1. An apparatus for creating colorant combination recipes for target colors for a printer configured with a plurality of process colorants defining a colorant space for the printer, the apparatus comprising: a color measurement device operative to identify device-independent color coordinates for printed test patches; a color model generator operative to generate a color model for the printer in one iteration based on colorant combination and color coordinate pairs; a controller operative to: obtain a set of target colors to be printed wherein a target color is associated with a target color coordinate defined in a device-independent color space; obtain test chart data including first and second sets of test patches to be reproduced by the printer; wherein a test patch specifies a combination of colorant tints for the printer; wherein the first set of test patches are selected to provide a first degree of color characterization accuracy and are distributed throughout substantially all of the printer colorant space; and wherein the second set of patches are intended to provide a second degree of color characterization accuracy and are distributed in selected areas of the printer colorant space; operate the printer to produce a printed test chart from the test chart data; direct the measurement device to measure color coordinates from test patches of the printed test chart; initiate generation of a color model based on the measured colors and the test chart data; and create colorant combination recipes for the set of target colors based on target color coordinates and the color model.