Color- in character design

Just some notes:

Color Language - we are trained from a young age to associate colors with different sensations or knowledge (tactile, emotional etc.). for example blue is sad, red is angry or in love, yellow is happy, green is growing, black is bad or tough, white is good or robotic or sterile etc.  Also that when red and blue are together that can mean hot and cold, good and bad, different teams etc.  



CONTEXT: A single color can have various meanings depending on it's context. Red for example.
Red = heat, blood, courage, patriotic, off, scary, medical, danger, healthy, tasty etc.

different cultures may interpret some colors differently - for example people in the U.S. associate the red white and blue to patriotism, courage, heros etc (just look at our superheros!) where'as another country may use different colors to emblemize patriotism.

Color is often not noticed by the audience, but it affect's the viewer's perception of a character.  Think about how easy it is to identify a hero vs. a bad guy vs. as sidekick? recognize someone's minions,  innocent villagers, royalty etc.

ICONIC COLORS - Less is more - use a small selection of iconic colors to make your character distinctive.  

MAIN CHARACTERS/PROTAGONIST
Primary Colors - plus green

these are your classic color combos. - they are the dominant colors in any color scheme and are thus often attributed to the main character.  

SECONDARY CHARACTERS
Tertiary colors - are secondary to Primary colors - they are less dominant and often are used in secondary characters.

VILLIANS

opposite or contrasting colors.  note how often the villian is the opposite color of the Hero. (ex Red vs. Green:  peterpan and captain hook, Pacha and Kuzko, Thor and Loki, Robin Hood and Prince John etc.)

or Dominant colors (reds and blues) vs. Secondary colors (purple and green.)

Discussion - why is oddly  colored skin so often used for villains?

or by COMPETING COLORS such as Red and Pink.  two colors that don't go well together, that fight each other and can give a sense of discomfort.  This is more subtle and takes other elements to make it work (note hair color and type as well)

OR BY COLOR ASSOCIATION -  Yellow isn't a typical "bad guy" color, but in this film, yellow is a danger color.  Sabor the cat is yellow. once Sabor is defeated, a new villain is introduced.  The first time the viewer sees Clayton, he is speckled with leaf shadows - like sabors spots.  also note his neck tie which is the same color and shape as Sabor's tongue.

COLORS INDICATE HIERARCHY - either in a class system, good/bad,  personal development

 


MINIONS 
Associated colors - we are trained to associate groups of colors with teams.  it is thus easy to recognize in a line-up who belongs with whom - or in the case of the antagonist and protagonist, who is the opposite of whom.

TEAMS

Color Theory for game designers

SATURATED = STYLIZED
DESATURATED = REALISM

however stylized (realistic vs. exaggerated or cartoony) your design, you can strongly tip or influence it closer towards realism or stylization by the color saturation you choose to use.  Bright pure colors are more cartoony and remind us of crayons, toys and candy, while desaturated colors, browns, grey and neutrals will seem more grungy and realistic.  

EARTH COLORS - drab, calm, peaceful, predictable

some color wheels (Complementary, split, Triadic, tetradic color schemes) - 

Some articles:
Colors in Game Design - by Anjin Anhut

Lessons in color theory for Spyro the Dragon