Color Theory for Digital Artists: How to Build & Use Color Palettes on iPad

You've been working on your latest piece of digital art for a long time. You’ve added color, details, and your unique touch, but you wonder why it still appears dull or flat.

Maybe your workflow slows down every time you start to choose colors.

Using color theory is the answer to these problems. With even a basic understanding, you’ll begin to learn why certain colors look better together. As you go deeper, you’ll be more confident in your overall approach and creative process for adding color to your work.

Let's dive deep into color theory and talk about why it’s one of the most important tools in your digital artist toolkit.

What is color theory?

If color is light reflected by an object, what is color theory? Color theory is the study of how colors interact with one another and how to use them harmoniously.

Before you can start using color theory with confidence, you should know how to talk about color. There are common terms used to describe the properties of color. These are especially helpful to know when receiving or soliciting feedback.

The properties of color are:

• Hue - The name of the color.
• Saturation - The purity or dullness of the color.
• Value - The brightness of the color.

The hue is simply the name of the color. So when Miranda Priestly tells you that a sweater is cerulean, you know that the hue is blue.

The saturation of your color will change as you begin adding gray. The more gray a color has, the less intense and vibrant it'll appear.

Value is about light and dark. When you introduce value contrast in your work, it can make certain elements stand out and give shapes dimension.

This can be achieved by creating shades, tints, and tones of your hues. Adding black to your color creates a shade, adding white creates a tint, and adding gray creates a tone. When you understand how to balance these properties, your work will communicate better and appear more visually balanced.

Now that we know some essential vocabulary, let's talk about how to apply them in your artwork.

How to use color theory in your art

Color theory, at its essence, is about balance. So resist the urge to lean too far into its science. I like to think of the other side of this balance as color psychology. It's a key component of color theory and of how color is visually interpreted.

Not to get super deep, but the way we feel about color is part of our humanity. Knowing how colors can make people feel can better inform how you use them.

The psychology of color

Every color is embedded with a hidden message. Skillful use of color psychology helps your work decode that message by rooting your color choices in thoughtful meaning.

Here are some of the popular color meanings:

• Red is associated with power, energy, and passion.
• Blue is associated with calm, serenity, and friendliness.
• Purple is associated with royalty, trust, and luxury.

Interpretations of certain colors can also be cultural and vary depending on context. When I create, I have to remember to consider my audience and the emotions I want to convey when choosing colors for my artwork.

Using color psychology, you can choose base colors for your work and, with the help of color theory, create a well-rounded color palette from them. But before we can build our color palettes, we should first understand how colors relate to one another.

Using the color wheel

Most people have seen a color wheel at some point in their lives, even if they're not artists. The color wheel helps us understand how colors relate to each other. These relationships are called color schemes, and there are four main ones you should know.

Four main color schemes from the color wheel are:

• Complementary colors - Colors across from each other on the color wheel.
• Analogous colors - Colors next to each other on the color wheel.
• Monochromatic colors - One color varying in saturation and value only.
• Triadic colors - Colors that are equidistant from each other on the color wheel.

Complementary colors, like red and green, are a popular combination because of their strong contrast.

Analogous colors are great when you want a unified color scheme. Common examples include palettes featuring warm colors like red, orange, and yellow. You're probably thinking, “Colors have temperature?” Yup! For example, red, orange, and yellow are warm colors, while green, blue, and purple are cool colors.

Monochromatic colors consist of a single hue with varying shades, tints, or tones.

Triadic colors are equidistant on the color wheel, like the primary colors, red, blue, and yellow. These are known for being visually striking.

Color palette generators like Coolors and Adobe's Color Wheel often generate color palettes based on these schemes, helping you create harmonious palettes. With this knowledge of the color wheel and color psychology, you’re ready to start building your own color palettes.

Creating cohesive color palettes

Building a color palette is like carefully curating a guest list. You can't invite everyone, or the vibe will be off. And you only need just enough colors in your palette to give things visual balance.

Using what we've learned about the color wheel, we can structure our color palettes around the color schemes. No matter which color scheme you choose, start with a base color that isn't too saturated or too dark, so you'll have room to adjust your color properties. This is great guidance from designer and coder Greg Gunn.

From there, you can reference photos or nature, as artist Liz Kohler Brown suggests, or go back to the color schemes we looked at. To create an analogous color scheme, for example, you'll want colors that appear next to each other on the color wheel. Let's say your base hue is a bright red; that's low in saturation.

Following Greg's method, you'll want a mix of light, less saturated hues alongside deeper, more saturated ones. As you change your values and saturation, change your hue to the next color on the color wheel. Using different hues with varying values and saturations will give your work more visual interest and enhance contrast.

Even if you're using premade color palettes for your Procreate artwork, color theory will help you understand why certain colors work for your piece and others don't.

Building color palettes in Procreate

In Procreate, there are several ways to create your own color palettes. It's as simple as importing files or using your own images. Within the program, you can also import .swatch files and Adobe color palette files in .ASE and .ACO formats.

Here are some ways to quickly create a new color palette right inside the app.

Create palettes from a new photo

• Open the Palette menu and press +.
• Select New from camera.
• Choose visual or indexed and capture your image.
  

Create palettes from a saved photo or file

• Open the Palette menu and press +.
• Select New from photos or New from file.
• Choose the image or file.

In Procreate, your Colors Panel is where you choose, add, and modify your colors. You can view your color selection through color harmonies (or schemes) such as Complementary, Split Complementary, Analogous, Triadic, and Tetradic. As you move your color selection circle around, the program will automatically select other colors based on your chosen color harmony.

To create and save your color swatches in a color palette, select Palettes, click the ‘+’, then click Create new palette. Then you can tap the empty squares of your palette to add new colors. You can also use the example color palettes that come with the program. If you want a less automated experience, you also have access to traditional Hue/Saturation/Brightness sliders and a color chip.

Building color palettes in Adobe Fresco

Similar to Procreate, you can create your own color palettes in Adobe Fresco. You have options to create them from saved photos or files or by taking your own photo.

Create palettes from a new photo

• Open the Add image menu.
• Select Camera.
• Capture your image and select Use Photo.
  

Create palettes from a saved photo or file

• Open the Add image menu.
• Select Photos or Files.
• Choose the photo or file you want to import.

In Adobe Fresco, your color chip opens your Color Panel. With your HSB sliders active, your Color Wheel represents your Hue on the outer ring, with a box in the center for Saturation and Brightness. There's also an option to change to RGB sliders.

You also have two columns for your color palettes: All and Recents. Under All, you have your existing color palette libraries from Creative Cloud. It also has a library of Swatches, Themes, and Multicolor Swatches under the Fresco Colors section.

Recents is where you'll find automatically generated color palettes created from imported images and files. These palettes can also be deleted entirely. Unlike Procreate, you can't move or edit these color swatches in Adobe Fresco.

Understanding color for digital art

One of my favorite artist memes is the RGB vs. CMYK version of the same artwork or image. The RGB always looks so vibrant, and the CMYK looks muted. That's because RGB uses the primary colors of light, while CMYK uses the primary colors of pigment.

CMYK is used for print and stands for cyan, magenta, yellow, and key (black). Your files are sent to your home printer or to a print vendor, and they use the CMYK color pigment information from your files to produce the colors in your images.

RGB is used for digital screens. In the RGB color space, colored light sources get mixed together to create the color you see. Choosing between these two is usually something you determine at the beginning of creating your work. That's why managing your colors is an important component of digital art. This is where color profiles come in.

How to use color profiles in Procreate

In Procreate, you should choose your color profile when you're creating a new document. This is because you can't change your color profile mid-project.

Choosing a specific color profile is available only when you create a custom canvas. You'll also notice the color profile listed next to the preconfigured canvas sizes in your Gallery.

Even with the option to use the CMYK color profile in Procreate, they have said it is not true CMYK but rather a digital approximation of CMYK with a more limited color gamut. This could cause your colors to print differently than you expected. Keep this in mind when you’re sending your Procreate artwork for print.

How to use color profiles in Adobe Fresco

By default, Adobe Fresco uses an RGB color profile. To access CMYK color profiles, you'll need to open your Fresco file in Photoshop.

You can do this using Cloud Documents on your desktop. Once you're in Photoshop, you can change your color profile to CMYK if you want to send your files to print.

Checking your colors for accessibility

Color should be more than just aesthetic. It should also be functional. When design and art are more accessible, it benefits everyone. Thoughtful use of color makes applications and websites easier to read for audiences with low vision, color blindness, or other visual impairments.

To aid in this effort, there are online tools to check your color contrast ratios. You can use tools like the contrast checker in Adobe Express, Leonardo, or Coolors to measure the contrast ratio and readability of text and UI elements against different background colors. These are based on the guidelines set by WCAG.

This practice is more widely used by web and industrial designers, but it reinforces the idea that color, when used well, makes for good design.

Wrapping up

Color is a tool that every artist has in their toolkit. Knowing how to use it requires intentional practice and trial and error.

The cool part is when you can start to see your color palettes improve, and you know why! So don't forget to have fun with it. Test out your latest coloring skills on these Procreate coloring pages.