Color Experiments - 200220
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I GOT IT! Who knew choosing colors could be this excruciating... While I’m personally drawn to warm colors, all the pairings I created seemed very derivative of common color trends in illustrating with grain texture. (We’ve all seen it on Dribbble, the fuschia/navy/pink/cyan color palette.) I wanted the color palette to be able to evoke a sense of calm and wisdom (concentration) in some cases but also notes of tension and chaos (tech alerts).
I was at the point of spiraling into a Dribbble black hole when my friend Kuu Chen (also fantastic! Check out their work!) suggested that I look at some artbooks for color schemes.
I picked up Only Island, an illustration book by Loika from their desk and ended up flipping to this spread. I fell in love with the calming peace that comes through with the green, especially in the dark forest forms.
Scan of the spread I was looking at.
I wanted to see if I could make a palette combining a darker green (for calm/serenity/wisdom) and a fuschia (for energy/vividness). The cream and brown tones balance out the palette and provide a light and dark value to work with. The cyan is used as an accent color.
Final color palette.
Palettes that didn’t make the cut.
Question for today: How do I apply the color scheme to the project? Limited palettes? Full-on explosions?
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/276a33920917b09f805d21c2f15824c01c4606c45838a235db7b80e9c547b3d4/200220-color-experiment-02.png)
I GOT IT! Who knew choosing colors could be this excruciating... While I’m personally drawn to warm colors, all the pairings I created seemed very derivative of common color trends in illustrating with grain texture. (We’ve all seen it on Dribbble, the fuschia/navy/pink/cyan color palette.) I wanted the color palette to be able to evoke a sense of calm and wisdom (concentration) in some cases but also notes of tension and chaos (tech alerts).
I was at the point of spiraling into a Dribbble black hole when my friend Kuu Chen (also fantastic! Check out their work!) suggested that I look at some artbooks for color schemes.
I picked up Only Island, an illustration book by Loika from their desk and ended up flipping to this spread. I fell in love with the calming peace that comes through with the green, especially in the dark forest forms.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7efa95b62aee221f6f9753a3da0f6c63469184b0c42007e079f9320a296cd5d0/200227-Loika.jpeg)
I wanted to see if I could make a palette combining a darker green (for calm/serenity/wisdom) and a fuschia (for energy/vividness). The cream and brown tones balance out the palette and provide a light and dark value to work with. The cyan is used as an accent color.
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/49094c2b7b426e543ea518735e775228a6a052abe43afa63ec09f67544bcd606/200220-color-experiment-09.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/68f3d80630cf9238180ef134e81b67ebe2df9d96f4c5fce9bf8d999558ef1122/200220-color-experiment_Palette-2.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9255f61378c2c6051bafab726e873b300e9d1a07547441340c559d14c149bd10/200220-color-experiment_Palette-3.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ad107fb9c2f927826622035461f801fc99ca03eda474176f744230641fb07deb/200220-color-experiment_Palette-4.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/faccd5b7858961409be4f71a2396fd01627f5cdfc89197397c1afedde8cc9e2b/200220-color-experiment_Palette-5.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/501056361c4a70517356f1864119dc99678a7caa755f96d2310b9b57dbf74cf1/200220-color-experiment_Palette-6.png)
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/12057488c3efcbff0e304585acdbe0bda4179ce1f43e727b77f8713b0ee2c73c/200220-color-experiment_Palette-7.png)
Palettes that didn’t make the cut.
Question for today: How do I apply the color scheme to the project? Limited palettes? Full-on explosions?