Many people don’t fully realize how much colors can influence various aspects of modern art and fictional characters seen throughout media, or in general. Color holds great power in art, from choosing a palette that matches the story’s theme to adding deeper meaning to a character, to indicating the importance of another character without knowing much about them.
Firstly, there’s always a base level to colors; all colors have already been ‘assigned’ meanings used in everyday life, making it easier for artists to use them to create a theme for their art. But at times, these colors don’t match or align with the meaning the artist wants to convey, and that’s where I think many artists get stuck. We don’t often know how to move from this place, and we often move to making small details that can make it overwhelming for people to look at, so as a way to leap out of this stopping point, we look around our surroundings and see that colors aren’t assigned a specific meaning. In reality, all colors can represent different things and have many different meanings; it all depends on what the artist wants to show to their audience.
Once you understand that colors represent a range of different meanings, it becomes easier to select a set of colors to create a theme for a story without risking cluttering one area with too many small details, which could spoil the overall story and artwork. Of course, small details aren’t bad, but having a strong color theme can help foreshadow events in the story, indicate where the character is, suggest what the character might be feeling, and hint at what could happen in that area. Using color to develop a surrounding theme, complemented by supporting details, can result in a beautiful piece that reflects the emotion and meaning the artist wants to convey, not only through the character but also through color.
Colors can also help bring a deep meaning to a character, even foreshadowing their importance with a lack of interaction. For example, a character with dark teal and golden eyes might just be a creative choice from the creator, but when looking at the context and personality of that character, the colors can start to reveal themselves as a reflection of that character; the teal representing the physical knowledge of the world they live in, and the gold indicating a high status that has yet to be shown. Another example can be the classic red colored eyed character. Usually, people can already indicate that this character will be some sort of villain or enemy without context, but when knowing more about the color and other alternate meanings, without even knowing the character’s appearances, people can start to see that the color can reflect the danger and dominance that the character might have on the story.
Colors can all be used at the creator’s will, and there are not many rules on using them; the only one being “if it looks good and fits the wheel, then go with it”. So the next time you are sick of making too many details, or you want to find a settled way to foreshadow your characters, expand your knowledge of colors, and find alternate meanings that can help you make these characters have more depth.
