Practical Color Theory: A Quick And Hopefully Not Boring Run-Through
I've had a surprising (to me) amount of people ask what color theory is and how much it matters or affects art. However, a lot of the real scientific theory is boring as hell, so I'm throwing it out the window for this post in favor of teaching people some stuff they can use without falling asleep. If you're interested in the science, you can look up Josef Albers and Johannes Itten, and any color work relating to the Bauhaus.
The idea of using color to convey meaning and narrative has been around for a very long time. A lot of color meanings are varied from culture to culture, and even on an individual basis. However, some meanings are common enough, and even if you don't personally subscribe to that definition, you're probably at least aware of it.
I'm going to be posting a lot of my art in this to try and help convey what I mean, so bare with the gratuitous self-promotion. I'm not intending to fashion myself as some expert on color, but I figure some exposure to color theory is better than none. I also want to preemptively thank bossgoji for creating a character for my use specifically for this exercise.
So, color is basically everywhere. It's even in places that aren't immediately obvious, like music. If you compare, say, a Mario game to a Metal Gear game, you'll notice that the Mario game is more colorful, but that its music is also more upbeat. The more dramatic soundtrack of Metal Gear matches the game's palette browns and greys, which I've heard (and myself) criticized as being a crappy attempt at realism. The world ISN'T brown. However, the fact of the matter is, I suspect the brown is intentional for the setting.
Colors containing browns and greys "read" slower. They give a sense of age, of history. They make the mood somber and nostalgic. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to apply a universal coat of blah brown. It can be very subtle, depending on what you're going for.
In the following, I borrowed from a Steampunk theme to create a supposed battle between Steam Britain and Steam China. I used a very brown sensibility--the only thing that's problematic is the British captain's uniform, which should also be a little dingier than I made it.
It's a limited palette, but it's still plenty colorful and not too boring to look at.
I played with the idea of anachronisms in another piece.
I decided on using color to make the Victorian world feel more "modern," while the Star Wars film is brown for "old." There are still touches of brown in the Victorian world--it's not a hard and fast rule, of course, but nothing is.
Naturally, if you want something to feel happy, you go for bright, closer-to-pure colors. You may or may not remember my vampire girl. Even though it's raining in the image, it uses a brighter color palette. There's a sense of playfulness, more than if I had painted her clothes and hair and umbrella black and brown.
The assignment here was to express an emotion or feeling, and I had chosen hunger. However, I found something a little peculiar when I changed the background color.
My classmates felt that the one on the right, with the pink, was screaming about femininity and stereotypes about women lusting for pastries. The one on the right felt more like a "getaway," a general hunger and lust, a way to bring some joy on an otherwise abysmal day.
It's pretty important to choose your background and color scheme. You don't want to end up conveying the wrong thing. I loathe stereotypes, and the last thing I wanted to do was make it seem like she was going to buy a dozen cupcakes, go home, and cry into them while she cried irrationally over an episode of Desperate Housewives or something.
Similarly, my teacher asked me if I had been artistically inspired by Scooby Doo on the right side of this picture:
I could immediately see why, when she mentioned it. I felt vaguely horrified, but I thought I'd share my mistake. The idea here was a loss of the optimism of youth. I should also mention that the internet totally ate the colors on this one, so I apologize for how crappy it looks. I was going for a limited palette, like I have been for all my images--too many colors tends to be too busy, and if that's not what you want, avoid it--and I ended up with someone who appears to be Daphne.
I did feel pretty successful with the next one:
It's cold, it's gloomy. That I didn't go with "local color"--the color something is in real life--helped to push the message. The fact I really only used one color with varied shades of light and dark gives a sense of isolation that would be gone if I had used two or three instead.
Here's an image that's quite a bit more emotional. I actually hate how this turned out for a few reasons:
The yellow was initially brighter, but that created a feeling of isolation that made people think this was an image about birth/rebirth. The intended effect was fear. I tried dulling the color, but it just looks kind of shitty now, so I'm calling this one unsuccessful.
So now we come to bossgoji's offering, which I again thank her for profusely.
The character is Masika, an anthropomorphic member of the species Eudicella Gralli, a kind of beetle. The females are less colorful and lack the horn of the male beetle, so this was an interesting challenge to figure out colors for.
My first color attempt was using "local color"--again, what's actually there in real life--with some adjustments for the fact that, well, she's anthro.
Considering she's very cheerful and happy-go-lucky, this scheme doesn't fit her personality. It looks appealing to the eye, but it would work better for a character who is quieter and calmer. So I'm going to go for the opposite of local color--expressive color.
So I started playing with more colorful schemes to see what I could come up with.
Here, Masika's looking a little brighter, but thanks to the rule of Contrast by Extension, our eyes are drawn to her clothes, and not her face. If you want to emphasize something on a character, this is a good rule to use--pick a color that doesn't fit the scheme at all, and use it in limited quantities. But that's not what I was going for with her.
So I went for something a little more balanced.
I really miss the green hair, and could probably continuously tinker on it until it was perfect, but I was much more satisfied with this as an outcome. The wings and shoes stand out, which I felt was more appropriate. She seems like the sort to have a lot of energy, who moves around a lot, so it says something important about her character.
Now, I did something entirely for fun in order to exaggerate a point I wanted to make that drives me crazy about anthro character design.
I see a lot of people using as many colors as physically possible, and I've honestly only seen that accomplished with any success by the folks over at Paper Rad (epilepsy warning), where they're doing it VERY intentionally. Now, this is a lot more obnoxious than I really normally see, but it does say something important--don't use full-saturation color unless you REALLY MEAN IT. Adding just a touch of another color to tone it back a little makes it deeper and more meaningful for the viewer. This is just a house of madness for the eyes, and I only recommend it if you 100% know what the hell it is you're doing.
That about covers it for my basic stuff. There are a lot of approaches you can take--emotional color, psychological color, physiological color, color symbolism, using color for spacial effects, or heck, even just personal preferences. What matters is that you think about what you're using and try to move beyond the basic "I'll use complementary colors." That's a fine strategy, but it's just the beginning of all kinds of things you can do.
And now I will formulate a list of color symbolism. I unfortunately lost my notes on color in the marketplace, which is equally interesting, though irrelevant to this post, but I'll throw in what I remember from that lecture. I do want to note that many color schemes chosen by competing chains are identical because they want people to associate them with one another. Categories in the brain, and all that.
Oh, and keep in mind that the meaning can change based on context and the hue/value/saturation of the color. A dull yellow will likely be anxious compared to a bright yellow, for example.
COLOR SYMBOLISM!:
Red: anger, urgency, action, blood, speed, outrage, love... increases the pulse. Children do well creatively when surrounded by a lot of red. Many people who love the color red also tend to love life. Red reads very fast, and along with yellow, is associated by many (especially children) with food and fun, which is why you see it on so many restaurants and fast food chains.
Yellow: happy, sour, bright, nervous. Too much yellow makes babies cry a lot. It stimulates the nervous system, and tends to be the favorite color of many intellectuals. See my notes on red about its usage with food, but yellow with a little bit of red can convey a sense of "new"ness, which is why Kodak uses it in their logo.
Blue: tranquil, calm, cold, sad, blank, harmless, conservative. The right tone of blue creates a sense of dependability--this is why a lot of banks use blue for their logos and in their color schemes.
Pink: feminine, sweet, prosperous, pampered, soothing. This is used in hospitals and prisons a lot, and also Pepto Bismol is this color for a very intentional reason. Being in a room full of pink can lessen the effects of migranes. Many of women don't actually like this color for what it symbolizes and the fact that it was crammed down their throats at a young age, but it's equally embraced by others.
Brown: nature, earth, dirt, solid, old, reliable. In our culture, many men prefer the color brown. It's used by UPS to uphold that sense of reliability and no-nonsense. Chiptole uses it, along with greens, to try and convey a sense that they use natural ingredients and aren't your typical fast-food restaurant.
Purple: royalty, sophistication, ornate, shocking. Purple conveys a sense of fantasy. Culturally a lot of (straight) men (uncomfortable with their sexuality) hate this color, probably because it's associated with homosexuality.
Grey: neutral, mature, slow. Supposedly it promotes focus and productivity, which is why far too many offices come painted in this.
Black: evil, mystery, sorrow, night, submission. Personally, black is peaceful and easy on the eyes, but that's just me. Creates a sense of solidarity and formality.
White: honesty, integrity, purity, gloominess (?!). Promotes neutrality.
Orange: happy, fun, bright, sociable. Some people who like this color as their favorite are outgoing in some form or fashion.
Green: money, nature, fertility, health. Increasingly more associated with things that are eco-friendly and environmentally responsible. Using it with brown can create tranquility and peacefulness within the viewer.
That about wraps it up. If there's anything specific you want to ask about, I'll do my best to answer. I know seifaiden asked about paisley patterns, which I forgot to ask about, and I have no idea about them.
The idea of using color to convey meaning and narrative has been around for a very long time. A lot of color meanings are varied from culture to culture, and even on an individual basis. However, some meanings are common enough, and even if you don't personally subscribe to that definition, you're probably at least aware of it.
I'm going to be posting a lot of my art in this to try and help convey what I mean, so bare with the gratuitous self-promotion. I'm not intending to fashion myself as some expert on color, but I figure some exposure to color theory is better than none. I also want to preemptively thank bossgoji for creating a character for my use specifically for this exercise.
So, color is basically everywhere. It's even in places that aren't immediately obvious, like music. If you compare, say, a Mario game to a Metal Gear game, you'll notice that the Mario game is more colorful, but that its music is also more upbeat. The more dramatic soundtrack of Metal Gear matches the game's palette browns and greys, which I've heard (and myself) criticized as being a crappy attempt at realism. The world ISN'T brown. However, the fact of the matter is, I suspect the brown is intentional for the setting.
Colors containing browns and greys "read" slower. They give a sense of age, of history. They make the mood somber and nostalgic. Of course, this doesn't mean you have to apply a universal coat of blah brown. It can be very subtle, depending on what you're going for.
In the following, I borrowed from a Steampunk theme to create a supposed battle between Steam Britain and Steam China. I used a very brown sensibility--the only thing that's problematic is the British captain's uniform, which should also be a little dingier than I made it.
It's a limited palette, but it's still plenty colorful and not too boring to look at.
I played with the idea of anachronisms in another piece.
I decided on using color to make the Victorian world feel more "modern," while the Star Wars film is brown for "old." There are still touches of brown in the Victorian world--it's not a hard and fast rule, of course, but nothing is.
Naturally, if you want something to feel happy, you go for bright, closer-to-pure colors. You may or may not remember my vampire girl. Even though it's raining in the image, it uses a brighter color palette. There's a sense of playfulness, more than if I had painted her clothes and hair and umbrella black and brown.
The assignment here was to express an emotion or feeling, and I had chosen hunger. However, I found something a little peculiar when I changed the background color.
My classmates felt that the one on the right, with the pink, was screaming about femininity and stereotypes about women lusting for pastries. The one on the right felt more like a "getaway," a general hunger and lust, a way to bring some joy on an otherwise abysmal day.
It's pretty important to choose your background and color scheme. You don't want to end up conveying the wrong thing. I loathe stereotypes, and the last thing I wanted to do was make it seem like she was going to buy a dozen cupcakes, go home, and cry into them while she cried irrationally over an episode of Desperate Housewives or something.
Similarly, my teacher asked me if I had been artistically inspired by Scooby Doo on the right side of this picture:
I could immediately see why, when she mentioned it. I felt vaguely horrified, but I thought I'd share my mistake. The idea here was a loss of the optimism of youth. I should also mention that the internet totally ate the colors on this one, so I apologize for how crappy it looks. I was going for a limited palette, like I have been for all my images--too many colors tends to be too busy, and if that's not what you want, avoid it--and I ended up with someone who appears to be Daphne.
I did feel pretty successful with the next one:
It's cold, it's gloomy. That I didn't go with "local color"--the color something is in real life--helped to push the message. The fact I really only used one color with varied shades of light and dark gives a sense of isolation that would be gone if I had used two or three instead.
Here's an image that's quite a bit more emotional. I actually hate how this turned out for a few reasons:
The yellow was initially brighter, but that created a feeling of isolation that made people think this was an image about birth/rebirth. The intended effect was fear. I tried dulling the color, but it just looks kind of shitty now, so I'm calling this one unsuccessful.
So now we come to bossgoji's offering, which I again thank her for profusely.
The character is Masika, an anthropomorphic member of the species Eudicella Gralli, a kind of beetle. The females are less colorful and lack the horn of the male beetle, so this was an interesting challenge to figure out colors for.
My first color attempt was using "local color"--again, what's actually there in real life--with some adjustments for the fact that, well, she's anthro.
Considering she's very cheerful and happy-go-lucky, this scheme doesn't fit her personality. It looks appealing to the eye, but it would work better for a character who is quieter and calmer. So I'm going to go for the opposite of local color--expressive color.
So I started playing with more colorful schemes to see what I could come up with.
Here, Masika's looking a little brighter, but thanks to the rule of Contrast by Extension, our eyes are drawn to her clothes, and not her face. If you want to emphasize something on a character, this is a good rule to use--pick a color that doesn't fit the scheme at all, and use it in limited quantities. But that's not what I was going for with her.
So I went for something a little more balanced.
I really miss the green hair, and could probably continuously tinker on it until it was perfect, but I was much more satisfied with this as an outcome. The wings and shoes stand out, which I felt was more appropriate. She seems like the sort to have a lot of energy, who moves around a lot, so it says something important about her character.
Now, I did something entirely for fun in order to exaggerate a point I wanted to make that drives me crazy about anthro character design.
I see a lot of people using as many colors as physically possible, and I've honestly only seen that accomplished with any success by the folks over at Paper Rad (epilepsy warning), where they're doing it VERY intentionally. Now, this is a lot more obnoxious than I really normally see, but it does say something important--don't use full-saturation color unless you REALLY MEAN IT. Adding just a touch of another color to tone it back a little makes it deeper and more meaningful for the viewer. This is just a house of madness for the eyes, and I only recommend it if you 100% know what the hell it is you're doing.
That about covers it for my basic stuff. There are a lot of approaches you can take--emotional color, psychological color, physiological color, color symbolism, using color for spacial effects, or heck, even just personal preferences. What matters is that you think about what you're using and try to move beyond the basic "I'll use complementary colors." That's a fine strategy, but it's just the beginning of all kinds of things you can do.
And now I will formulate a list of color symbolism. I unfortunately lost my notes on color in the marketplace, which is equally interesting, though irrelevant to this post, but I'll throw in what I remember from that lecture. I do want to note that many color schemes chosen by competing chains are identical because they want people to associate them with one another. Categories in the brain, and all that.
Oh, and keep in mind that the meaning can change based on context and the hue/value/saturation of the color. A dull yellow will likely be anxious compared to a bright yellow, for example.
COLOR SYMBOLISM!:
Red: anger, urgency, action, blood, speed, outrage, love... increases the pulse. Children do well creatively when surrounded by a lot of red. Many people who love the color red also tend to love life. Red reads very fast, and along with yellow, is associated by many (especially children) with food and fun, which is why you see it on so many restaurants and fast food chains.
Yellow: happy, sour, bright, nervous. Too much yellow makes babies cry a lot. It stimulates the nervous system, and tends to be the favorite color of many intellectuals. See my notes on red about its usage with food, but yellow with a little bit of red can convey a sense of "new"ness, which is why Kodak uses it in their logo.
Blue: tranquil, calm, cold, sad, blank, harmless, conservative. The right tone of blue creates a sense of dependability--this is why a lot of banks use blue for their logos and in their color schemes.
Pink: feminine, sweet, prosperous, pampered, soothing. This is used in hospitals and prisons a lot, and also Pepto Bismol is this color for a very intentional reason. Being in a room full of pink can lessen the effects of migranes. Many of women don't actually like this color for what it symbolizes and the fact that it was crammed down their throats at a young age, but it's equally embraced by others.
Brown: nature, earth, dirt, solid, old, reliable. In our culture, many men prefer the color brown. It's used by UPS to uphold that sense of reliability and no-nonsense. Chiptole uses it, along with greens, to try and convey a sense that they use natural ingredients and aren't your typical fast-food restaurant.
Purple: royalty, sophistication, ornate, shocking. Purple conveys a sense of fantasy. Culturally a lot of (straight) men (uncomfortable with their sexuality) hate this color, probably because it's associated with homosexuality.
Grey: neutral, mature, slow. Supposedly it promotes focus and productivity, which is why far too many offices come painted in this.
Black: evil, mystery, sorrow, night, submission. Personally, black is peaceful and easy on the eyes, but that's just me. Creates a sense of solidarity and formality.
White: honesty, integrity, purity, gloominess (?!). Promotes neutrality.
Orange: happy, fun, bright, sociable. Some people who like this color as their favorite are outgoing in some form or fashion.
Green: money, nature, fertility, health. Increasingly more associated with things that are eco-friendly and environmentally responsible. Using it with brown can create tranquility and peacefulness within the viewer.
That about wraps it up. If there's anything specific you want to ask about, I'll do my best to answer. I know seifaiden asked about paisley patterns, which I forgot to ask about, and I have no idea about them.