# A Question about Base Colors



## Infinity (Dec 25, 2007)

I've been just wondering for some time now how stingy is everyone when it comes to choosing a base color?

Do you keep a palette hidden away for every character that you have or do you just go with the flow with every new picture?

I do notice at times that with reckless choosing of base colors some pieces tend to be lacking being too bright or too dark than what they should be.

Thoughts?


----------



## Sparkynekomi (Dec 30, 2007)

Infinity said:
			
		

> I've been just wondering for some time now how stingy is everyone when it comes to choosing a base color?
> 
> Do you keep a palette hidden away for every character that you have or do you just go with the flow with every new picture?
> 
> ...



I have to say... make up the palette on the fly. Why? Simple. 

Everything looks different depending on the lighting so you need to adjust the character according to the environment according to the light. A lot of factors go into things like this. If you don't take all the factors into consideration, the result just not pretty. Doubt me? Put in a movie and pay close attention. King Kong is a good one; a lot of times the color palette is almost monochromatic but nine times out of ten the viewer doesn't notice because it looks so natural. Another movie for observing this is "A Toy Story." Either one. 

It may take a few attempts to get it right and all, but in the long run your art will be much better for it.


----------



## Odjit-Sanura (Dec 31, 2007)

Infinity said:
			
		

> I've been just wondering for some time now how stingy is everyone when it comes to choosing a base color?
> 
> Do you keep a palette hidden away for every character that you have or do you just go with the flow with every new picture?
> 
> ...



go with the flow of each new piece unless its the same character in the same clothes.  I try to think of the person and their habbits if i know them personally, what kind of clothes and colors they wear, and what style, and go with the flow.  As an example, I have a friend who loves yellows, oranges, and greens.  I almost never wear orange or yellow.

Generally, your "base" color should be somewhere in the mid range of your pallate, then do highlights and shadows with contrasting colors, or deeper analgous colors (in otherwords, if you are painting with reds, shade with a deep green, or if you are doing a bright yellow, shade with a darker orange or even a yellow-brown)

Just also remember your color wheel when working cause you dont want certain colors to look garrish against eachother.  

I had the person who my raccoon character is based off of go online with me and get me to change some of the colors around cause even though i know she likes pink, she thought it was too pink.  So i changed the backround from a dark pink to another color, and the shirt with blue shading, and the pants a different color as well.


----------



## Arshes Nei (Dec 31, 2007)

I set palettes according to mood of the piece, I will make adjustments on the fly but most of the time the colors are actually dependent on the BACKGROUND. The background is your reflective light most of the time so it's best to chose colors that work with it. I try to stay away from pure white and pure black because those are ranges so out there it is hard to come back from.

Painting a background first will help you chose you colors faster and more wisely.

Let me post an example pic of how a background helps you chose colors.

http://soap-committee.deviantart.com/art/Look-at-us-we-re-so-hot-lol-72559713

Now look carefully at the man's arm, instead of a really dark color the midtones are actually reflected color. that color being the background. Usually you'll see it in the "midtone" range of a shadow. Look at their faces and you'll see it. Start looking at movies and you'll notice it happening. You'll see this dark color usually the darkest tone of what you know is supposed to be the color. Like say a Blue jacket, but the midtone reflected parts are usually what causes a shadow.

Picking a base color becomes easier when you understand what objects are going to cast shadows and what is going to have light.


----------



## Anamenti (Jan 9, 2008)

If I'm doing a peice based on an already existing character I'll often use an older picture and sample the colours from it, but normaly only for the first base tone, after that it's more reflected on by the ambient lighting and such, it depends a lot on colouring style, if everything someone does is flat cartoon shading it obviously makes more sense to keep reference of colours (Good practice if your into animation afterall ) but for painting... if I'm doing an old character of mine I just know what colours to use, if I'm painting Teresa I'll just pick a random auburn that I think suits her, as skin tone and colour of fur could change slightly anyway, its only really a problem in comics or things set with a certain time frame.
Short of randomly changing your character from green to pink every day (But then again, why the hell not?)
So long as it has a relevance to whats around it, it'll look better


----------

