Now that we’ve swatched out all the colors in our palette, the next step is to create a mini color wheel. This simple exercise helps you understand how your paints interact and gives you a go-to reference for mixing shadow colors and avoiding muddy tones.

Why Make a Color Wheel?

By placing your primary and secondary colors in a circle, you can visually understand how colors relate to one another. It’s especially helpful for watercolor beginners because it shows you which combinations will mix well—and which ones might turn to mud if you're not careful.

How to Build Your Color Wheel

To start, grab your swatch paper again. We’ll be working with our yellows, reds, blues, and greens. You don’t need to include every single color in your palette—just pick one or two from each color family. If your set only includes one blue or one yellow, that’s totally fine! The key is to keep it simple.

Here’s how I set up my color wheel based on a clock visual:

• 12:00 – Start with your first yellow, painting a small stripe at the top.
  
  
• 1:00 – Add your second yellow (if you have one).
  
  
• 3:00 – Use your orangey red here. Even if it looks orange, treat it as a red for this exercise.
  
  
• 4–5:00 – Place your second red, maybe one that leans a bit more purple.
  
  
• 6:00 – Your first blue goes directly across from the yellow at the bottom.
  
  
• 7–8:00 – Add your second blue if you have one.
  
  
• 9:00 – This is a good spot for your first green.
  
  
• 10–11:00 – Place your second green here.
  
  

This becomes your cheat sheet for understanding color relationships. You’ll see where complementary colors live directly across from one another (like blue and orange, or red and green), which is really helpful when you’re mixing shadows.

Why Do Watercolors Turn Muddy?

The biggest mistake watercolor beginners make is accidentally mixing colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel. When you combine a strong blue with a warm yellow-orange, for example, you’ll get a muddy gray or brown. This can be frustrating unless you’re intentionally trying to make shadows or earth tones.

Here’s the good news: muddy colors can actually be beautiful and useful when you want more lifelike tones. For example, if you want a foresty green, you can mix a little red into your green to tone it down. It’s a simple trick that adds dimension and realism to your work.

Let’s Mix a Shadow Color Together

Let’s do a quick exercise to mix our own custom shadow color. For this example, I’m going to mix the orange-red color with a deep blue.

1. Dip your brush into the orange and smear it into your mixing area.
   
   
2. Clean your brush completely.
   
   
3. Pick up a tiny bit of blue—this color is really strong, so you won’t need much.
   
   
4. Mix the two colors together. Adjust by adding a bit more orange or blue until you get a soft gray.
   

For my mix, I found that a 70/30 ratio of orange to blue worked well. Your ratio may vary based on the strength or coloring of your paints, so feel free to experiment!

Your Turn: Shadow Mixing Practice

If you have a few minutes, try this:

• Mix one of your greens with one of your reds.
  
• Try a bluish green with a warm red-orange.
  
• Compare the different shadow colors you make and note which ones feel soft, bold, or earthy.
  

This is such a fun and useful practice—and it will absolutely make your recipe doodles and watercolor illustrations stronger and more vibrant.

See you in the next step, where we’ll start outlining the pen drawing of our doodle!