Paint scheme tool

Pick a color. Get a scheme that goes together.

Choose any paint and the tool builds a full palette around it: its complement and triad partners for contrast, analogous neighbors for shading, a neutral anchor to ground it, and a highlight and shade ladder in the same line. Finish type stays visible, so a metallic or wash is never passed off as a flat-opaque scheme mate.

Scheme builder Paint converter

Pick a paint

BrandSearchPaint

Mephiston Red

Citadel

Opaque acrylic

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The full scheme

A four-part starting palette: your base, its complement, a neutral anchor, and a highlight.

BaseMephiston Red ComplementDark Reaper NeutralWhite Scar HighlightEvil Sunz Scarlet

Complement

Opposite side of the wheel: the strongest contrast for focal points and lenses.

Dark Reapercitadel · #354D4CLayer

Triad partners

Two evenly spaced hues for a balanced, high-energy three-color scheme.

Moot Greencitadel · #3DAF44Layer Daemonette Hidecitadel · #655F81Base

Analogous neighbors

Nearby hues for smooth, low-contrast shading and zenithal blends.

Pink Horrorcitadel · #8E2757Layer Skrag Browncitadel · #8B4806Layer Zandri Dustcitadel · #988E56Base

Neutral anchor

Grey, black, or bone to ground the scheme and rest the eye.

White Scarcitadel · #FDFDFDLayer

Highlight and shade ladder

Same brand and same finish class, one step lighter and one step darker.

HighlightEvil Sunz Scarletcitadel · #C01411Layer

Base color

Mephiston RedBase · #960C09

ShadeWazdakka Redcitadel · #880804Layer

How these picks are chosen

Every suggestion is computed from measured hex values. The complement sits opposite your paint on the color wheel, triad partners are spaced a third of the way around, and analogous neighbors sit just beside it. Same-brand paints are preferred, and a cross-brand pick is labeled when your brand has no close option. A finish warning means the color works but the paint behaves differently, so it is not a drop-in scheme mate.

Turn on JavaScript for the scheme builder

The interactive scheme builder needs JavaScript. In the meantime, every paint page carries its own ready-made pairings, complement, neutral, and highlight and shade ladder, rendered as plain HTML. Start from a range and open any color:

Color theory, applied

Complement, triad, and analogous relationships are computed from each paint's measured hex, not guessed.

Finish stays honest

A close color in the wrong finish class is badged, because a metallic and a flat brown are not interchangeable.

One more click

Every swatch links to its paint record, its cross-brand equivalents, and an Amazon search for the exact pot.

Want the closest cross-brand equivalent instead of a scheme? Use the paint converter. Or browse the brands and ranges.