How to Build a Custom Watercolor Palette: A Guide for Creative Freedom

If you’ve ever opened a pre-made watercolor set and thought, “I never use half of these colors” — you’re not alone. Building your own custom watercolor palette is a game-changer. It lets you work with colors you actually love, tailor your palette to your painting style, and travel light without sacrificing creativity.

As a visual artist working in watercolor and mixed-media, I’ve found that a curated palette not only streamlines my process but also helps create visual harmony across my work. Here’s how to build your own, step by step.

1. Understand Your Artistic Needs

Before picking any colors, think about what you paint:

• Do you focus on landscapes, florals, portraits, or abstracts?

• Do you lean toward bright, bold hues or soft, earthy tones?

• Do you work mostly in the studio or on the go?

These answers will help shape the size, tone, and versatility of your custom palette.

2. Start with the Essentials: The Primary Trio

Begin with a warm and cool version of each primary color. This gives you a solid foundation and maximum mixing potential.

Suggested Primaries:

• Warm Yellow: New Gamboge or Quinacridone Gold

• Cool Yellow: Hansa Yellow Light or Lemon Yellow

• Warm Red: Pyrrol Scarlet or Vermilion

• Cool Red: Quinacridone Rose or Permanent Alizarin Crimson

• Warm Blue: French Ultramarine or Cobalt Blue

• Cool Blue: Phthalo Blue or Cerulean Blue

These six colors can mix an incredibly wide range of secondary hues (greens, purples, oranges) and neutrals.

3. Add Supporting Colors Based on Your Style

Now that you have the basics, you can expand with a few convenience colors or pigments you use often. Consider adding:

• Earth Tones: Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber, Yellow Ochre

• Greens: Sap Green, Green Gold (or mix your own)

• Purples: Cobalt Violet or a custom mix

• Neutrals: Payne’s Gray, Neutral Tint, Indigo

• A Pop Color: Something unique like Cobalt Teal, Opera Pink, or Moonglow

4. Think About Transparency, Granulation & Staining

To truly customize your palette, consider how colors behave:

• Transparency gives that classic watercolor glow.

• Granulating pigments create beautiful texture — ideal for landscapes and atmospheric effects.

• Staining colors are bold but harder to lift; non-staining colors are more forgiving for beginners.

Many artists mark their palette with these qualities to help during painting.

5. Choose Your Format: Pans vs. Tubes

• Half pans or full pans are great for portability. You can fill them with tube paints and let them dry.

• Tubes are best if you use a lot of paint or work on large pieces. You can squeeze out just what you need or pre-fill a mixing tray.

Pro Tip: Let tube paints dry in pans before traveling — most can be re-wet easily.

6. Arrange Thoughtfully for Workflow

Organize your palette in a way that makes sense visually:

• Group warms together, then cools.

• Arrange complementary colors near each other for easier mixing.

• Keep your neutrals or frequently used pigments near the center.

This helps you paint more intuitively and avoids muddy mixes.

7. Label Everything

If you're filling your own pans or palette, label the bottoms with the paint name and brand. This makes it easy to replace or reorder later. Trust me — once your beautiful custom palette is set, you’ll want to remember exactly what’s in it!

8. Test and Swatch Your Palette

Make a swatch card showing how each color looks on your paper. Include notes on transparency, granulation, and how it mixes. This reference becomes invaluable while you paint.

Final Thoughts: Your Palette, Your Voice

A custom watercolor palette is more than a set of colors — it’s a reflection of your unique voice as an artist. Over time, you may tweak it, swap in seasonal shades, or build specialty palettes for different projects. That’s the beauty of going custom.

So whether you're painting New York cityscapes, California coastlines, or abstract explorations in your sketchbook, your palette becomes your creative signature.