Load your reference photo

SquintLab turns any photo into a step-by-step painting study: grid it, sketch it, blur it into big value shapes, then bring back the colors and details.

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Draw the same grid lightly on your canvas, then copy the reference square by square. Matching one small box at a time is how beginners get proportions right.
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Blur = the digital squint. Crank it up to see only the big shapes; lower it as the painting develops. Value does 80% of the work — Grisaille + 3 steps shows dark/mid/light. Sepia/Umber mimic a classical earth-tone underpainting; Verdaccio is the greenish-gray old masters used under portraits. Boost saturation to see where color really lives; push warmth to explore a mood before committing paint.
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An automatic line sketch of your photo — use it with the grid to transfer the drawing to canvas. Slide Detail left for more lines, right for only the essential contours. Draw the big envelope shapes first; ignore small interior lines.
Tap the photo to sample a color.
Complements gray each other down. Shadows lean cool, lights lean warm. Mix darks from Ultramarine + Burnt Sienna — never straight black. 🔬 Recipes are a log-space approximation; transparent pigments (Alizarin, Dioxazine) need extra eye adjustment.
Document your painting session layer by layer. Add from your camera or choose a photo you took earlier.
Tap the color swatches to mark what you own. Squint will suggest mixes from your actual tubes, and flag what you're missing. Works with any brand — Phthalo Blue is Phthalo Blue.
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