Do you have any tips on how to make character color palettes?
oh u r in the RIGHT PLACEEE. this is going under the cut bc i am a color freak ok
BASIC STUFF
1. ASYMMETRY
asymmetry is something i strive for in my art, in all aspects, and this is true of how i do color palettes too. often ill use mainly warm/cool colors, then add accents of cool/warm colors. see heres a palette i just thru together
cool brown [let it be know i luvvvv cool browns. ftr. its amazing its the perfect color Anyways] + orange + 2 yellows + then throw in a blue at the end WOAH !! look at that !! now im gonna pull it in reverse
i kept a similar light blue but now we have a dull pink, an indigo , a periwinkle-ish thingy and a bright yellow ! i dont actually love this but i think its the ordering. another tip that i used here: when you desaturate cool colors, they look warmer, and vice versa - desaturated warm colors look cooler
i shouldve probably used red for this butw/e. i used the EXACT same hues n darknesses its more obvious if youre not doing that. i advise looking into the munsell color system ITS VERY HELPFUL!!! another point on asymmetry: i dont like to have hues super close to each other and i dont like to have them equally distanced apart, either. both personal preferences but i think it looks good !
^ i usually dont do stuff like this, the above is a little flat and the bottom is. also flat but for different reasons
i would do smth likr this! the yellow and green are pretty close together, and the teal is still a cool color, and the coral is a nice accent. the palette generator im using gives me a four point limit id do more if it didnt "you had five up there" im not a consistent person theyre different generators. again this section is purely my personal preference re: what looks good
why do the first two not cut it? the first is basically the same color, but shifted to be darker, which means the lack of variance in hue/saturation [theres some variance. i eyeballed it.]. the second is just not very cohesive. AGAIN: SUBJECTIVE. THIS IS FOR ME
CHRACTER COLOR PALETTES, SPECIFICALLY, WHOOPS
right yes you were asking me smth. 1. in larger groups i like to make one big palette so i dont end up using near-identical but not totally the same shades of red or w/e. makes them look cohesive too like which 2 of these 3 characters do u think share the same universe
its 1 and 3, heiko n andreas! they share somewhat dull color palettes compared to octalot there. yes this is extreme octalot is Literally Orange but still. nevertheless
other than that i like incorporating skin/hair tones outside those . lookit andy. its andreas time
his hair [not literally purple but also w/e] is also the color of his pants, and the color i use for his ... blush i guess? his eyes too. is also used on his sweater. ohh my sweeties<3 . also in other news heikos sunburn/rosacea/blush/interpret it as you will is the same shade of pink i use on his tie. this also pushes you to make those colors brighter, which IM ASSUMING YOU WANT TO DO. YOURE ASKING ME FOR COLOR ADVICE , I AM GOING TO SAFELY ASSUME YOU WANT BRIGHT COLORS
undertones! very basic but a helpful tip if youre trying to keep skin/hair tones realistic but still cohesive . and again, presumably bright. another skintone thing: if you are trying to make skin darker but still the same undertone, Please make it more saturated with it. esp if youre using more saturated colors in general if you just go darker and make no other changes it will get grayer
^ not as bad as some ive seen but like you should be a little wary of whether ur darkskinned characters look inexplicably anemic
2. Go to symbolism city
yea yea red n blue gays we all know em. this ties into shared palettes - you dont have to do color psychology, bc that sucks, but shit has connotations. red and black is a distinctive and eye-catching combo, kinda vampiric, and accents on a dull surface lead the eye. and like - a character being mostly black and white like my dear friend lou distinguishes it from my dear friend maxie whose colors are much brighter
maxie is also warmer toned, partially bc she has darker skin but i refer back to my undertones chart, but lou having cooler colors gets across the fact that lou is a lot more reserved than maxie. again its the cool/warm asymmetry
look into color meanings and also try giving characters sme shared colors - maxie and lou share what 3? yeah 3 colors. bc they are#besties
3. tricks #tricks
if you use a drawing program that supports it, use gradient maps a little bit ! either duplicate the layer, put on the map, and then lower the opacity [or fuck around w layer blend settings thats always fun] or just turn it down a bit. That probably only makes sense if you have procreate. but i think it adds dimension that a multiply layer doesnt. imo the one color on multiply just washes your colors out
i also use curves and color balance Im a procreate guy. i dont like using hue/sat/brightness bc it applies unilaterally across the colors, which means the relationships look the same. it just looks like your og color palette but lighter or desaturated or w/e. i do like messing w hue a bit tho its fun here are some examples of times i use these settings to mess with colors:
im only now realizing i dont think i posted the majority of these examples here. Ahaha. whoops. anyways yeah if you have more specific questions PLEASE ASK. PLEAS.E THIS IS NOT EXTREMELY WELL WORDED IM SURE THERES A CONFUSING BIT I WANT TO ELABORATE ON EVERYTHING EVER. tyyy ^_^
