In applied fields — such as design, printing, and restoration — color samples are compared directly, within the same field of view.
The eye sees both colors side by side and can accurately evaluate the difference.
In painting, this approach was unavailable for a long time.
There was no convenient and stable tool that allowed the artist to compare the paint with the subject on the same line of sight.
The problem with traditional color matching lies in the fact that the paint on the palette, the paint on the canvas, and the subject itself are separated by distance, and exist in different color environments and lighting.
Neighboring shades on the palette or canvas
always distort the perceived color, which leads to errors.
This is a fundamental property of human vision.
The ability to place the mixed paint on the same line of sight as the reference and compare them directly, under stable conditions, greatly simplifies the color selection process,
since even the slightest difference becomes clearly visible.
The disc palette allows for color comparison on the same line of sight with the subject or a photograph.
The artist mixes an approximate color on the main palette and applies it to the edge of the disc palette for comparison.
If necessary, the color is adjusted until it fully matches.
The method of direct comparison, along with this tool, is especially helpful in teaching painting.
The full article on the Method of Direct Comparison is available at this link.
The article about the direct comparison method can be found at this
link.