The subject of color mixing in digital painting — specifically how to mix colors that feel natural rather than mechanical — is one I've studied carefully because digital color mixing can produce garish or flat results if done without awareness.

The problem with digital mixing: most digital painting apps mix colors in RGB, which is not how physical pigments mix. RGB mixing tends to produce the worst intermediate colors — mixing a warm yellow and a cool purple in RGB can produce a dirty brown that no traditional painter would choose.

The solution: avoid relying on the paint mixing engine for intermediate colors. Instead, manually pick the intermediate colors using color theory principles. The midpoint between warm yellow and cool purple isn't a dirty brown — it's a neutral, slightly warm grey.

The workflow: when transitioning between two colors in a painting, manually pick the in-between color from the color wheel rather than letting the paint engine produce it by opacity layering. This gives you control over the intermediate hue.