Color Wheel Palette

The Color Wheel Palette is a systematic and efficient palette that is based on color theory. Let’s take a look at what, why, and what colors is best for making a Color Wheel Palette.

What is a Color Wheel Palette?

A Color Wheel Palette is a palette consisting of 12 colors (usually). The 12 colors hit the 12 spots around the color wheel. Most crucially, the 12 colors can be made into 6 pairs of colors that perfectly neutralise each other (= turn grey/black when mixed together). Having all 12 spots on the color wheel represented in your palette and ensuring that they all have colors that can neutralise them will make color mixing super easy for you. It also helps you avoid ‘mud’ colors when you don’t want them.

You can have the Color Wheel Palette as a stand alone palette, or use it as a framework for organising your other colors into the palette. Even when you add other colors, as long as they are placed into the palette in chromatic order, it’s very easy to figure out what color will neutralise the new colors.

Why use a Color Wheel Palette?

The Color Wheel Palette system was created principally with ease of color mixing in mind. If you have ever been frustrated by not being able to mix the color you want, or get surprising unwanted mixing result, then this palette and understanding how to use it will make your life so much simpler. It helps to understand easily what colors to avoid mixing together if you don’t want your colors to ‘turn into mud’, turn a color darker, or create the perfect shadow color.

What Colors are Best for the Color Wheel Palette?

Below are list of colors that I would personally select for a Color Wheel Palette. However, as always, these are only suggestions and you are welcome to (and should) adapt it to work for you. The only thing you need to remember is – whatever color you replace, ensure you pair it with a color that can neutralise the new color perfectly. If you stick with that for the 12 wells, then the Color Wheel Palette will continue to keep working for you.

As these colors need thorough testing, it takes time for me to come up with single-brand Color Wheel Palettes. I will update this page as I discover new ones. Also, some brands do not have the right color range to create a single brand Color Wheel Palette.

Mixed Brands – this is the set of colors I personally use in my own studio palette:

QoR Color Wheel Palette

M. Graham Color Wheel Palette