The Best Way to Choose Colors for New Watercolor Palettes

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With the vast array of paint colors available, how do I know which to bring into my new watercolor palette? How many colors do I really need to buy? Is there a "right" way to organize paint colors on a new palette?


As beginner painters, many of us use ready to buy paint sets made up of colors that have been chosen for us based on what the brand believes is most convenient, or based on another artist's tastes.

These are perfectly fine paint sets to use when we're just starting to build up our skills. 

However, once these basic skills are built up, it is essential for any artist who is looking to make deeper progress, to start making personal choices when it comes to the tools we choose to bring into our creative process, so that we can make our work a true extension of ourselves. 

In this blog post (and the video included), I explain my favorite method for choosing the colors I'll be bringing into a new paint palette. 

Whether you enjoy painting landscapes, still lifes, animals, portraits or anything else, this method will set you up for success with all the colors you need. 


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What is the Split Primary method?


The Split Primary method involves selecting six primary colors: a warm and cool version of each of the primary colors—red, yellow, and blue.

This approach gives you a broad range of color mixing possibilities, allowing you to create nearly any color you need with just these six paint colors.


Why it’s so helpful:
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• Versatility: With both warm and cool versions of each primary, you can mix a wide variety of hues, from vibrant oranges, purples and greens to subtle grays and browns.
• Efficiency: By limiting your palette to these six primaries, you simplify your choices and reduce the risk of muddy colors, which can happen when you mix too many different paints together.
• Foundation for Growth: As you progress in your watercolor journey, you can easily expand your palette by adding convenience colors that complement your primaries.
• Cohesive + Harmonious Results: By using a limited amount of colors and thinking of ways to repeat your colors in your mixes, as well as throughout your paintings, you'll create cohesive results. 

How to Choose Your Six Primary Colors


When choosing your six primaries, it’s important to understand the difference between warm and cool colors:

• Warm Red: Think of a red with a slight yellow undertone, like Cadmium Red or Scarlet Lake.
• Cool Red: A red with a blue undertone, such as Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose.
• Warm Yellow: A yellow with a hint of orange, like Cadmium Yellow Deep or Indian Yellow.
• Cool Yellow: A lemony yellow with a greenish tint, such as Lemon Yellow or Hansa Yellow Light.
• Warm Blue: A blue that leans toward purple, like Ultramarine Blue or French Ultramarine.
• Cool Blue: A blue with a hint of green, like Phthalo Blue or Prussian Blue.

​*I explain how to tell between warm and cool colors in this video. 

With only these six colors, you'll be able to create pretty much any color you may need, whether you need saturated or muted secondary or tertiary colors, and all kinds of neutrals, from warm and cool browns, to warm and cool grays. 

However, it's good to bring in convenience colors such as browns and secondaries we love into our palettes, alongside our 6 primaries. 

This way, we can have those colors readily available and we avoid running out of our primaries too quickly. 

In the video below, I share which convenience colors I like to bring into my palettes. 

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Examples of warm and cool primaries.

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If you enjoyed this video and found it helpful, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel. I share a brand new video every week with art tips, drawing and painting tutorials and mindset/productivity tips for artists. *Subscribe HERE*



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Adding Convenience Colors

Once you have your six primaries, you can start adding convenience colors to your palette. Convenience colors are pre-mixed hues that can save you time when painting.

Here are some examples:

• Secondary Colors: You might decide to bring in a ready-made orange, green, purple or even pink you love. 
• Neutrals: A gray (such as Payne's Gray) or a brown (like Burnt Sienna or Burnt Umber) can be very useful for mixing shadow colors or to mute down other colors. 
• Paint colors with distinctive characteristics: If you've found specific colors that you enjoy using because they create beautiful effects, such as granulating colors like Ultramarine Blue or Undersea Green (Daniel Smith), add them to your palette! They will help bring a distinctive characteristic to your work. *I talk more about watercolor's must know characteristics in this blog post. 

*Important note: Don't be afraid to bring in colors from different brands, as long as they are both the same quality. Keep professional grade paint separate from student grade paint. I personally have professional grade paint palettes and student grade paint palettes in my studio. 

Remember, you don’t need more than 12 colors in your palette. Keeping your color palette simple will not only help you learn color mixing faster, but will lead to more cohesive, harmonious results.  
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Color chart for palette with 12 colors based on the Split Primary Method.

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​Supplies used in video
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Van Gogh Watercolor Tubes 10 ml

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Royal & Langnickel Zen Watercolor Brushes

Baohong Academy Cold Pressed 10.2x7" 300 GSM 100%

Scott Shop Absorbent Towels

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For a full list of my current favorite art supplies, go here.

Keep It Simple 


When we're just starting out with watercolor, it may seem like we need lots of different colors to create great looking paintings, but this couldn't be further from the truth.

Having lots of colors, especially when you haven't learned Color Theory and aren't comfortable with color mixing, is a recipe for overwhelm and frustration. 

And, yes, there are artists out there who have many colors in their palettes and there are others who have fewer. We all have different ways of working. 

What's most important to remember though, is that skilled artists choose their colors with intention, not out of whim. 

They know Color Theory as an art fundamental and they have enough experience to know their paint colors, as well as what effects they personally enjoy. 

If you'd like to speed up your learning, I teach you everything you have to know about Color Theory in this course.

​It's one of my most popular courses on Skillshare and you can get it for only $25 over on my Gumroad page. 


I hope this post was helpful. 

​Happy painting!

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