Color Study: Simplify Painting

Color Study is a tool for artists to simplify images, study color and value, and accurately match colors through paint mixing. Load any photo and reduce it to clear shapes and essential color information.

Color Study generates a clear color map of your reference and provides guidance for mixing paints to match the colors you see, giving you a practical guide you can use at the easel or in study. Focus on the fundamentals that matter in drawing and painting.

Made for artists

Core tools:
• Accurate color picker with magnification and pixel averaging options
• Place and customize color markers directly on your reference
• Inspect value, saturation, and color codes (RGB, HSV, HSL, CMYK, LAB)
• Automatically extract key colors and accents in an image, and mark their locations
• Compare colors to assess value, relative temperature, saturation, and perceptual difference
• Customizable grid overlay for precise alignment

Advanced tools:
• Interactive value maps, shape simplification, temperature maps and notan controls
• Paint-mixing guidance designed for opaque paints, with real-time feedback from photographed mixes
• Export analysis views and color maps as images for reference or study
• Advanced grid controls for precision alignment and subdivision
• Generate simplified line drawings and contour maps to clarify structure, edges, and major shapes
• Organize your work into projects with images, paint palettes, and artwork details

Advanced tools available with subscription.

Train your artistic eye

Color Study is not a design tool or palette generator. It is a learning tool for painters, illustrators, and art students who want to analyze what they see and make better decisions in their artwork.

Study master paintings, analyze your own photos, and deepen your understanding of value structure, color harmony, and visual design.

Recent changes:
Improvements and bug fixes.