JULIE HUGHES

Drawing up your Grid

The quick way
You can draw up one of these really quickly by following these steps:

1. Count the number of colors you want to mix for your chart, for example: 6

2. Using our example of 6 colors, use your pencil and ruler to draw a 6x6 grid of 36 squares. I recommend your grid spacing be at least 1/2”x1/2” otherwise you won’t have a lot of surface area for color.

   • Tip when painting: Make sure not to paint all the way to the edge of the grids unless you are allowing the paint to completely dry before moving on to the adjacent squares. I like to leave a gap between grids to keep the colors separated (example photo shown later on in the post)

3. That’s it you can move onto the “Painting your chart” section

The less-quick, but better looking way (in my humble opinion!)
This is the way I like drawing up my grids, believe me - it will result in a nicer looking chart and you’ll want that because you’ll be keeping this around for a while!

1. Count the number of colors you want to mix for your chart, for example: 6

2. Using our example of 6 colors, use your pencil and ruler to draw a 6x6 grid of boxes. What you are aiming for is to have a separation between each of your 36 squares.

3. I like to draw my squares at either 1/2”x1/2” or 5/8”x5/8” with a 1/4” or 1/8” gap.

4. That’s it! It will take a little longer to draw, but I definitely like the look of this chart better.

 

 

PAINTING YOUR MIXING CHART

Note that this will take some time - especially if you’re going for the 12 color mixing chart with 144 squares to fill.

1. Pre-plan the order of your colors. For the most visually appealing color chart, I suggest you arrange your colors roughly in order of the rainbow spectrum.
   
   In general, a good order to follow is:

   • Pinks

   • Reds

   • Reddish/Earth Colors (like Burnt Sienna)

   • Oranges

   • Yellows

   • Greens

   • Blues

   • Purples

   • Neutrals (like Paynes Grey)

   • Dark Earth Colors (like Raw Umber)
     Note: If you don’t have that color family in your chart, just skip over it and line up the next color in the list.

2. In order from left to right, write the colors across the X axis above your chart.

3. In order from from top to bottom, write the colors down the Y axis next to your chart.

4. Next, starting from top left to bottom right, in a diagonal line, paint the pure swatches of each color as it is labeled on the axes. In other words, follow each color down from the x-axis and across from the y-axis to find where they intersect to paint the color swatch in it’s designated box.
   If you are using the quick grid (no separation between boxes) be careful to keep the paint colors separated. If you allow the wet paint to touch between the boxes your color mixing chart will have inaccurate color references!

5. I like to return back to the top left, and start working on the first column and first row. If you look at the way the grid works, color in the top left corner will be mixed with each of the other colors in order to fill in the row both across and also down.

6. Repeat mixing colors for each row and column for the entire grid.