Palette Layout Calculator — Organise Your Watercolours

Beginners: 6-8 colours. Intermediate: 12-16. Advanced: 18-24. A basic palette needs a warm and cool version of each primary (6 minimum), plus earth tones and a dark. More colours is not necessarily better — learn to mix first.

Colour temperature grouping (warm colours together, cool together) is most popular because it helps with colour mixing decisions. Spectrum order (following the colour wheel) is visually logical. Frequency order puts your most-used colours nearest your hand.

At least 3 large mixing wells, ideally more. This calculator budgets roughly one mixing well for every 2 pan slots (the generous end of the usual 1-per-2-to-3 guideline), with a floor of 3 wells. Deep wells are better than shallow — they hold more wash and prevent colours running together.

Yes — leave an empty slot or physical gap between warm and cool colours. This prevents accidental colour contamination when loading your brush. It also makes the grouping visually clear.

For half pans, the standard folding metal palette holds 12-24 pans. Porcelain palettes are excellent for mixing. For travel, the Winsor & Newton Cotman field palette holds 12 half pans. For studio work, a large ceramic palette with deep wells is ideal.