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color mixing

How to Mix Colors in ibisPaint

Use ibisPaint’s Water brush type to blend colors on the canvas, then refine the transition with intermediate shades and the Eyedropper.

By ThatPainter Team 7 min read
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To blend two painted colors in ibisPaint, put them next to each other and use a brush configured with the Water brush type. Adjust Color Mix, Wetness and Dragging, then make short strokes across their boundary. The Color window selects or constructs a color; it does not automatically mix two canvas swatches.

Blend two colors on the canvas

  1. Paint the first color on the canvas, then paint the second beside it so their edges meet or overlap slightly. For practice, use a separate layer or an unused area of the canvas.
  2. Open the Brush window and tap its brush-settings control, shown as > in ibisPaint’s instructions.
  3. Open the Type tab and select Water, if that brush offers the option.
  4. Adjust Color Mix, Wetness and Dragging to suit the brush and the result you want.
  5. Stroke back and forth across the color boundary in short passes. Stop to assess the transition before adding more strokes; repeated scrubbing can muddy it.
  6. Use the Eyedropper to sample a useful intermediate color if you want to repaint or refine the transition more predictably.

ibisPaint documents Water as a brush type that can mix a stroke with the color underneath. Its effect depends on the brush, opacity, size, layer arrangement and other settings, so there is no single slider value that works for every brush. See ibisPaint’s brush-parameter guide.

What the mixing controls do

Control What it changes When to adjust it
Color Mix How strongly the new stroke mixes with the color below. Raise it gradually if the brush mostly paints over the other color rather than blending with it.
Wetness How much the painted and underlying colors are combined. ibisPaint notes that higher Wetness makes the result lighter. Increase it for a more diluted, lighter effect; reduce it if the blend becomes too pale.
Dragging How much the painted color extends without changing its opacity. Adjust it when you want to pull color farther across the canvas rather than deposit more color.
Opacity How opaque the brush stroke is. Lower it for gradual buildup; raise it slightly if the result is too weak or transparent.
Brush size The width of the stroke. Use a broader brush for a wide transition and a smaller one for controlled edge work.

The official guide explains the three Water controls but does not prescribe universal values. Change one control at a time and test on a practice area, because brush texture and other settings also affect the result.

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Make a smoother transition

For a soft gradient, work in light passes rather than trying to blend the entire transition with one heavy stroke. A reliable approach is to place the two base colors, soften only their boundary with a large soft Water brush, and then add deliberate intermediate shades where the transition still looks abrupt.

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  1. Use several light strokes across the boundary, occasionally changing direction so one color does not take over.
  2. Sample a color from the transition with the Eyedropper.
  3. Paint that sampled shade in a narrow band between the original colors.
  4. If needed, sample another point and add a second, narrower band.

This method gives you more control than continuous blending alone. It works for soft shading and painterly transitions; for a broad, uniform fade, the Gradient tool may be more predictable, though less organic.

Choose colors in the Color window

Use the Color window when you want to select a specific color, not to blend existing paint. With the Brush tool selected, tap the square color icon on the Main Toolbar. The window offers a Color Circle, HSB and RGB controls, opacity adjustment and hexadecimal color entry. Its palette stores colors you want to reuse, while Color History keeps recently used colors. ibisPaint says Color History can hold up to 100 colors, with newer entries toward the left. You can drag the current color into an open palette slot. Details are in ibisPaint’s Color window tutorial.

Sample and save a mixed color

Use the Eyedropper

Open the Tool Select window, choose Eyedropper, and tap the color you want. The reference can be Canvas or Current Layer. Canvas samples the visible composite, including the effects of layer opacity and blending modes; Current Layer samples only the active layer. If the sample seems different from what you see, check this reference setting. An antialiased edge or transparent pixel can also produce a different-looking sample.

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Use Quick Eyedropper

Long-press the desired canvas area to sample it with Quick Eyedropper; a magnifying glass appears while selecting. If it activates accidentally, return to the previous screen, open Settings, select Quick Eyedropper, turn it off and confirm with the checkmark. The official instructions for sampling and this option are at ibisPaint’s Eyedropper tutorial and its Quick Eyedropper settings instructions.

Keep useful colors

Save the original colors and any especially useful intermediate shades in the Color Palette. Color History is handy while experimenting; the saved palette is better for colors you expect to reuse, such as a character’s skin tones or a recurring shadow color.

Water-brush mixing is different from other color operations

Goal Starting method
Blend two painted areas on the canvas Water-type brush
Choose or construct an exact color Color window: HSB, RGB or hexadecimal entry
Sample a color already visible Eyedropper or Quick Eyedropper
Save colors for reuse Color Palette or Color History
Make a smooth, broad fade Gradient tool
Add a nondestructive shadow Separate layer with Multiply
Add a lightening effect Separate layer with Screen
Change color relationships through layer calculations Hue or Color blending mode

Layer blending modes calculate how one layer combines with another; they do not imitate a Water brush blending strokes. Multiply darkens, Screen lightens, and Hue and Color alter color relationships according to their respective mode behavior. To set one, use the Blending Mode list in the Layer window. The modes are useful for adjustable shadows, lighting or recoloring on separate layers, while Water is the direct option for mixing painted areas. See ibisPaint’s blending-mode guide.

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Keep the artwork easy to revise

  • Experiment on a new, duplicate or temporary layer when the underlying artwork matters.
  • Use a clipped layer when you need to keep color inside an existing shape.
  • Keep base colors, shadows and highlights separate when you may want to change them independently.
  • Sample from Canvas when you need the visible combined result; use Current Layer when you need the active layer’s source color.

A Water brush only interacts with paint it can reach in the layer setup. If the colors are on different layers and the stroke is not blending them as expected, test the brush on one layer or adjust your layer workflow rather than continuing to scrub.

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Choose a method for your painting style

For cel shading and anime-style art

Keep base colors and shadows separate, preserve crisp edges, and add a controlled intermediate color where a transition needs softening. Use a Water brush only for the edges you want painterly; blending the whole boundary can weaken a deliberately hard shadow shape.

For soft digital painting

Use a soft Water-type brush and build the transition with light strokes. Sample intermediate colors and repaint them when you want more control over hue and saturation than further blending provides.

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For a watercolor-like effect

Water-type mixing can help create a diluted, painterly transition, but it remains a digital brush effect rather than physical pigment interaction. ibisPaint also documents Wet Edge settings for watercolor-like borders; see its Wet Edge tutorial.

For flat illustration or precise interface art

Select exact colors in the Color window, save them to a palette and use the Eyedropper for deliberate transitions. This is more repeatable than uncontrolled brush mixing.

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Troubleshoot common mixing problems

The brush paints over the other color

  • Confirm the brush type is Water, not Mono.
  • Raise Color Mix gradually and make sure the stroke crosses the boundary.
  • Try a softer brush or lower opacity.
  • If the colors are on separate layers, test on the same layer to see whether the layer arrangement is preventing the interaction you want.

The blend is too pale or transparent

  • Reduce Wetness; ibisPaint documents that higher Wetness makes the mixed result lighter.
  • Raise brush opacity slightly or reduce Dragging if the stroke is pulling color without depositing enough.
  • Add the original color back in short strokes, or sample the result and repaint with a more opaque brush.

The result looks muddy or gray

  • Stop blending rather than scrubbing further; undo several strokes if needed.
  • Re-establish the original colors and keep saturated areas separate, blending only near their boundary.
  • Use fewer passes and a smaller brush, then insert a deliberate intermediate hue instead of mixing every color directly together.
  • Check the active layer’s blending mode if the visible result is not the color interaction you expected.

The sampled color does not match the visible area

Check whether the Eyedropper references Canvas or Current Layer, and whether layer opacity or a blending mode changes the visible composite. Sampling a transparent or antialiased edge can also differ from sampling the solid center of a stroke.

Colors look different on another device

Display brightness and calibration affect how colors appear. A selected RGB or hexadecimal value does not guarantee identical appearance on every screen, and opacity or layer blending can make the composite look different from the source color.

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