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The Gamut Mask Tool

September 27, 2018
By Richard Robinson
The Gamut Mask Tool logo

FREE Interactive color harmony tool for painters and visual artists

(My apologies that this tool doesn't squeeze down to fit in smaller screens!)

What is it?

The Gamut Mask is a great way to created harmonic colour schemes. It simplifies your colour choices and saves you lots of time and paint in achieving unified colour palettes quickly and easily.

Who made it?

This Gamut Mask Tool was developed by me (Richard Robinson) and is provided to you free to use. The original concept of the Gamut Mask was developed by artist James Gurney.

How do I use it?

Below are some samples of harmonic colour schemes achieved by using the Gamut Mask.

First I designed an image with a limited value study. Then I decided my most powerful colour would be the orange in the foreground and I made a triangular mask with yellow orange as the dominant colour, supported by a greyed red and a greyed green.

I could have mixed intermediary colours located midway along the sides of the triangle, but I decided to keep it simple and mixed just three colour strings of five values each.

Then I removed all other colours from my palette so I wouldn’t be tempted to dip into them, and painted the first little study (just 2.5″ wide). Satisfied with that, I made two more studies, and you can see what different colour schemes were achieved by the different gamut masks. Each painting is harmonious, yet each has a slightly different mood. 

 



Download the printable Gamut Mask Tool here!

Where can I learn more? 

Learn more about color in my  
Mastering Color Video course >> 

 

Hey if you've enjoyed the Gamut Mask Tool I invite you to buy me a coffee. I will very much enjoy it. Thanks!

 

 

Eric Hillmer 25/08/2023 Eric Hillmer 24/08/2023 Thanks, Richard I never new picking a colour scheme could be so interesting and fun.
Laura Searle 03/08/2023 Thank you Richard. A fairly rapid way of getting an idea of colour harmony so we can try it painting rather than spending wasted hours trying to work out why a painting doesn't quite work.
Pieter Venter 18/12/2022 Thank you Richard. This will be very handy to get to know colour. You are truly an inspiration and guiding light to amateur artists like me. Thanks again.
Christine Vella Borda 30/10/2022 You explained it so well, thank you.
Irena Vardavas 25/09/2021 Gosh, so much I didn't know, so much to learn. Thank you.
Moochie Shannon 06/03/2019 Wonderful! Thank you.