How To Make A Character Color Palette Using Color Theory

Take Superman, one of the most iconic characters in the world, who achieved that in no small part due to the trio of colors most associated with him: blue, red, and yellow.

But why have those three colors become so iconic that even his symbol is a cultural marker? Is there some inherent power in this combination that comics and cartoons have tapped into? Keep reading as we look at color theory and how to apply it to original characters on CharacterHub.

Why Color Matters In a Character Color Palette

If you create art regularly, you are well aware of the basics of color, but as with any topic, there is always more to consider. Color can be symbolic and psychological, so learning how to use color to represent traits in your character designs means knowing more about color theory. Being able to recognize color was an essential aspect of human evolution. As a result, generations of human experience have influenced how we understand color.

In short, by something in our brains and our experiences, we make significant associations about combinations of colors that can affect how we feel and interpret something with those colors. That means when developing character color palette ideas, we can turn to shared experiences.

Color Theory Basics 

This won’t be an all-encompassing overview of color theory. Still, it would be a good idea to understand the basics before diving into how to choose a color palette for your character. You can always find information online to dive into color theory further. For example, we’ll be referring to Colors Explained for a portion of this section.

Color Models

One thing to consider about colors and how they mix and blend is the idea of color models. The media where your original character exists can influence their colors. It is essential to remember this so that when you share your character color palette, you present the most accurate version you can.

RGB Color Model

The RGB model combines red, green, and blue as the primary colors derived from other colors. The RGB model is usually handled on screens, like monitors and TVs, as light creates color. Adjusting the brightness of light will also make these colors brighter or darker. You should also know this is an additive model: instead of starting with white as a base, you add color to black.

CMYK Color Model

The CMYK model stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Key, though the key is often called Black. CMYK is specific to printed media, such as books and shirts. If you’ve ever messed around with color models in your program and noticed a change, that is because CMYK is a subtractive mixing model. The brightness of paper, for example, is subtracted from through layers of pigment. That means while the CMYK may look “odd” on the screen when printed, it looks just as your RGB colors would have looked on a monitor.

RYB Color Model

The RYB color model is the physical media model based on Red, Yellow, and Blue. You may remember it best using crayons, paints, and colored pencils. RYB, like CMYK, is a subtractive model because it is about removing white on a canvas or paper through layers of pigment in whatever media you’re using.

Color Meanings

Colors carry psychological associations significant to the success of a color palette for characters.

Color can also be a shortcut to identify a character’s role, attitude, or background. Color Psychology 101 puts it plainly:

When it comes to communication, color is unbeatable. Unconscious or otherwise, color can evoke emotions, inspire reactions, and change modes of thinking. It can excite or soothe your mood, raise or lower your blood pressure, and even whet your appetite! Whether it’s innate or learned, it’s undeniable that color has a vital impact on how we go about our lives.

That is a lot of emphasis to put on the importance of color for your OC, but it is pretty serious business. There is a reason concepts such as the “dark lord” and “white knight” are familiar character tropes - those color associations mean something, and by tapping into the psychology of color, you create a good character color palette that has depth.

Core Four of Color

When it comes time to understand how we talk about colors with some depth and insight, you need to know these four specific terms: hue, saturation, value, and temperature. These are how we expand on the basic concepts of the color wheel of 12 colors, first developed by Isaac Newton in 1666. Yes, that Isaac Newton.

If a color wheel defines the most pure forms of the twelve colors, then the four terms mentioned earlier are how to bend and shape those colors to get any form you wish.

Hue

Hue represents the purest form of a color - a prime color. Hue and color are used interchangeably, but that’s inaccurate. Color can refer to multiple things, but hue is specific to the base color on that color wheel, derived from primary and secondary colors. Hue sets the stage, and color is derived by what is done with the hue.

Saturation

Saturation refers to the intensity of a color. Think of it in terms of a spectrum from pale to bright - the intensity change of the hue is the saturation. High saturation results in bright colors, while low saturation results in muted colors. Combinations of color saturation can create depth in a color palette for a character.

Value

Value is how we would describe a color's relative lightness and darkness. Value has a critical role to play in creating contrast even across the same hue. An example of how to apply a color palette to a character is using different values to a hue to create a unified look that builds on contrast.

Temperature

Pop quiz: which color reads warmer to you - red or blue? For most people, that would be red, and that is because we interpret it as a warm color.

Charlene Collins Freeman explains the importance of color temperature very well, writing: “A color’s temperature affects the color of everything we see. And as artists, it’s important to learn about it because color temperature helps us create depth, mood and even movement. In general, yellows, oranges, and reds are warm colors and blues and greens are cool.”

Color Schemes: Character Color Palette Ideas

While there is so much more to understand about color theory, we should grasp it enough to apply those ideas to color schemes to assemble a color palette for a character. We’re only scratching the surface of the deep and complex observations about colors and how they work, but it is enough to get us started working with color schemes. Color schemes are combinations of colors that have relationships to each other on a color wheel.

We can look at existing characters to see how color schemes can help make a character look iconic and appealing and explain each scheme. Here is where you see strong character design color theory in action. These stem from the concept of color harmonies - the arrangement of colors to form a cohesive whole.

Primary

While we often refer to primary colors as part of a palette, they have a firm place in character design, and I can think of no finer model than Bart Simpson of The Simpsons. A character from a series so iconic their shade of yellow has its specific hex code (#ffd90f).

Bart’s color scheme is derived nearly entirely from primary colors from the RYB color model. His colors also tend to be very strong in their hue and saturation, resulting in a bright and eye-catching cartoon icon. Black and white in the design are part of his features but also provide a little contrasting balance to the relative pureness of his colors. This character is meant to be the center of attention, and the colors speak to that. 

While a primary color scheme is not “technically” a recognized color scheme like the ones we’ll be discussing, I think there is a lot of merit in applying high hue and saturation based on primary colors when picking out a color palette for a character.

However, primary colors can overwhelm surrounding colors and are often read as simple and childlike. So be sure to take these things into account as well.

Square

Bust out your color wheel, kids, because the square scheme involves color choices that are equidistant on the color wheel, resulting in two complementary pairs. You are putting four points on a wheel and making a square. It may sound abstract, but we have an excellent example to work with here.

Ainz Ooal Gown from the light novel and anime series Overlord is a solid example of design based on a square color character palette.

This evil overlord is principally colored by red, purple, yellow, and blue variations, resulting in a square shape on an RGB color wheel. Of course, black and white and various tones help create contrast and mood. The hue, saturation, and values vary tremendously; for example, any blues are almost grey in their saturation.

The key thing to this color character palette is that it is designed around two dominant colors: purple and yellow. His robe is primarily purple, a color associated with royalty, and a golden trim derived from yellow. The yellow is also present in his world item, a magical staff he always keeps. Having two dominant colors in the design is a good idea when working with a square color scheme.

Red and blue still have a role in his palette, but they are often subtle, such as the blue-grey of his cloak, or used for pop, like his red orbs.

Monochromatic

Monochromatic color schemes are a basic form of color harmony. All the colors on a palette are derived from a single hue and built from various tweaks such as saturation and values. It doesn’t sound all that exciting, but it is hard to argue with the results, especially when it is the iconic Darth Vader of Star Wars.

I am going to put something out there that may sound controversial. Yes, Darth Vader is primarily seen as being colored by greys and blacks. However, you can arrive at those from the hue of red. Red is present in Vader’s design in his iconic lightsaber and the dark lenses of his eyes. Working with red and adjusting hue, saturation, and tone, you can arrive at black and greys that encompass most of his apparent color palette.

So, yes, Darth Vader is a monochromatic red character design.

The heavy dark and grey that is an extension of a pure hue of red makes for a sound character color palette for a scary antagonist and is not uncommon as a design trope for many characters. Star Wars was not the first to do this, but it did it excellently.

Analogous

An excellent example of an analogous color scheme is Roronora Zoro from One Piece. Zoro’s signature color is green, and his look uses analogous variations of green.

When dealing with analogous colors, you pick colors adjacent to one another on the color wheel. Usually, you have a predominant color as the primary color, with adjacent forms creating contrast. Hence, Zoro has a predominantly dark green outfit, contrasted by the mid-value green of his haramaki, and the lighter green of his hair. For added contrast, notice his boots are also an even darker form of green.

Complementary

Complementary color schemes are some of the most common and familiar color schemes used by artists and cartoonists, and for a good reason. Complementary colors almost always look good together and stand out. You get complementary colors by pairing colors from the opposite sides of the color wheel.

The sharp contrast allows designs to pop. A great example is the complementary pairing of The Incredible Hulk and his unusual purple pants. 

Marvel’s jolly green giant wears purple pants not only for a fashion statement but because those colors pair well on the printed page of the 60 comics where he first appeared.

However, when designing a character, you can also utilize contrast when taking in their setting. Let’s see how this works with SpongeBob Squarepants.

SpongeBob’s primary hue is yellow; its opposite would be blues and purples. Because of this, Spongebob pops off the background of his underwater environment. Losing the yellow sponge in the show's action is nearly impossible because he is always bright.

Split-Complementary

On that note, we can take things further when using complementary colors in character design. A great example of a split-complementary color choice is Starfire from Teen Titans Go!

As you can see, Starfire follows the complementary colors of the Hulk from earlier. What makes this split-complementary is that we have green contrasted by adjacent hues of purple and red.

You get a lot of contrast with split-complementary color schemes, but they can also be slightly more finicky than a more basic complementary scheme. Starfire here is pretty interesting because while you can argue that the red of her hair is the dominant color, the green draws the eye in this image.

Triadic

The good old triadic color scheme is used by some of fiction's most iconic character designs. A triadic color scheme pulls from three colors evenly spaced around a color wheel. The three colors offer plenty of contrast but maintain a harmonious feeling, but it can also be easy to get wrong.

Two characters who nail the triadic color scheme are none other than Super Mario and Superman. Both figures primarily rely on the combination of red and blue but have a splash of yellow as an accent. We also have our friend Bart Simpson, from earlier, who can fit in this category.

The red, blue, and yellow trio work incredibly well, but you should avoid using all three colors in equal amounts. Like so many of these color schemes, building around a dominant or pair of colors is a wise move. The inherent contrast of the third color helps everything feel more balanced when used in a small amount.

Tetradic

Tetradic color schemes share many similarities with square color schemes, but the difference can be pretty stark. While a square color scheme features four hues selected at equal distances, resulting in a square shape, tetradic color schemes are more rectangular on the color wheel. You are making a pair of complementary colors with a tetradic color scheme, resulting in a lot of contrast, often feeling harmonious as well.

A great example of a tetradic color scheme is Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.

The dominant color on Buzz is green; we wouldn’t count white as it’s more of a bright blend of all colors. Buzz’s green color’s complete is the splash of red. The second most dominant color here would be purple. The purple has its complement in the tiny patch of blue on Buzz’s arm. Remember that it’s not about using a ton of every color but finding balance around a dominant color or two.

Palettes You Can Steal

Are you looking to find a good color palette for a character? Sometimes the best option is to steal. Of course, when we talk about stealing, we mean doing the ethical thing and using stuff you like while acknowledging where it came from. As you browse the myriad characters of CharacterHub, pay close attention to everything from complex tetradic schemes to simple character color palettes. Find what you like and give it a whirl on your own OC.

However, you can also steal this batch of color schemes assembled here. We developed these using Adobe Color, which is a free resource you can use to create color palettes to draw from. We have two sets of colors for each scheme we discussed that you can use. We’d love to see the results!

Analogous Colors

Complementary Colors

Split-Complementary

Square

Tetradic

Triad

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Color Theory Character Design: Don’t Think About It Too Mechanically

We’ve spent a lot of time discussing the rules of colors, how they function, and standard color schemes, but here is the part of the article where we tell you not to take it too seriously. Treat this theory more as guidelines as opposed to rules.

This theory can be constructive, but color combinations sometimes work and are hard to explain. Should you stress about being able to explain how they work? Absolutely not.

But if you are trying to think about how color speaks to your audience regarding your OC, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to look at typical, iconic color schemes and spend a little time rounding the color wheel yourself. That little bit of effort will surely make CharacterHub a more colorful place.