PaintCue

Mix the color you actually see.

Take a photo of the color you want and one of your mix. PaintCue tells you what’s off and which paint to add next, from the paints on your table.

Coming soonApp StoreComing soonGoogle Play

iPhone and Android · Works offline

01 Match a color

See which paint to add next.

Photograph the color you’re after, from life, a print or a reference photo, then your mix. PaintCue puts the two side by side and checks lightness, strength and hue one at a time, so you know which one is off.

Tap white paper in the photo and it corrects for warm or cool light
One clear next step, with the reason, and a follow-up if needed
Check again after each change and see if you’re getting closer

PaintCue Match a color, step 2: tap your paint mix, on a photo of a yellow-green paint swatch on white paper

PaintCue result: an olive target taken from a photo of a sage-green jug, next to a vivid yellow-green mix. Verdict Still a way off: too light, too vivid, hue looks right. Try next: add a little burnt umber or dark red

02 Built-in lessons

Paint a whole picture, one stage at a time.

Two free lessons come with the app. Each stage shows the canvas as it should look, which paints to use, and why that stage comes when it does. Step through them here.

A white jug, a whole lemon and a cut lemon on a blue-gray cloth.

7Highlights and details

When it’s done: Highlights and dark accents finish the forms.

The lightest lights and darkest accents go last so they stay crisp.

Both lessons are free, work offline, and come in English and Simplified Chinese. The reference and stage pictures are AI-generated, made by LifeVen for these lessons.

03 My paints

Advice in the paints you own.

Tell PaintCue what’s in your box, a 12-color set or the exact tubes you bought, and every suggestion uses only those. If the best fix is a paint you don’t have, it shows you how to mix it from two you do.

Sets from 5 to 48 colors, or tick your own tubes
Tap any paint to learn what it is and what it’s good for
Acrylic, with a watercolor mode that lightens with water

PaintCue My paints for acrylic with a 12-color set selected

PaintCue paint explanation for burnt umber: a dark, cool brown made from earth that darkens and calms colors at the same time

04 Study a reference

See the light and the big shapes before you paint.

Open a reference photo and switch views on the same picture. Light & shadow sorts it into two, three or five tones. Simplify turns it into a handful of shapes, or up to sixty. Tap any color or shape to start mixing it.

OriginalTap to pick a color
Light & shadow2, 3 or 5 tones
SimplifyFrom 2 to 60 shapes

05 Colors

Mix it once, keep the recipe.

Save a color when it matches. It keeps the target, every check you made and a recipe in rough parts, with a note in your own words. Next time, open it and keep mixing from where you stopped.

All your saved colors in one grid, with their paint type
Recipes in rough parts, like 3 yellow-green, 1 burnt umber, 1 white
Keep mixing picks up again with the same target photo

PaintCue Colors tab: saved colors Sage jug, Pear yellow, Pear russet, Linen and Walnut table

A saved color named Sage jug with its check and a recipe of 1 part white, 3 parts yellow-green and 1 part burnt umber, plus a note

06 English and 简体中文

Every screen and every tip, in two languages.

The whole app, from the advice to the paint names to both lessons, is written in English and Simplified Chinese. It follows your phone’s language, or you can switch in the app at any time.

拍下想要的颜色和你调的颜色，PaintCue 告诉你差在哪里、下一步加什么颜料。

The same PaintCue result screen in Simplified Chinese: 差得还比较远, add a little burnt umber (熟褐) or dark red (深红)

Your photos stay on your phone.

Works offlineMatching, studying, saving and the lessons run on the phone, at the easel or anywhere else.
Start in secondsOpen the app and start mixing. Pick your paints whenever you’re ready.
Your colors, keptSaved colors, recipes and target photos wait in the app for your next session.

Questions about mixing with PaintCue

How does PaintCue match a paint color?

Take a photo of the color you want, then a photo of your mix. If you tap a piece of white paper in each photo, PaintCue corrects for the light. It compares the two and tells you whether the mix is lighter or darker, too vivid or too dull, and which way the hue is off, then names one paint to add next and why. Check again after each change until it says you’re close.

Does it only suggest paints I own?

Yes. Pick a set in My paints (from 5 to 48 colors) or tick your own tubes. Advice uses only those paints. If the best fix is a paint you don’t have, PaintCue says how to mix it from two you do.

Which paints does it work with?

PaintCue is made for acrylic, and also has a watercolor mode. In watercolor it lightens with water instead of white and reminds you that watercolor dries lighter.

What is in the free lessons?

Two lessons come with the app: white jug and lemons (7 stages) and mountain lake (6 stages). Each stage has a picture of the canvas, what it should look like when you’re done, and why it comes when it does. They work offline.

Is the app available in Chinese?

Yes. Every screen, every piece of advice and both lessons are in English and Simplified Chinese. PaintCue follows your phone’s language, or you can switch it in the app.

Does PaintCue work offline?

Yes. Matching, studying a reference, saved colors and the lessons all work offline, and you can start mixing as soon as you open the app. Your photos, saved colors and recipes stay on your phone.

Can it tell me the color of a spot in a reference photo?

Yes. Open the photo in Study a reference and tap anywhere to pick a color, or a shape in Simplify. Then tap Mix this color and PaintCue takes you straight to matching it.

What colors make brown? How to mix brown paint

Mix two opposite colors, or all three primaries, and you get brown. Recipes for warm, dark, light and grayish browns, and how to keep a brown from turning muddy.

How to mix skin tones with acrylic paint

Mix light, medium, olive and deep skin tones from a few paints: white, yellow ochre, red, burnt sienna, burnt umber and ultramarine. How to adjust warmth, shadows and highlights.

How to mix gray paint without black

Mix two opposite colors, such as ultramarine and burnt sienna, then add white. How to make neutral, warm and cool grays that fit the rest of your painting.

How to mix olive green and other muted greens

Tube greens are much brighter than the greens in leaves and landscapes. Mix olive, sage and moss from yellow and blue, or calm a bright green with a little red.

How to make a paint color less bright or saturated

Work out whether the mix is too light or too vivid, then add a little of the opposite color. A table of what calms each color, and when black helps.

Does acrylic paint dry darker? Why, and how to match a color

Acrylic binder is milky while wet and clears as it dries, so most colors end up darker. How to test a dry swatch, compare fairly, and mix a color that still matches.

Acrylic painting step by step: a still life in seven stages

Tone the canvas, put the darks in first, block in flat local colors, then turn the forms and finish with highlights. A seven-stage plan for a simple acrylic still life.