do you have any tips for palettes? i tried twice and they turned out like absolute shit :///

junvii:

I usually just eyeball the colors when I draw but this site is very helpful when it comes to choosing colors!! http://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm

I just sorta summarized it into pictures so you don’t have to go back and forth but i didn’t put the in depth meaning behind it so i still recommend checking the site out!!:

I’m only a self taught artist, no school or professional background so a huge disclaimer

I’m pretty sure most people knows the basics like neutral, primary, secondary and tertiary as well as subtractive primary colors (CMK) so I’ll skip through that along with the cold and warm colors:

Volume and Saturation plays a big role on making palettes. It plays the part of the appeal and what colors to choose, palettes that are too saturated or high on contrast are quite painful to look at (some artist make it work by balancing it out so they still maintain the bright colors) and unsaturated, low on contrast palettes are dull to look at and not very a appealing.

Tints, Shades, and Tones are sub terms you can use, this chart is to help you differentiate them

Now the fun part!!

Color harmonies are basically techniques for choosing colors. Since SAI’s color wheel is kinda a disaster I recommend just looking up a color wheel on google or you can use this one here.

You can pick any of the techniques there (heres a more in depth explanation of each technique) and just start experimenting with them! Here’s some tips to get you started:

• Don’t take the techniques literally!! You can toggle your colors all around, just use it as a base
• Saturated colors =/= good color scheme balance it out!
• Contrast is your pal remember that but too much of it can hurt your eyes 😦
• I usually use a maximum of 5 [or 6] colors and a minimum of 3 for making palettes. 4 is usually the most common one used
• I pick 1-2 very saturated colors and the rest are up to the mixing
• HAVE FUN!!

Here are some palettes I made using each techniques:

Hope this helps!!