Pigment refers to the substance that can make objects colored. There are soluble and insoluble pigments, and there are differences between inorganic and organic pigments. Inorganic pigments are generally mineral substances. Humans have long known to use inorganic pigments to paint and paint their bodies on rock walls using colored soil and minerals. Organic pigments are generally taken from plants and marine animals, such as indigo, gambog and purple extracted from shellfish in ancient Rome.

In theory, as long as there are three primary colors of red, blue and yellow, all other colors can be mixed, but the purity of the color is always not high enough, so modern art pigment manufacturers produce high-purity pigments for various hue and brightness colors to meet various needs. From the most basic 12 colors to the usual 24 colors and even 48 colors to more than 60 colors. Special metallic colors are not included.