Stop guessing what to use to make realistic greens! There's actually a logical way to do this. You can use this with any type of paint - watercolor, acrylic, oil, gouache. It works for all of them!
Start with single-pigment colors to make a "base green." This typically makes a super-vibrant green that may not work for your botanical subject or landscape. (Some tropical plants during rainy season are an exception!)
Then, add just a touch of a single-pigment color in the red, orange, or brown family. This will tone it down and make it much more realistic.
Colors I used in this video:
- Phthalo Blue Green Shade
- Lemon Yellow
- Quinacridone Coral
- Raw Sienna
- Optional: Indanthrone Blue
And all of this can be made into a useful tool that you can compare next to your plant specimen. I'll show you how in this video!