Pick a paint
Mephiston Red
Citadel
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The full scheme
A four-part starting palette: your base, its complement, a neutral anchor, and a highlight. Swap any card below and this updates live.
Base plus its scheme picks at their true hue angles. Hover a dot for the paint; tap one to open its card.
The color wheel for miniature paints
A color wheel maps every hue around a circle, so paints sitting opposite each other are complements and paints sitting close together are analogous. This tool plots your chosen paint and its scheme partners at their real hue angles, computed from measured color, so you can read the relationships at a glance. The same idea works whether you paint Citadel, Vallejo, or The Army Painter, because a color wheel for miniature painting cares only about the color itself, not the label on the pot. Want a citadel color wheel to plan a squad, or an army painter color wheel to match a wash to a base coat? Pick that paint and the wheel updates live. Complements give the boldest focal contrast, which is why a warm base often reads best with a cool accent straight across the wheel. Hobby ranges cover the whole ring, from reds and fleshtones through greens, blues, and muted earths, so most schemes are just a few points on one circle.
Tap any card for ranked alternatives you can swap in. The smallopens that paint's page.
Complement
Opposite side of the wheel: the strongest contrast for focal points and lenses.
Triad partners
Two evenly spaced hues for a balanced, high-energy three-color scheme.
Analogous neighbors
Nearby hues for smooth, low-contrast shading and zenithal blends.
Neutral anchor
Grey, black, or bone to ground the scheme and rest the eye.
Highlight and shade ladder
Same brand and same finish class, one step lighter and one step darker. Tap for other rungs.
How these picks are chosen
01
Color theory, applied
Complement, triad, and analogous relationships are computed from each paint's measured hex, not guessed.
02
Finish stays honest
A close color in the wrong finish class is badged, because a metallic and a flat brown are not interchangeable.
03
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.
Use it as a color scheme generator
This free tool doubles as a color scheme generator for miniature painters. If you are staring at a bare model and need a starting palette, pick one paint you want to build around and let the tool propose the rest. It reads the color you chose and returns a scheme that holds together: the complement for a focal accent, triad partners for a bolder three-color look, analogous neighbors for smooth shading, a neutral to ground everything, and a highlight and shade rung in the same paint line.
It works well as a Warhammer color scheme generator or an army scheme picker, since most army palettes are built the same way: one anchor color, one or two contrast colors, and a metal or neutral to tie the unit together. Start from your faction color, or from a single paint you know you own, and swap any suggested slot for a ranked alternative until the palette feels right. Every suggestion is computed from measured color, and the finish class stays visible, so a metallic or a wash is never handed to you as a flat scheme mate. Treat the result as a tested starting point, then adjust to taste on the model.