Guides / Paint
Colour
Pick colours from the rings around the wheel's centre, make them lighter or darker as paint does, or use the colour panel's palettes, mixer and hex field, or the painting itself with the Eyedropper.
- Free
- Everything in this guide works in Free.
The wheel's centre is your next stroke, ringed in its colour. Tap it, and colours unfold around the wheel. Your colour lighter and darker first, then the palette and recent colours.
Unfold the wheel and tap its centre. Colours unfold around it. Your colour lighter and darker first, then the palette and recent colours.
The wheel's centre is your next stroke, ringed in its colour. Click it, and colours unfold around the wheel. Your colour lighter and darker first, then the palette and recent colours.
Tap a colour. The rings fold away and the centre takes the new colour. Paint a stroke.
Tap a colour. The wheel folds away with it; paint a stroke.
Click a colour. The rings fold away and the centre takes the new colour. Paint a stroke.
The inner ring is the colour in hand, lighter and darker, mixed with white and with black as paint is. Tap a lighter shade. The rings stay open, to try the next one.
Unfold the wheel and tap its centre. The inner ring is the colour in hand, lighter and darker, mixed with white and with black as paint is. Tap a lighter shade.
The inner ring is the colour in hand, lighter and darker, mixed with white and with black as paint is. Click a lighter shade. The rings stay open, to try the next one.
Paint a stroke, then take a darker shade from the same row and paint again. The row stays built around the colour you started from.
Paint a stroke, then take a darker shade from the same row and paint again. The row stays built around the colour you started from.
Or hold the centre and drag. Up is lighter and down darker, left duller and right richer. The ring shows the colour before and after as you go.
Or unfold the wheel, hold its centre and drag. Up is lighter and down darker, left duller and right richer. The ring shows the colour before and after as you go.
Paint with the mixed colour. Four strokes, one crimson, all made from the first.
Paint with the mixed colour. Four strokes, one crimson, all made from the first.
For every other colour, tap the centre, then More colors. The panel has a hex field, the system colour picker, your recent colours, and Palettes or the Mixer.
For every other colour, tap the centre, then More colors. The panel has a hex field, the system colour picker, your recent colours, and Palettes or the Mixer.
For every other colour, click the centre, then More colors. The panel has a hex field, the system colour picker, your recent colours, and Palettes or the Mixer.
The Mixer mixes any colour. Drag in the square for saturation and brightness, and along the bars for hue and opacity.
The Mixer mixes any colour. Drag in the square for saturation and brightness, and along the bars for hue and opacity.
Palettes holds six sets of named colours, Basics, Watercolor, Earth, Neutrals, Inks and Pastels. Choose one with the menu above the swatches.
Palettes holds six sets of named colours, Basics, Watercolor, Earth, Neutrals, Inks and Pastels. Choose one with the menu above the swatches.
Tap a swatch to take it and close the panel, then paint below the first stroke. Two colours, side by side.
Tap a swatch to take it and close the panel, fold the wheel, and paint below the first stroke. Two colours, side by side.
Click a swatch to take it and close the panel, then paint below the first stroke. Two colours, side by side.
To reuse a colour from the painting, tap the Eyedropper on the wheel's rim, beside the Eraser.
To reuse a colour from the painting, unfold the wheel and tap the Eyedropper on its rim, beside the Eraser.
To reuse a colour from the painting, click the Eyedropper on the wheel's rim, beside the Eraser.
Then tap the painting. The colour under your finger becomes the colour in hand, and you go straight back to painting.
Then tap the painting. The colour under your finger becomes the colour in hand, and you go straight back to painting.
Then click the painting. The colour under your finger becomes the colour in hand, and you go straight back to painting.
The colour rings
Tap the wheel's centre 1 and colours unfold around it, nearest the hand first:
- Lighter and darker: the colour in hand as tints and shades (see below), then More colors 3, the colour panel.
- The palette 2: the palette chosen in the colour panel, Basics to begin with. Its swatches keep their places.
- Recent colors: the colours you picked last, most recent first, in a ring of their own when there is room, as many as fit. On iPhone, and wherever the palette is more than the rings show at once, the outer ring turns: drag along it for the rest of the palette and, after it, your recent colours.
The colour in hand is outlined. Picking a recent or palette colour folds the rings. Tap the centre again to fold them without choosing.
Lighter and darker
The inner ring is your colour mixed as paint is: with white for the lighter shades 2, with black for the darker ones 3. The colour itself, Base color 1, sits in the row where its lightness puts it, so a pale colour has more darker shades and a deep one more lighter shades. The steps look evenly spaced from light to dark. Black dulls a colour as real paint does: a yellow darkens toward olive and an orange toward brown.
Tapping a shade keeps the rings open, so you can try one after another. The row stays built around the colour you started from, even after you paint and open the rings again. Pick another colour and the row is built around that one. The shade you paint with joins your recent colours.
Hold and drag the wheel's centre 1 to mix the colour in hand without opening the rings. The first time the colours unfold, arrows on the centre say so for a moment. At the largest accessibility text sizes a hold shows Color large instead; use the shade ring.
| Drag | Mixes in | Colour |
|---|---|---|
| Up | White | Lighter |
| Down | Black | Darker |
| Left | Grey of the same lightness | Duller |
| Right | Less grey | Richer |
Every position works from the colour you held, so dragging back returns to it. The left half of the centre's ring shows the colour before, the right half the colour after. With VoiceOver, swipe up or down on Color for one step lighter or darker.
The colour panel
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Current color | The colour in hand. |
| Hex 1 | Type a colour as RRGGBB or the short RGB, with or without #, and press Return. |
| Custom color 2 | Apple's colour picker: grid, spectrum and sliders, with opacity. |
| Recent 3 | The last twelve colours you picked. |
| Palettes 4 | Named swatches in six palettes: Basics (24 everyday colours), Watercolor (24 artist pigments), Earth, Neutrals, Inks and Pastels. The menu above the swatches chooses the palette; the same palette unfolds around the wheel. Tapping a swatch takes it and closes the panel. |
| Mixer | A saturation and brightness square, a Hue bar and a Colour opacity bar. The mixer changes the colour as you drag and leaves the panel open. |
Colours apply For new strokes. To recolour marks already painted, use Tools → Select stroke.
The Eyedropper
Tap the Eyedropper on the wheel's rim, beside the Eraser (or press I on a keyboard), then tap the painting: the colour you see there becomes the colour in hand, and you return to your brush. Picking never paints. The banner at the top, Eyedropper · Tap a color · Done, cancels it without picking.
Tip: Taking up a built-in brush keeps the colour in hand. A brush you saved brings back the colour it was saved with.
Click the centre of the wheel for the colour rings; the Eyedropper picks with a click. Hold the mouse button on the centre, then drag, to mix lighter or darker.
In Actions → Settings… → Apple Pencil, a squeeze or double-tap can open the colour panel or the Eyedropper directly.
Try it in the app.
Download on the App Store Free for iPad, iPhone and MacSomething not behaving as expected?
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