The palettes the phone had before these carried up to 24 paints, repeated colours between stacks, and put every colour down at full strength. The first palette had four inks, each in three strengths. These proposals go back to that, and all four are now the palettes in the app.
Every card below is drawn at the size it has on the phone: 300 points of colour and the water beside it. A strength is drawn the way the app draws one, as that density of pigment on the paper, not as the colour faded toward white. Mixes are real pigment mixes worked out with spectral.js, shown at full strength and as a wash. Pigment colours are screen approximations of the paint straight from the tube.
What the phone had before
Too many colours, the same colours more than once, and no dilution. Every swatch paints at full strength, so a mark lands dense and there is no pale, refined colour to reach for.
| Palette | Stacks | Slots | Different colours | Strengths | Repeated in more than one stack | Closest two colours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Complementary | 4 | 20 | 16 | 1 | Araishu (2), Kogecha (2), Odo (2), Nibiiro (2) | Nibiiro and Ginnezumi, ΔE 30 |
| Traditional | 4 | 20 | 16 | 1 | Mizu (2), Tsuchi (2), Kincha (2), Nibi (2) | Bengara and Beni, ΔE 13 |
| Wide gamut | 4 | 20 | 20 | 1 | none | Shu and Bengara, ΔE 13 |
| 静 Quiet | 4 | 20 | 16 | 1 | Taisha (2), Fukamidori (2), Rokusho (2), Enji (2) | Susutake and Kogecha, ΔE 15 |
| By subject | 6 | 30 | 24 | 1 | Payne's Gray (2), Burnt Umber (2), Raw Sienna (2), Yellow Ochre (2), Permanent Sap Green (2), Cadmium-free Red (2) | Lemon Yellow and Hansa Yellow, ΔE 7 |
| Common palettes | 7 | 35 | 15 | 1 | French Ultramarine (3), Burnt Sienna (4), Yellow Ochre (3), Payne's Gray (4), Cadmium-free Red (3), Permanent Rose (3), Phthalo Blue (2), Hansa Yellow (2), Ivory Black (4), Indanthrene Blue (2) | Lemon Yellow and Hansa Yellow, ΔE 7 |
ΔE is the distance between two colours as the eye sees it. Under 10, two swatches are hard to tell apart on a phone.
Where it started
Four sets, each a stick of ink in three dilutions and one mineral colour beside it, and water. This is how a sumi-e or nihonga palette is laid out.
Sumi
Noboku · Chuboku · Tanboku · Shu
Ai
Koai · Nakaai · Usuai · Enji
Gunjo
Konjo · Gunjo · Byakugun · Rokusho
Taisha
Koutaisha · Taisha · Usutaisha · Odo
4 sets, 8 pigments, 16 swatches. Closest two swatches: Usuai and Byakugun, ΔE 6 (hard to tell apart).
The same shape with six sets. The last palette before the pairs, the well, the tin and the stacks. Every set still had its three strengths.
Ink
Noboku · Chuboku · Tanboku · Shu
Indigo
Koai · Nakaai · Usuai · Odo
Verdigris
Korokusho · Rokusho · Usuroku · Taisha
Plum
Komurasaki · Murasaki · Usumurasaki · Byakuroku
Safflower
Kobeni · Beni · Usubeni · Wakaba
Pale Blue
Koasagi · Asagi · Usuasagi · Yamabuki
6 sets, 12 pigments, 24 swatches. Closest two swatches: Usuroku and Byakuroku, ΔE 9 (hard to tell apart).
Proposals
The shape of the first palette, with the colours it had then. Four cards. Each holds one ink in three strengths and a second colour in two.
Swipe between four cards. Nothing new to learn: a card is still five colours and water.
Sumi and Shu
Sumi full · Sumi wash · Sumi pale · Shu full · Shu pale
Gunjo and Odo
Gunjo full · Gunjo wash · Gunjo pale · Odo full · Odo pale
Rokusho and Taisha
Rokusho full · Rokusho wash · Rokusho pale · Taisha full · Taisha pale
Beni and Wakaba
Beni full · Beni wash · Beni pale · Wakaba full · Wakaba pale
8 pigments, 20 swatches, 4 cards. Closest two swatches: Shu pale and Beni pale, ΔE 10.
Five watercolours that mix into almost anything: a yellow, a rose, a blue, an earth and a dark. The same five on every card, and each card is one strength.
Swipe right and the same colours get lighter. Each colour stays in the same place, so the hand learns where it is.
Full
Hansa Yellow full · Permanent Rose full · French Ultramarine full · Burnt Sienna full · Ivory Black full
Wash
Hansa Yellow wash · Permanent Rose wash · French Ultramarine wash · Burnt Sienna wash · Ivory Black wash
Pale
Hansa Yellow pale · Permanent Rose pale · French Ultramarine pale · Burnt Sienna pale · Ivory Black pale
5 pigments, 15 swatches, 3 cards. Closest two swatches: Hansa Yellow full and Hansa Yellow wash, ΔE 17.
The quietest one. Sumi in three strengths, with vermilion and indigo already thinned to a wash. One card, nothing to swipe.
One card. The bar never moves, so painting is only the brush, the water and the sheet.
Sumi, Shu and Ai
Sumi full · Sumi wash · Sumi pale · Shu wash · Ai wash
3 pigments, 5 swatches, 1 card. Closest two swatches: Sumi wash and Ai wash, ΔE 20.
Five paints a landscape painter lays out, and the palette opens on their washes rather than on full strength, which is how watercolour is usually begun.
Two cards: Wash first, Full behind it for the last darks.
Wash
Yellow Ochre wash · Permanent Sap Green wash · Cerulean Blue wash · Alizarin Crimson wash · Payne's Gray wash
Full
Yellow Ochre full · Permanent Sap Green full · Cerulean Blue full · Alizarin Crimson full · Payne's Gray full
5 pigments, 10 swatches, 2 cards. Closest two swatches: Cerulean Blue wash and Cerulean Blue full, ΔE 15.