I have a problem with the colour nomenclature, wherein every brand of paint supplier has their own trademarked name or way to announce their colours, which are practically near 0 value to the artist. Having begun a series of exercises to familiarize myself with the colours currently in my possession I'm still annoyed that this is and issue.
So I had the idea to correct this, and hopped onto ChatGPT for some advice:
I paint, and as such have noticed what I believe are problems in the way that colours are labelled. For example, "Bright Red/Green/Sky Blue/Scarlett" etc, or the more classical names of "Paynes Grey", "Sap Green" etc, etc. They do not give the painter any idea of the hue (what colours they shift towards), transparency (some paints provide an icon that indicates transparency/opacity), their basic Chroma (light Value), Permanence, etc. Can you propose a colour naming scheme that assigns values to all these things and can be used by artists to determine practically what they need?
Yes. What you are describing is essentially the gap between marketing names and practical pigment information.
Traditional paint names evolved historically from:
- pigment source (“Burnt Sienna”)
- poetic descriptors (“Cerulean Sky”)
- proprietary branding (“Permanent Rose”)
- obsolete chemistry (“Indian Yellow”)
…but painters actually need operational information:
- Hue bias
- Transparency
- Chroma
- Value
- Permanence
- Tinting strength
- Granulation/staining (watercolour)
- Drying speed/oil absorbency (oil)
- Pigment composition
A genuinely useful naming system should function like:
- a musical chord notation
- or a camera lens specification
- compact but information-dense.
Below is a proposed system designed for practical studio use.
The Practical Artist Pigment Code (PAPC)
The idea:
Every paint receives:
- A readable common name
- A compact technical code
- A standardized data order
Example:
Cadmium Red Medium
R-O15 C8 V4 T1 P9
This instantly tells the painter:
- hue location
- hue bias
- chroma
- value
- transparency
- permanence
without needing swatches.
1. HUE SYSTEM
Instead of vague names like “Warm Red” or “Sky Blue,” every colour sits on a hue wheel.
Primary Hue Letter
Letter Hue R Red O Orange Y Yellow G Green C Cyan B Blue V Violet M Magenta N Neutral
Hue Shift Number
A 0–99 number indicates position toward adjacent hues.
Examples:
- R00 = neutral red
- R15 = orange-shifted red
- R85 = magenta-shifted red
Thus:
- “Scarlet” might become R18
- “Alizarin Crimson” might become R82
- “Sap Green” might become G28
This solves the biggest painter problem:
“Which way does this colour lean?”
2. CHROMA SCALE
Measures saturation/intensity.
Code Meaning C0 Neutral grey C1–3 Muted/Earthy C4–6 Moderate C7–8 Strong C9 Near spectral Examples:
- Yellow Ochre = C3
- Ultramarine = C6
- Phthalo Blue = C9
3. VALUE SCALE
Lightness/darkness.
Code Meaning V0 Black V9 White Examples:
- Payne’s Grey = V2
- Raw Umber = V3
- Lemon Yellow = V8
This helps painters predict mixtures.
4. TRANSPARENCY
Code Meaning T0 Fully opaque T1 Semi-opaque T2 Semi-transparent T3 Transparent Examples:
- Cadmium Red = T0
- Quinacridone Magenta = T3
This is critical for glazing.
5. PERMANENCE / LIGHTFASTNESS
Standardized 0–9.
Code Meaning P9 Extremely permanent P7 Professional archival P5 Moderate P3 Fugitive P0 Extremely unstable This avoids confusing ASTM/I/II/etc.
6. OPTIONAL SPECIAL PROPERTIES
These could be appended depending on medium.
Watercolour
Code Meaning G Granulating S Staining L Lifting Example:
Ultramarine Blue
B78 C6 V3 T2 P9 G
Oil Paint
Code Meaning D1–5 Drying speed O1–5 Oil absorbency
Acrylic
Could include:
- gloss level
- flexibility
- UV resistance
FULL EXAMPLE CONVERSIONS
“Sap Green”
Traditional name tells almost nothing.
Proposed:
Sap Green
G25 C4 V4 T2 P6
Interpretation:
- green leaning yellow
- medium chroma
- mid-dark
- semi-transparent
- moderately permanent
“Payne’s Grey”
Payne’s Grey
B65 C1 V2 T1 P8
Interpretation:
- blue-violet neutral
- low chroma
- dark value
- semi-opaque
“Cadmium Yellow Light”
Cadmium Yellow Light
Y08 C8 V8 T0 P9
Meaning:
- slightly orange yellow
- intense
- light value
- opaque
- permanent
“Quinacridone Magenta”
Quinacridone Magenta
M10 C9 V4 T3 P9
Meaning:
- slightly violet magenta
- ultra high chroma
- transparent
- archival
WHY THIS WOULD WORK
Advantages Over Traditional Names
1. Predictive Mixing
Artists can estimate mixtures before touching paint.
2. Cross-Brand Consistency
A “Scarlet” from one brand differs wildly from another.
But:
R18 C8 V4 T1 P9
is universal.
3. Teaches Colour Theory Automatically
Beginners learn hue bias immediately.
4. Works Across Media
Oil, acrylic, gouache, watercolour.
5. Compact
Small enough for tube labels.
IDEAL LABEL FORMAT
Example tube:
Quinacridone Rose
M22 C8 V5 T3 P9 S
Pigment: PR122
A painter instantly knows:
- cool magenta-red
- high chroma
- transparent
- permanent
- staining
FURTHER IMPROVEMENT: SPECTRAL POSITION
For scientific precision, you could optionally encode actual:
- dominant wavelength
- Lab coordinates
- Munsell notation
Example:
R18 C8 V4 T1 P9
Lab(52, 68, 34)
But most painters probably do not need this.
THE BIGGEST INSIGHT
Painters do not actually paint with “names.”
They paint with:
- hue relationships
- transparency
- value structure
- chroma hierarchy
Traditional naming obscures this information.
Your instinct is essentially pointing toward a:
“Periodic table for pigments.”
And honestly, painting has needed one for a long time.
You may also find it interesting to compare this idea to:
- Munsell color system
- CIELAB color space
- Natural Color System
—all of which solved parts of the problem, but not specifically for painters in studio practice.
This is one of the more Intelligent Uses for ChatGPT I've come up with.