Color Palettes | FAQ Part 3
- JessieAmo
- Jul 8, 2016
- 3 min read
This is the third part of the FAQs about my project #100PatternsByJessieamo! I've received some interesting questions about how to choose the colors for your patterns. Like I've said before, I am no expert on this matter and I'm still learning. All I can do is share the insight I've gained over the last couple of months.
I'll start with how I primarily choose colors: from my gut. Since I use watercolor for most of my motifs, I just lay out my two watercolor sets and start creating combos that "feel right" to me. You can maybe experiment a bit and doodle around just to see how the colors look together. However, I do have a design background that may be helping me on this, so I understand that it may not be as easy as it sounds to someone who's starting out from scratch. In that case, the following methods may work for you.
Choose colors from nature
You can't go wrong with nature! Have you ever looked at a flower or tree and said, these colors don't go well together? No, right? That's because Mother Nature is the ultimate surface pattern designer and an infinite source of inspiration.
You can google it and try to find pictures to use, but I highly recommend trying to go out yourself and take pictures of color combinations that you feel drawn to. For example, these are some pics that I took a few weeks ago when I went for a walk and that I've used for color inspiration:
They don't have to be professional looking pictures—mine sure aren't!—they just have to capture the pretty colors you would like to use. If you know how to use Illustrator or Photoshop, you can literally pick colors directly from the pictures with the eyedrop tool and create your very own color palettes. Here's an example of a random color palette created from the first picture above:
You can also mix and match pictures that look good together and select colors from all of them for a cool color palette. I use this method when I'm coloring my motifs in Illustrator—like I explained in my last FAQ post, I use Photoshop for my watercolor motifs and they don't require any coloring—so I make sure I save my favorite combinations as user defined palettes to have them available whenever I want.
Look for Color Trends
Go out to your favorite home decor shop, or just any shop that you love. Look for products with color combinations that you like and take pictures—if you're allowed to—and keep a folder with all this found inspiration. I find Ikea to be a cool source of color inspiration, even in their catalogs!
Pin it!
I am an avid Pinterest user and it is a constant source of inspiration for me. If you don't really have time to go out scouting for pictures, you can try opening a Pinterest account and pinning every colorful image that catches your eye.
One cool Pinterest feature is that you get to create secret boards to keep stuff just for you if you're working on a project that you still don't want the public eye to see. I have pretty much as many public boards as I have secret! --> https://www.pinterest.com/jessieamo2/
Additionally, if you take your own pictures or if you find them somewhere in the web, you can still pin it to one of your Pinterest boards. It's a cool way to keep mood and visual boards organized.
Search for Color Palettes
There are many pages and Pinterest accounts that make the job even easier for you. They take the pictures, create the color palettes and give it to you organized and ready to use. Here's an example of a couple of cool color palettes I've found that are ready to use:
One thing you have to keep in mind is that, since these resources are available to everyone, many other people may find these palettes and use them. You may bump into a design that has very similar colors to yours very easily. Try to be smart about it. If you will be using these pre-made palettes, try to modify them a bit, add some other colors, change some shades, get creative!
Hope this help you get some ideas on how to look for color palette inspirations. If you have any more questions you'd like me to answer, please contact me!
Love,
JessieAmo
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