Colour theory for miniature painters

Colour theory is a handful of ideas about how colours relate to each other: which ones contrast, which ones sit together quietly, and how to make a model read clearly from across the table. This guide covers the basics, then explains how the colour wheel on The Painters Desk puts those ideas to work on real paints, and where it bends the textbook rules.

Hue, value and saturation

Every colour can be described three ways. Hue is the colour family: red, orange, blue and so on, the thing that goes around a colour wheel. Value (or lightness) is how light or dark it is. Saturation (or chroma) is how intense it is, from a vivid pure colour down to a dull grey.

Of the three, value matters most on a miniature. A model is small and usually seen from arm's length, so it is the contrast between light and dark that shows its shape. Squint at a model, or take a black and white photo of it: if the parts blur into one grey, they need more value contrast, whatever their hues. Saturation comes next: keep the strongest colour for the thing you want people to look at, and let the rest be a little duller.

Top: one hue, dark to light (value). Bottom: one hue, grey to intense (saturation).

The colour wheel

A colour wheel arranges hues in a circle, so every colour sits between its neighbours and opposite its complement. Painters traditionally learn a red, yellow and blue wheel (RYB), where red sits opposite green, yellow opposite purple and blue opposite orange. Screens use a red, green and blue wheel of light (RGB), which spaces the hues a little differently: there red sits opposite a blue-green, and yellow opposite a deep blue.

Neither is "correct". Both are models, and real paints are made from pigments that don't follow either one exactly. Mixing two complements together dulls them toward a brown or grey, which is why a thin glaze of the complement is a classic way to knock back a colour that is too bright, and why you get mud when complements mix by accident on a wet model.

Warm and cool. Reds, oranges and yellows feel warm and seem to come forward; blues, greens and violets feel cool and seem to sit back. Many painters shift the hue as well as the value along a ramp: cooler or more purple in the shadows, warmer or more yellow in the highlights. It makes a ramp look lit, rather than just darker and lighter.

Colour schemes

These are the classic ways to pick colours for a model or an army, with the Citadel paints nearest each hue as an example. The angles here are the same hue angles the colour wheel uses.

Complementary

Two hues opposite each other. The strongest contrast you can get from colour alone: blue armour with orange or brass trim, a green cloak with a red gem. Use one as the main colour and the other in small amounts so it draws the eye.

Citadel paints at these hues:

Analogous

Neighbouring hues. Calm and natural, and the easiest way to make a model look unified. Neighbours are also good for shading and highlighting: shift a little along the wheel as you go darker or lighter.

Citadel paints at these hues:

Split complementary

One hue plus the two on either side of its complement. Almost as lively as a complementary scheme but easier to balance, a good default for a squad or a character.

Citadel paints at these hues:

Triadic

Three hues evenly spaced. Bright and busy, so let one colour lead, use the second for large details and the third only for spot colour.

Citadel paints at these hues:

Two more worth knowing: a monochrome scheme uses one hue at many values (great for a single-colour army that still reads well), and a neutral plus accent scheme puts one strong colour against blacks, greys, browns and metals, which is how most grimdark armies are painted.

How The Painters Desk uses the colour wheel

Khorne RedGal Vorbak RedScreamer PinkJokaero OrangeRatskin FleshBugman's GlowMephiston RedBarak-Nar BurgundyPhoenician PurpleNaggaroth NightThe FangLupercal GreenCaliban GreenWaaagh! FleshDeath Korps DrabCastellan GreenDeath World ForestDeath Guard GreenOrruk FleshCaledor SkyThousand Sons BlueStegadon Scale GreenIncubi DarknessNocturne GreenIonrach SkinWraithboneMorghast BoneHobgrot HideSteel Legion DrabXV-88Mournfang BrownCatachan FleshThondia BrownRhinox HideCorvus BlackCelestra GreyDorn YellowPhalanx YellowFlash Gitz YellowYriel YellowLugganath OrangeFire Dragon BrightTrollslayer OrangeWild Rider RedSquig OrangeEvil Sunz ScarletWazdakka RedWord Bearers RedPink HorrorEmperor's ChildrenFulgrim PinkDechala LilacKakophoni PurpleGenestealer PurpleXereus PurpleBlue HorrorFenrisian GreyRuss GreyHoeth BlueTeclis BlueAlaitoc BlueThunderhawk BlueDark ReaperLothern BlueBaharroth BlueTemple Guard BlueAhriman BlueSotek GreenKabalite GreenSons of Horus GreenSybarite GreenGauss Blaster GreenSkarsnik GreenWarboss GreenWarpstone GlowMoot GreenVulkan GreenLoren ForestStraken GreenElysian GreenNurgling GreenOgryn CamoKrieg KhakiDeepkin FleshFlayed One FleshKislev FleshCadian FleshtoneUngor FleshT'au Light OchreBestigor FleshDeathclaw BrownSkrag BrownTuskgor FurKnight-Questor FleshScreaming SkullUshabti BoneTallarn SandBaneblade BrownBalor BrownGorthor BrownBloodreaver FleshDoombull BrownStormvermin FurUlthuan GreyEtherium BlueImrik BlueHexos PalesunRyza RustAstorath RedLucius LilacSkink BlueNiblet GreenTyrant SkullTerminatus StoneGolfag BrownSylvaneth BarkEldar FleshStormfangGolden GriffonWrack WhiteCarmine BladesBloodtoof RedChotec OrangeTa'unar OchreHawkshroud YellowPlague Toad VenomKruleboyz GreenLustria GreenHierotek GreenGreen MorkshroomSeraphon BlueCraventhrone CloakStormwolf BlueScinari BlueShalaxi VioletEnrapturess DuskHive Fleet PurpleMagnus the RedEye of TerrorCarthalos SkinCelestine SkinNecrolith BoneAverland SunsetKantor BlueNight Lords BlueMacragge BlueZandri DustCalgar BlueAltdorf Guard BlueKarak StoneZamesi DesertKhemri SandsMegaboss YellowBlue GorkshroomUltramar Blue

This is a small version of the site's wheel showing only Citadel's opaque paints, without the push-apart, so some dots overlap. Macragge Blue has the thick outline; its complements (across the dashed line) and its neighbours have thinner outlines.

Around the wheel: the paint's own hue. Each paint sits at the true hue angle of its swatch colour, measured the screen (RGB) way, with red at the top and the hues running clockwise through yellow, green, blue and purple. We don't squeeze the hues into a painter's RYB wheel, because that would mean bending every paint's real position by a different amount.

Centre to rim: lightness. Dark paints sit near the centre and light ones near the rim. The distance mixes each paint's lightness with its rank among the paints you're showing, so a crowd of mid tones still spreads out.

Push-apart. Hundreds of paints share some hues, so the dots are nudged apart until none overlap and then pulled gently back toward their true spot. A dot can end up a few degrees from its exact hue, but complements and neighbours are always worked out from the exact hues.

Neutrals. Paints with very little saturation, and near-blacks and near-whites, have no meaningful hue, so they go in the Neutrals, greys & whites list under the wheel instead.

Complements and neighbours. Tap a paint and the wheel picks up to six complements: the paints, from the ones you're showing, whose hue is within 22° of the exact opposite, closest first. It also picks up to six neighbours (analogous colours) within 25° of the paint's own hue. Both are chosen by hue only, so they can be lighter or darker than your paint: pick the value you need for the job, dark ones for shading and light ones for highlights. With Macragge Blue and all of Citadel's opaque paints, that gives:

Complements

Neighbours

The centre disc. The disc in the middle of the wheel blends from the complements, through your paint, out to its neighbours. Each side runs from dark to light and the two sides meet where their shades match, so you can see how the colours would grade into each other on a model.

Ramps and Blends. Ramps mode turns colour theory into steps: for non-metallic metal, object source lighting, gems, skin, zenithal and edge highlights and glazes it sets a target colour for each step (shifting hue and saturation as well as lightness, as described above) and finds the nearest opaque paint for each one. Blends mode lets you pin a few paints and fills the steps between them. Each technique has its own step-by-step guide with example ramps.

Matches between brands. When you tap a paint, its matches in other brands come two ways. A ✓ means a published conversion chart lists the pair (the Two Thin Coats comparison chart, Army Painter's Fanatic conversion chart, AK's 3rd Generation equivalence table and the Herrick Games chart). A ≈ means the nearest swatch colour, measured as ΔE: the straight-line distance between the two colours in CIELAB, a colour space built so equal distances look roughly equally different (the 1976 formula, often written ΔE76). Under about 6 is a close match, over about 15 is a loose one. Unlike complements, matches use lightness and saturation as well as hue.

Swatches are estimates. Every swatch is an estimate taken from manufacturer charts, swatch photos and comparison charts, and every screen shows colour a little differently. Finish (matt, satin, metallic), coverage and how a paint dries change how it looks too. Use the wheel to narrow down your choices, then check the real paints before you commit to a whole army.

Try it on the colour wheel

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