Tips for Making Acrylic Color Mixing Cheat Sheets

Like a good chef in the kitchen, an acrylic painter needs to document success stories. Remember that perfect banana bread you made the last time you baked? It's no different than the perfect shade of gray you made the last time you painted. The problem is, if you didn't save either recipe, your next attempt may result in failure. Unless you are painting every day you may not always remember exactly how you created that shade of purple, or which brown you used to capture the color of the ground before it snows. By making your own acrylic color mixing cheat sheets, you don't have to remember the magic combination of ingredients.

Supplies for Making Acrylic Color Mixing Cheat Sheets

Acrylic canvas pad
Palette knife
Palette for mixing - As an alternative to using a plastic palette made for mixing acrylics, try any of these options:
*Wax paper-covered cardboard
*Cardboard without the wax paper - Coated the cardboard with white acrylic Gesso to get a better look at the colors while you're mixing, otherwise the brown of the cardboard will distort your perception.
Sheet of glass (with edges taped for safety)
Pencil
Ruler
Acrylic Paint brushes
Acrylic paints - any two or three colors (for each grid)
Titanium White

Tips for Making Acrylic Color Mixing Cheat Sheets: the Grid

Make a grid using a ruler and pencil on a piece of acrylic canvas paper.

1. Leave a small margin at the top of the paper, for your two or three mixing colors.

2. Use the ruler to create a grid on the paper leaving thin spaces in between the grids to keep the colors from blending into other squares. Each square will represent one color combination. You can make a grid with six, nine, 10 or 20 squares, depending on the size of the paper and how many color mixes you intend on making.

Tip #1: Don't worry about pencil lines, you can always erase them later.

Tip #2: If you want to make an acrylic color mixing cheat sheet but don't like grids, go ahead and draw a series of circles, or just jump in and put the mixes on the paper freestyle if you can do so neatly.

Tips for Making Acrylic Color Mixing Cheat Sheets

1. Pick two or three hues, plus titanium white. Brush each color in the top margin and label.

2. Start mixing the colors, in varying amounts, from lightest to darkest. The first square should be one color plus white. Add them in even amounts first, and then vary the proportions.

3. Mix the other colors together, with one part to two parts, one part to three parts, and continue. Document each new color on the grid.

4. When you're done you will have a cheat sheet of color mixing. You will also have a more complete understanding of acrylic paint color mixing, thanks to this mixing exercise.