How to Paint an Easy Color Wheel

Nov 13

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As simple as it may seem, a color wheel is such an important tool to have in your studio. When used properly, you can easily mix paint colors to create new ones and create gorgeous art pieces that will stand out.

So in today’s tutorial, I am going to show you how you can make a fun color wheel for yourself!

Supplies Needed:

140 lb. Cold Press Watercolor Paper (I am using Canson)
Round watercolor brush in any size you choose. I used a Round 6 Princeton Snap! brush
Paint Palette or Old Ceramic Plate
Pencil
Three different sized bowls (large, medium, small) or a Helix Circle Maker
Watercolor paint in your primary colors (red, blue, & yellow). I am using Dots & Dust colors in Teacher’s Pet, Jungle Gym, & Pencils Down.
2 cups of water
Paper Towel

Start off by using your pencil to trace 3 different circles. The largest being on the outside, the medium-size next, and then tracing the smallest circle in the center (I use my handy Helix Circle Maker to create most of my circle outlines).
Working from the center, divide your circles into 12 equal wedges.
Starting from the very outside of the circle, we are going to paint our first wedge working from the darkest to the lightest value of your hue (color). So dip your paintbrush in your yellow paint of choice and paint in the first section. Make sure your outside section is the darkest. To achieve this, you want more paint than water on your paintbrush.
Now we will stay on that same wedge and gradually get lighter as we move towards the center of the circle. Dip your paintbrush that has yellow paint on it once into your jar of water and gently wipe the excess water off on the side of your jar.
Paint the middle section of the same wedge. You should notice that the value of your yellow hue is much lighter.
Dip your paintbrush once again into your water, wipe off the excess water on the jar, and paint the last section of your wedge. This hue should be the lightest of the three values on your wedge.
Moving clockwise on your color wheel, count four wedges down, and repeat steps 3-6 for your red color.
Count four wedges clockwise and repeat steps 3-6 for your blue color.
Now, it’s time to paint our remaining wedges. Let’s start with the ones between our blue and yellow wedges. Transfer some of your blue paint onto your clean paint palette or ceramic plate. Take a small amount of the yellow color and mix that with the blue that is already on your palette.
Pick up this new hue that you have just mixed and paint that on the outside section of the wedge adjacent to your blue wedge. Dip your paintbrush in your clean water to lighten the hue and continue to paint the wedge following the same procedure from steps 5 & 6.
For the next wedge, you are going to add some more yellow paint to that same mixture on your paint palette and paint the outside section of that wedge. Repeat steps 5 & 6.
Repeat steps 9 & 10 for the remainder of your color wheel.