- Level
- Beginner
- Time
- 2 to 3 hours, plus drying
- Rough budget
- $12-$25
You will paint a series of cardstock pages, each showing one hue stepped from near-white to near-black in seven even steps. Bound together with a ring or ribbon, they become a pocket reference for choosing lighter and darker versions of any color.
Value, meaning how light or dark a color is, does more work in a room or a painting than hue does. Painting the steps yourself teaches your eye to spot the differences and shows how tints, shades, and tones behave.
Project palette
Explore in Palette Builder Compare these colors
Materials
- 6 sheets of white cardstock, cut into 4 x 6 inch pages
- 3 small tubes of acrylic or gouache in colors of your choice, such as a red, a yellow, and a blue
- 1 tube of white and 1 tube of black paint
- 1 flat brush, about 1/2 inch wide
- 1 pencil, 1 ruler, and 1 fine-tip pen
- 1 hole punch
- 1 binder ring or about 24 inches of ribbon
- 1 paper plate and a plastic knife for mixing
- 1 jar of water and paper towels
Steps
Mark the steps
On each card, pencil seven boxes in a column, each about 3/4 inch tall, leaving a margin on the left for labels.
Paint the center box
Fill the fourth box with the pure hue straight from the tube. This is your anchor, and every other step is measured against it.
Mix the tints
Add white to your base color in three stages: a small amount, about equal parts, then mostly white. Paint boxes three, two, and one in that order, moving from mid to light.
Mix the shades
Add a tiny dot of black to your base color for box five, a bit more for six, and more still for seven. Black is strong, so add it on the tip of a knife.
Make a tone page
On one extra card, mix a mid-gray from white and black. Blend a little into the base color in three stages to see how tones soften intensity without simply lightening.
Let the cards dry
Allow 30 minutes for acrylic, or until the surface no longer feels cool or tacky.
Label each step
Using the fine-tip pen, write T1 to T3 for tints, the hue name for the center, and S1 to S3 for shades. Add the approximate mix ratio next to each box.
Bind the book
Punch a hole in one corner of each card, stack them in order, and thread a ring or ribbon through.
Why these colors work
A tint is a hue mixed with white, a shade is a hue mixed with black, and a tone is a hue mixed with gray. All three keep the same position on the color wheel, so cobalt blue and its tints and shades share one hue angle. Only lightness and, in the case of tones, saturation shift.
Editorial suggestion: Keep a swatch card next to any paint chip you are considering. Many painters pick one step deeper than the one they first like.
Mistakes to avoid
Uneven steps
If one box jumps much more than the others, the scale looks broken. Compare neighbors before painting.
Too much black
Black can swallow a hue in two or three drops. Add it very slowly, or use a deep complementary color for richer shades.
Thin, streaky coverage
One watery coat shows brush marks. Apply two thin coats, letting the first dry between layers.
Ignoring the gray page
Skipping tones leaves out the colors that look most sophisticated in a room. Include at least one tone page.
Palette variations
- Use a warm set built on terracotta (#C75B39) with a tint of #F2C9B5 and a shade of #5A2415.
- Make a green book from sage (#87A878), pale mint (#D7E8D0), and forest (#1F3A2A).
- Try a purple book from violet (#6B4BA8), lavender (#D4C8EC), and plum (#2E1A47).
Safety
Use paints labeled non-toxic, wash your hands after painting, and take care with the hole punch so fingers stay clear of the blades.