Choosing an Acrylic Pour Color Palette - Acrylic Pour Color Wheel

One of the hardest things I find with this abstract artform is finding a good acrylic pour color palette. Getting a palette that works together and doesn't create muddy colors is not as easy as it seems.

In this video I give 3 tips on how use a color wheel to improve your color selections for an acrylic pour, how to avoid muddy colors, and how to test your colors before you pour.

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How Much Paint to Use for an Acrylic Pour -

Don't miss the previous episodes in our Acrylic Pouring for Beginners Series:

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[annapetryniec]

You're the first person I have heard say "complimentary colors will cause mud." I have been making these mistakes all the time, & yes wonder why my paintings would come out gross. Your explanation is clear, concise, easy to understand the theory process. Thank you.

[kathyg]

WOW! I have been struggling with understanding the colour wheel and combining colours. Your explanation is the first I have understood completely. Indeed, all of your videos are extremely precise and definitive. You should get a an Oscar-type award in recognition. I am truly thankful for your efforts and generosity in making these videos.

[aprildegele]

Great video!
I've been an artist all my life and have taught a lot of classes. What I generally tell students without any color theory experience is this. (Please know I started pouring LONG before cells were a thing. That is new to me and I'm having to work with that a bit)
Color theory is a whole thing and takes several semesters as an art major in structured classes. However, it's easier than that. Just trust your eyes.

If the colors together look good to your eye, then use them. HOWEVER, when in doubt, split them with either white or black. You'll still get some color mixing, but in the case of pouring, the ugly colors should be minimal. (again cells mix differently, thus the next bits)

When in doubt if the colors will actually mix well, use a tiny bit of each and mix them together. The color will be pleasing or disgusting. Your eye will see it immediately. Then keep a log of what colors NOT to use together.

The other thing I teach is to pay attention to "warm" and "cold". For instance, on the color wheel, you will ignore the red. Anything mixed with yellow (or something that looks sunny, like yellow orange or yellow green) is "warm". Anything mixed with blue (such as violet red or dusky pinks/purples, or blue-green) is "cool". In general, when they are up against each other, warm colors can clash with cool ones and when they mix, you get an ugly grey-brown no one wants to look at. Again, you can use both, but split with black or white so they stay away from each other. This is harder to do when you're creating cells, so watch that. For cells, keep with either warm or cool. You can get warm and cool in every color.

Another thing I teach is tone. This means dark to light. By adding white incrementally, you can, for instance (my favorite) is add white to a Pthalo blue or Pthalo green to create mint colors. Pthalo blue has some green and Pthalo green has some blue. As you add white, the colors go from dark green-blue through turquoise to pale wintergreen in the case of Pthalo Green. For Pthalo blue, they go from a deep blue-green through teal to a pale mint blue.

Next is adding black and white to darken or lighten colors. White is easy. Black, not so much.

Titanium white is without warm or cool ... but there are dozens of whites that all look white and skew to warm or cool, so stick with Titanium for mixing. Don't believe it? Go to a paint store or home center and get the "white" sample book. Depending on the brand of paint, they can have two different base colors to mix with, so if you want pure white (Titanium), pick the cool base.

Adding black means adding just a TINY amount. Black tends to be overwhelming. I would never add black (even a yellow black ... yes, there are different tones of "black") to a warm color unless I KNOW it's a warm black (and that takes a lot of color theory to know, but I've told the secret below). It's just going to make a nasty "almost" color. Same for the opposite. There are other dark colors you can add (like burnt umber to warm colors) that will darken warm better, or perhaps a navy to cool colors. Cool colors are more difficult.

Rule of thumb, Lamp black is cool.
Mars black is warm.

The last thing I teach? Let any mixture dry until you make a decision. Some colors deepen upon drying and you really never know what the end result will be until it's DRY.
For instance, Alizarin Crimson is one of my favorite cool, deep reds. When wet, it looks dark pink. When it's dry, it's a beautiful blood red, which is on the blue scale.

Thus, the three staples are Titanium white, Lamp black for cool colors, and Mars black for warm colors. Anything on the yellow side is warm. Anything on the blue side is cool. Use the correct black in VERY small increments to darken (or another color if you know which to use), or Titanium white to lighten (also in small increments to get the right color), and you're eye will tell you if you're wrong once it's DRY.

Stay warm or cool unless you split with black or white, and you won't go wrong with cell mixing. Every color goes together in nature. Just look at a wildflower meadow.

Difficult?
Nope, as long as you understand "warm" and "cool". Everything else is by eye.

[carrielane]

Thank you! At 80 y. O. I've learned something new. I have a color wheel but feel that I now know how to use it for paint pour. Your video is very good but a bit fast for me. No problem I will watch it again and again until I have my aha moment. It will happen. You're a good teacher! Carrie L.

[Iamgigi]

My aha moment was the testing the colors before. Great tip!!!!

[cynthiaswan]

I have learned that complimentary colours can be useful. My colour tip - I was trying to make burgundy because it is a favourite colour of mine. I mixed dioxizine purple with a scarlet red but it just became a darker violet no matter how I did the ratios. So, with a little research I found a suggestion to add green. So I was finally successful by mixing 2 parts purple and 1.5 parts red followed by drizzling in phthalo green until I reached my desired colour. Hence a good use of mixing secondary colours.

[menerves]

I don’t often comment on videos even though I watch a lot. This video is awesome as it explains even to the most novice painter. I have painted for years and have made a lot of mistakes and ruined a lot of paintings before I figured this out. Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this.

[christineguderski]

Test the paints! And the strength..I had not paid much attention to this. I'm new and you've answered questions and saved me time & money I'm sure. Wow that was great!

[deniseguay]

Thank you ...I was getting ready to give up pouring but then I found your videos
I need a color wheel and study it and practice like you just showed us
Thank 😊 🙏

[lucyc]

I LOVE that swatching/testing idea with the paints!!!! I've not done a paint pour yet (still working to quiet the "It's gotta be perfect" voice) and already I can see this one tip alone can save lots of heartache!!!! Thank

[mefirst]

You are the 1st person who made me understand, ,, how to use the triad colors.... Now I see why I get mud when I tried not to get mud, but got mud anyway... This is a long learning curb. I use to work at the Academy Of Arts in San Francisco and I all I learned was how perspective work.

[mirandamitchell]

Honestly this is the first video that help me understand the color wheel thank you very much I just asked other people to pick my colors for me before. Not very convenient.

[gailk]

I had forgotten a lot of this. Thank you. Sometimes, the accidents of mismatching turn out stunning,

[georgegavin]

Well Mister Brain, ya done it again. Thank you for helping me out of a confusing mess. And I do mean MESS! I scraped off another canvas today . Now tomorrow will begin my REAL paint pouring. (third time I said that).

[dawn]

That makes so much sense! I was a hairstylist for 16 years. And when helping correct a color a customer had, we looked to the opposite end of the color wheel. So ash blonde with too much green for example, we'd use an orange based blonde to neutralize the color and vice versa.
Same thing with skin color. Red blotchy skin needs a green based foundation.
I love YouTube. I spent a year learning wire wrapping and weaving and now I'm learning this. I keep saying, I should pick up plumbing or something. Lol.

[sgw]

thank you so much for explaining this in a way that i understand it... i've seen 1000 color wheels and everyone talking about secondary and tertiary colors and i had no idea what they were and at that point the rest of their videos just go in one ear and out of the other because i'm lost... but you're the first person who didn't do that or make me feel stupid... i appreciate that so now i'm gonna go try it out lol thanks again

[leoamaya]

The art of art. The song my name is mud pops into my head & then I hear Bob Ross saying happy mistakes are a part of life, balance is key in a world of chaos & there can be no mistakes…..till the primus song comes back on.
Thank you for your priceless advice 💯

[mawi]

My tip is to watch you. And a few others. The best talent is on yt. And many of them do so much more than pour paint. There are some 'not so good ones' but they can be forgiven if they admit their inexperience, because this is all about the journey of learning to get there. And its a lot of fun watching you.

[charcoalanderson]

00:53 I love that one. it reminds me of a rust/ industrial environment.

[amieovington]

It’s a running family joke that I’m about 80-90% left brain so I’m not surprised you’re the one to finally make this stuff make sense. To keep it simple I knew that 2 primary colours were safe but as soon as the 3rd gets involved, you risk 💩 even in secondary and tertiary colours. This gives me so much more to work with 😃