What is a color palette?

Color is a powerful tool in illustration that can evoke emotions, convey moods, and create visual interest. A color palette is a range of colors used in all types of art and design. It’s like jam in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. You could go without it, but it makes images richer and more engaging. From graphic design, fashion design, or interior design everyone uses color to draw the eye in, or away. When building your own brand make sure you pick a color palette and just own it. Don’t stray from what you’ve defined but if you want to add a banana into your peanut butter and jelly sandwich, make sure it’s intentional. A color palette consists of a limited number of colors, or it can be a broader range of hues. You can build your own color palette based off of aesthetics, (just because it looks cool) or to convey a particular mood or emotion. They can also be selected to match the color scheme of a specific brand or company.

How to build a brand color palette from a color wheel.

Color can define you so be sure to start with a color wheel or chart. One of my go to tools is using this browser based color tool by Adobe color to experiment with different combinations of colors and to research color trends. When it comes to clothing and fashion there are even color forecasting companies that pick top colors of the year – like Pantone. Picking a color set is not an easy task but finding a favorite drawing or illustration is. Here’s how I go about picking a color palette so my illustrations feel cohesive even if the subject changes.

Step 1. Research colors.

Find a photo or drawing that you like. Sometimes its the composition of the image that really draws me in and other times it’s the artist. If its the artist check their portfolio site or social network and maybe you can uncover other images that use similar colors. When in doubt the best place to start to build your own color palette is to do research. One of my favorite tools is Pinterest. Its an easy way to organize lots of photos and visuals to figure out why you like something. By grouping similar colors, they are then called mood boards. You can even set these to private so no one can see! If you’re looking for a great site for color inspiration, please please please droll over this bentobox tumblr site. Insert drooling emoji here.

Step 2.  Start playing with the Color Wheel.

When I sat down and tried to define my brand colors I went through years of trial and error. No, really about 10 years of mistake and error and just figuring things out. I wasted so much time buying paint, sifting through color books to figure out how to create a style. Then it dawned on me to just use the color wheel and go back to art school basics. Theres a reason why the color wheel exists and thank you digital nerds who built Adobe Color (or Kuler) and if you’re on the go download the adobe capture app (its free) and you can grab colors from photos in the wild. Ok, now you got the tools- go and start playing with these tools to choose a variation of color harmonies such as complementary colors, analogous, traid, complementary, the list goes on. Don’t be scared, you don’t need to know what these terms mean but i’m sure that after a while of noodling you’ll figure it out. And if this is too much or overwhelming just upload one of the images from your research you did in the first step. Make sure you have a mix of contrasting colors and a wide range of tones.

Step 3. Experiment with your color selection.

Bring the colors you just chose into your favorite drawing app. I prefer Adobe Illustrator but I also enjoy gimp, procreate and corelDRAW. Whatever your preferred drawing app is,  just open it up and start experimenting with a basic shape composition to start seeing how your new colors feel together. This is where expand on my base set and bring in lighter and darker colors. When I built my color palette I had a set of 5 illustrations all sketched out, then I started adding in the colors to each piece so they would tie together when hung on a wall. For me, I found my identity through a project of my own. I then realized that this base color set could be used across other drawings and now all of my work feels cohesive and like it was designed all at once, vs in reality over many years. Your drawing should have shadows and contrast, once you build your base you can create lighter and darker variations.

Step 4. Walk away.

Yes, take a break and revisit whatever you just did tomorrow. This is not easy. I wanted to be a black and white artist. Clearly that did not work out. My first color palette was horrible. Everything was muted and was sad beige. I can’t even show you because i’m so embarrassed just thinking about that poor decision. Good thing I took a walk and came back to my design the next day. Sometimes your eyes need a break, and sometimes you make bad decisions over a glass of wine while working. Trust me, every project, every design, every illustration needs a break. Walk away and revisit your colors tomorrow.

The last tip about color in illustration.

Don’t ask your boyfriend or your cat, ask yourself. Because at the end of the day these colors define you. Not anyone else’s opinions (unless you’re picking colors to pitch to a brand then they can tear you apart). Your colors are your branding. Yes, they are and if you don’t agree, click away now.  Make sure you have a reason for the colors you picked. Why that shade of neon yellow? Because it looks cool isn’t going to cut it. But if you’re thinking that yellow brings a warmth and energy to the piece then maybe (just maybe) you deserve a gold star for the day.

No, actually no gold star for you (I need to tuffen you up to work in this industry!)

Color is subjective and a matter of opinion. How you use it will depend on your personal style, the message you want to convey, and the audience you’re trying to reach. Did you know that most corporate logos are blue? When the CMO of Volkswagen told me to make the sky blue instead of purple, I fucking did. Because ya know what. Volkswagen is the shit and I don’t argue with people above my pay grade. When a CMO tells you to change something, you do it and say thank you very much. Because you’re just the designer.