How to paint camo

I thought this subject is important enough to merit its own post, so here it is. I do not claim to have the own workable method for painting camo, but it's worked for me and I like it.

Do your research into the type of camo you are trying to paint. Look at various examples of the camo. Camopedia is invaluable for this. See if you can determine which color is most prevalent - the base color. Paint your uniform in this color. Exactly which color is the background color is debatable. Use your own discretion.

Most camo patterns have at least three different colors in them. After doing the base color, find the next most prevalent color and paint this color on top. Look closely at your reference pictures to see what the pattern is. Is it striped? Horizontally or vertically? Is it spotted? What shapes are the spots? Is it blotched? Are the blotches square, circular, or irregularly shaped? For example, below are three US military camouflage patterns. Left is the "chocolate chip" desert camo pattern, worn in the Gulf War. Note that the background color is buff, with large blotches in two shades of tan/light brown. It is spotted with black and white leopard spots.
Center is the ERDL woodland camo pattern, worn in Grenada and other conflicts. I would use dark green for the background color, followed by irregular, branched blotches of brown, then light green, then thinner branches of black.
Right is the ACU pattern, currently in service today. The pixels in this camo are very small, and tricky to paint. The backround color is dark green, followed by tons of little pixelated dots of gray-green and buff. Alternately, you could do the background color buff, and follow it with the two other colors.
Painting camo is a lot simpler than it might look. The trick is to do it in layers, and cover up some of the previous layers to create an irregular pattern.