- Undercoat color
- Number of coats
- Gloss Level
- Size of colored area
- Surrounding Colour
- Combination of tinters used by each brand. (Different tinters can make colours metameric)
- Light Source (Incandescent, D65, LED, Fluorescent)
- Monitor Color Space (sRGB, DCI-P3)
- Color Space / Model used for conversion (Lab, Luv, Lch)
- Colour Difference dE Model Used (CIE76, CMC, CIE00)
- Precision and spectral range of the spectrophotometer used.
Etc
With most paints, the medium used can affect color, as well as aging. I used to use Ph Martin watercolor dyes, and they were notorious for fading after a relatively short time. The illustrations that I colored with them, are now monochrome. I’m sure they’re better, now. Pigment science has come a long way. Acrylic was always a lot longer-lasting.
Also, context matters. Our perception changes, based on surrounding colors. There’s a bunch of optical illusions that leverage this.
But I think this is kind of a cool project.
Did you buy all these colors and paint and scan them? Did you analyze the shopping images of the bottles and classify them into hex colors? Or maybe just group by the color names given in the storefront listing?
Vastly different efforts, different "accuracy", but still, each methods has its use. But knowing what to expect would be nice.
It's definitely just an approximation of the real-world color, but I figured that if that's the RGB value the manufacturer used, it's probably pretty close.
Then I calculate the euclidean distance between the RGB value from the provided hex and each of the paints, and show the two closest matches from each brand.
I wasn’t trying to do the impossible and find the absolute perfect real-world color match. Just something close given the limited palette of acrylic paint brands I could find locally.
- ratio of pigment to binder (craft store paints have less pigment)
- pigment quality (craft store paints are usually larger grain and may sometimes use unsafe pigments)
- color purity and consistency (craft store paints may contain traces of unintended pigments and may vary between batches)
- color variety (craft store paint manufacturers are NOT going to be paying extra for rare pigments)
- lightfastness (craft store paints may fade quicker due to lack of UV protectant additives)
- binder quality (craft store paints may use cheaper, more toxic binders)
Otherwise they are the same stuff, it’s kinda hard to screw up mixing acrylic binder with a pigment.
Check that your paint has the ACMI Approved Product seal.
Any specific artist brands you'd want to see added?