Muddy Waters vs PainterLab

Muddy Waters helps you mix watercolor paints using real pigment behaviour, not digital approximations. Many artists reach a point where color mixing becomes frustrating. You add more paint, adjust ratios, and still end up with muddy results. This app is designed to give you a clearer path forward. Using scientific colour values and high end math, Muddy Waters focuses on how watercolor actually behaves, helping you make better mixing decisions using YOUR paints before committing pigment to paper. Key features • Mix colors using your own palette, not generic examples • Explore how pigments combine, including non-linear behaviour • Generate gradients to understand transitions between colors • Match colors from images and find the closest achievable mix • Identify the closest matching pigment in the library • Save favourites for the next time you go shopping for art supplies Images and barcodes are processed on your device. No photos are uploaded or stored externally. No personal data collected. Designed for real painting decisions Watercolour mixing is not predictable or linear. Lighting, dilution, paper colour, and pigment behaviour all affect the result. This app helps you navigate those variables so you can start with the right base colours. Use your own paints Build your palette from the pigments you actually own. The app works with your materials, not an idealised set from a book or tutorial. Simple and focused No accounts, no distractions. The app is designed to support your painting process without getting in the way. Keep exploring Nothing replaces hands-on experimentation, but with better guidance you can avoid common mixing mistakes and make more confident choices. Muddy Waters is free to use with an 8-slot palette. Two optional upgrades unlock more: Premium (one-time purchase) — unlocks palettes to hold any number of paints, in-app camera capture, and Backup & Restore so your palettes, favourites and Shopping List stay safe across devices. Pro (monthly subscription) — adds the Palette Adviser (tells you which paints to swap for a stronger palette), the Light & Shadow engine, Paint Check (compare any paint against everything you already own before you buy), and unlimited palettes.

PainterLab turns any photo into a practical painting study you can observe, simplify, and mix from. It is not a coloring game, and it does not paint for you. PainterLab helps painters and art students understand color shapes, value structure, and temperature relationships, then translate selected screen colors into real-paint mixing ideas. SIMPLIFY COMPLEX SCENES Organize a busy photo into clear, paintable color shapes. Explore natural color blocks, limited palettes, and region-based forms, then adjust detail and smoothing for your study. SEE THE VALUE STRUCTURE Compress an image into 2–10 value levels to study large light-and-dark relationships, grayscale organization, and Notan. Use the adjustable histogram to control each value boundary. UNDERSTAND COLOR TEMPERATURE Compare cool, neutral, and warm relationships across the image. Adjust balance and smoothing to reveal the overall temperature structure more clearly. TURN SCREEN COLORS INTO REAL PAINT Select a color from the original photo or a simplified color shape. PainterLab uses your chosen paint palette to suggest practical paint combinations and mixing proportions. You can also photograph your mixed paint and compare it with the target color. BUILD YOUR OWN PAINT PALETTES Choose the physical paints you already own and organize them into custom palettes. Mixing recipes are calculated using the palette selected for each study. SAVE EVERY STUDY Your source photo, observation modes, adjustments, and sampled colors are saved in the Study Library, so you can return and continue practicing at any time. KEY FEATURES • Photo-to-color-shape simplification • Value studies and Notan analysis • Warm and cool color-temperature analysis • Color sampling and real-paint mixing recipes • Custom physical-paint palettes • Study Library with automatic saving • On-device photo processing PainterLab includes free basic features. PainterLab Pro unlocks unlimited studies, additional simplification styles, fine detail controls, and other advanced features. Subscription options and local pricing are shown by the App Store before purchase and can be managed or canceled through your App Store account. Privacy Policy: https://wavecave-studio.uk/painterlab/privacy-policy Terms of Use: https://wavecave-studio.uk/painterlab/terms-of-service