid-tones and

values for the shadows. For the
darkest values, I add a touch of
Ivory black (PBk9).

By mixing the mid-tones with the

local color I started with, I can
easily obtain my gradations and
place them on the diagram.

As you can see, the bow curve is

starting to appear.
The bow curve
starts to appear...
Note that there is no color above
the local we’ve started with.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 6/8
Cadmium yellow Titanium white
Yellow ochre
Burnt Umber lemon PY35 PW6
PY42
Ivory black PBr7
PBk9

MIXING THE
HIGHLIGHTS

Now, I only need to find a color for

the highlights.

In my case, the local color is

already very light (value 90)
because it’s a yellow and yellow is
Adding Titanium White naturally bright , so there is only
(PW6) for the highlight one highlight color to find and it is
the shiny reflection of the lamp.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 7/8

REMOVE THE DIAGRAM

Now I’m pretty much done with the color mixing, I have everything I need to
start painting.

For practical reasons, let’s remove the diagram from our glass palette and
tidy up.
MAKING A VALUE SCALE 8/8

THAT’S IT!

Here we are, I’ve reduced the

number of gradations because I
don’t need to use nine for a simple
subject like this. I know that I can
always recreate the missing steps
if needed by mixing between the
pools of color.

Now, the only thing left to do is

pick up a brush and start painting.

Keep this process intuitive and

fun. Remember that painting is an
art, not an exact science.
THE “HUMAN” COLOR WHEEL
HUE HARMONY WHEEL
HOW TO USE THE HUE HARMONY WHEEL

Create a cardboard
or paper mask and
rotate it around the
wheel to find the
color harmony of
your choice.
EXAMPLES OF HUE HARMONY
MONOCHROMATIC
COMPLEMENTARY
SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY
ANALOGOUS
FREE COMBINATION
TRIADIC
QUATERNARY
CLASSICAL
RYB PRIMARIES
CHROMATIC COMPOSITION
You are free to use these documents and print them for personal and
artistic/professional use. Commercial reproduction and printing is prohibited. If you
want to share these pictures, please respect the copyright. Feel free to contact me if
you need more information, for instance if you want to use these pictures in a class
or art group.

TO CONTACT ME : www.florentfarges.com/contact