Paint Pouring Calculator
Work out mixed paint, pouring medium, water, and silicone drops per cup for an acrylic pour.
Enter canvas size, colors, and your paint-to-medium ratio.
Acrylic paint pouring (also called fluid art) requires precise mixing of paint, pouring medium, water, and sometimes silicone oil to achieve the right consistency and cell formation. Getting ratios wrong leads to cracking, muddy colors, or colors that sink instead of float.
Base consistency formula: Optimal pour consistency ≈ warm honey at room temperature The technical target is a viscosity of approximately 400–800 centipoise (cP) — thin enough to flow slowly but not watery.
Standard mixing ratio (by volume): Paint : Pouring Medium = 1 : 1.5 to 1 : 2 Then add 10–20% water by total volume to thin further.
Coverage formula
The film that ends up on the canvas is thin, about 1 mm. The volume you have to mix is roughly twice that, because a flood pour loses a great deal over the edges, and more again clings to the cup and the stir stick. Budget for what you mix, not for what stays.
The working rule the pouring community uses is 1 fluid ounce of mixed paint per 25 square inches, which this calculator applies, plus 25% for the cup and the drips. In metric that is 1 mL for every 5.4 cm², or 0.185 mL per square centimetre.
Canvas examples (total mixed volume including overflow):
| Canvas | Area | Mixed paint |
|---|---|---|
| 20 × 20 cm | 400 cm² | ~93 mL |
| 30 × 40 cm | 1,200 cm² | ~278 mL |
| 40 × 60 cm | 2,400 cm² | ~556 mL |
| 8 × 10 in | 80 sq in | ~4 oz |
| 16 × 20 in | 320 sq in | ~16 oz |
If those look generous next to the 1 mm film, that is the point. Weigh what runs off a deep-edge canvas onto the drip tray sometime and you will find half of what you mixed sitting in it. Some of it can be scraped back and reused on a later piece, which is why experienced pourers keep a “muddy” jar.
Color mixing for cells:
- Heavy pigments (blacks, whites, phthalos) sink → best as base layers
- Light pigments (yellows, titaniums) float → use on top
- Silicone oil ratio for cells: 1–3 drops per 30 mL of mixed paint. More silicone = larger, fewer cells.
Worked example: A 30 × 40 cm canvas, 4 colors, standard 1:2 ratio.
Area = 1,200 cm² Mixed paint = 1,200 ÷ 5.4 = 222 mL, plus 25% overflow = 278 mL total At 1:2 that splits into 93 mL of paint and 185 mL of pouring medium Per color: 278 ÷ 4 = 69 mL of mixed paint each, which is 23 mL paint and 46 mL medium Water to thin: about 10% of the mix, so 28 mL across the four cups Silicone: 2 drops per cup at roughly 1 drop per 30 mL
Notice the per-color figure is the mixed volume, since that is what actually goes in each cup and what you pour from. Splitting the raw paint four ways and then adding medium to each is the same arithmetic taken in a more confusing order.
Drying time: 24–72 hours flat, on a level surface, somewhere it will not be knocked. Full cure takes 7–14 days, and varnishing before then traps solvent and clouds the finish.
How we build and check this calculator
This calculator runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
SuperGlobalCalculator is independently built and maintained. See how we build and verify our calculators.