Here's a scenario that'll feel familiar. You're mid-project on a Space Marine, you've got a highlight colour in mind — something in the cool grey family — and you're staring at a wall of paint ranges trying to remember whether the one you want is Citadel, Vallejo, or that AK Interactive bottle you bought three months ago. You know the colour. You just can't find it.
That's exactly the problem our Paint Colour Picker was built to solve.
The Way Most Painters Shop Paints (And Why It Causes Problems)
Most hobby shops — online and physical — organise their paint sections by brand. Citadel in one aisle, Vallejo in another, AK Interactive somewhere else. It makes sense from a stockroom point of view. It makes almost no sense from a painter's point of view.
When you're building a palette for a new army, you're thinking in colours. You need a rich, dark red for armour plating. A chalky bone for aged skulls. A verdigris effect for weathered copper. You're not necessarily thinking "I need a Citadel product" — you're thinking about what the finished model is going to look like.
Shopping by brand forces you to either know the entire naming convention of every range you stock (good luck remembering whether you want Vallejo Model Colour or Game Colour, and which of the 200 shades is the one you actually need), or to just default to whatever you already have, which doesn't always give you the best result.
What the Colour Picker Actually Does
Our Paint Colour Picker organises over 2,000 paints by colour family — not brand, not range, not product code.
Browse by colour group and you'll see every paint we stock that fits, pulled from across all the brands we carry: Citadel, AK Interactive 3rd Gen Acrylics, Vallejo, Army Painter, Pro Acryl, Turbo Dork, Green Stuff World, Duncan Rhodes Two Thin Coats, and more. Side by side. Same page.
The categories go well beyond simple primaries too. Rather than just "blues", you can browse Navy Blues, Aqua/Cyans, or Turquoise/Teals separately. Rather than "skin tones", you can browse Pale Skin, Medium Skin, and Dark Skin — which matters enormously when you're building a consistent palette for human characters, or trying to get natural-looking tones on a mixed warband.
Here's a taste of what's in there:
Neutrals & Foundations: Blacks, Whites, Off Whites/Creams, Ivory/Bone, Greys, Light Greys, Dark Greys
Warm Tones: Reds, Dark Reds, Pinks, Magentas, Yellows, Warm Yellows, Cool Yellows, Browns, Dark Browns
Cool Tones: Blues, Navy Blues, Aqua/Cyans, Turquoise/Teals, Purples, Lavenders, Greens, Dark Greens, Lime/Bright Greens
Skin Tones: Skin/Flesh, Pale Skin, Medium Skin, Dark Skin
Metallics: Golds, Silvers, Bronzes, Brass, Gunmetals, Coloured Metallics, Fluorescent/Neons
Weathering & Effects: Earth/Mud, Wood, Rusts, Verdigris, Blood/Gore, Grime/Weathering
That last group is where things get particularly useful. If you're looking for a rust effect, you don't want to trawl through three different brand pages hoping one of them stocks something usable. Go straight to Rusts, see everything we carry across every brand, pick the one that suits your budget and your technique.
Why This Matters for Cross-Brand Painting
One of the most common questions in the hobby is whether you can mix and match paints from different brands. The answer is almost always yes — acrylic is acrylic — but the practical question is whether two colours from different ranges will behave similarly enough to work in the same scheme.
Shopping by colour family makes it much easier to build a multi-brand palette intentionally. If you know you want a dark, desaturated green for Nurgle armour, you can look at everything in the Dark Greens section and compare what's available from Citadel, AK Interactive, and Vallejo at a glance. You can pick your base from one brand and your layer from another with confidence, because you're comparing like-for-like.
This is exactly how experienced painters think about their palettes. Now you can shop that way too.
Perfect for Beginners Trying to Decode Paint Charts
If you're new to the hobby, paint shopping can feel genuinely overwhelming. Every brand has its own naming system — often evocative fantasy names that give you no real clue what the colour actually looks like. Averland Sunset doesn't scream "warm yellow" to a newcomer. Steel Legion Drab doesn't obviously say "mid-tone khaki."
Starting with the colour picker means you can work backwards from the colour you want rather than trying to decode cryptic names. Want to paint your goblin skin a bright, sickly green? Head to Lime/Bright Greens and browse what's available. The colour is obvious. The naming conventions don't matter. (And if you're choosing your very first paints, Jack's guide to the best value paint sets compares every starter option.)
A Practical Example: Painting Ultramarines from Scratch
Let's say you're starting a classic Ultramarines army. Here's how you'd use the colour picker to build your palette without any prior knowledge of Citadel's naming system:
You'd start with Blues for your main armour colour — where you'd find base coat options from Citadel, AK Interactive, and Vallejo all in one place. Then Navy Blues for your deeper shade work. Silvers and Golds for metallic trim. Blacks for weapon casings and boltguns. Skin/Flesh or Medium Skin for any exposed faces. And Earth/Mud or Grime/Weathering if you want to add some battlefield wear to the bases.
From six browsing sessions you'd have a complete, cross-referenced palette — and you'd have compared prices and brands across all of them without having to visit multiple pages or know anything about which specific paint codes you need.
The Filter Options Make It Even More Useful
Once you're in a colour category, you can filter further by brand, paint type (acrylic, enamel, metallic, primer), and whether items are in stock. The Citadel filter even breaks down by paint type — Base, Layer, Shade, Contrast, Dry, Technical, Air — so you can quickly find a Contrast paint in the right colour family if that's your preferred technique.
Over 2,000 paints are available through the picker, in stock and ready to ship with our standard next-day UK delivery.
Start Browsing
Whether you're building a new army, restocking a specific colour, hunting for the perfect weathering effect, or just exploring what's out there beyond the brand you usually buy — the Paint Colour Picker is the fastest way to find what you need.
Browse the Paint Colour Picker →
And if you'd rather build a set from a specific brand, our bundle builders for Citadel, Vallejo Game Color, Pro Acryl, and Turbo Dork let you pick exactly the individual pots you want at a discounted bundle price.
Paints sorted? Our guide on how to build and paint your first Warhammer 40k army takes you through the rest, step by step.
Free UK delivery on all orders over £65. Same-day dispatch on orders placed before 3pm (weekdays). 60-day no-quibble returns.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Paint Colour Picker?
It's a tool that organises over 2,000 paints by colour family rather than by brand, so you can see every paint we stock in a given colour — from Citadel, Vallejo, AK Interactive, Army Painter and more — side by side on one page.
Can I mix paints from different brands?
Almost always, yes — acrylic is acrylic. Shopping by colour family makes it easy to compare like-for-like across ranges, so you can pick a base from one brand and a layer from another with confidence.
How does shopping by colour help beginners?
Every brand uses its own evocative paint names that don't tell a newcomer what the colour actually is. Browsing by colour family lets you work backwards from the shade you want without decoding cryptic names.
What colour categories can I browse?
Far more than simple primaries — neutrals, warm and cool tones, dedicated skin-tone ranges, metallics, and weathering effects like rust, verdigris and grime, each broken down into specific sub-families.
Can I filter the Paint Colour Picker by brand or type?
Yes. Within any colour category you can filter by brand, paint type (acrylic, enamel, metallic, primer) and stock availability, and the Citadel filter even breaks down by Base, Layer, Shade, Contrast, Dry, Technical and Air.
