Using Video Games To Pick The Right Color Palette
- Andy Schwartz
- Feb 5
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 19
One of the most critical challenges any serious colorer faces before actually putting pen to paper is deciding which color palette to go with for your next work of art. Of course, for some , the palette comes from living in the moment and the idea of being constrained by a pre-ordained palette can seem constrictive and unimportant. And if you're that person, by all means, go with your heart. But a well chosen palette can also have a big effect on the overall impression of the final image. So it can also be fun to select a palette beforehand and see what comes.
Of course, if you've decided to go with a special palette, the next question is, which? There are so many options, and truly, none of them are wrong. Personally, I like to use existing images from art, film and even video games to get inspiration for palettes. There are many tools online which can help with this, I used Coolers https://coolors.co/image-picker which allows the user to upload an image and choose from possible aesthetically pleasing palettes.
This month is seeing the release of a lot of major video games, so let's see what artistic inspiration we can gleam from this month's crop of games.
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Kingdom Come Deliverance features knights and chivalry in medieval Czech Republic. In this scene we get a lot of earthy tones and amazing greens of the heavy woodlands. This palette would be perfect for an earthy scene with lots of greens and browns.
Sid Meier's Civilization 7
This screen shot has kind of a beachy, rocky vibe, and the resulting palette might be good for a beach scene or even a desert or island city. The palette features yellow and greys.
Avowed
Avowed's high fantasy setting produces lots of unexpected colors which could give a flashier overall impression to your own image.
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wild's features many vibrant color schemes to choose from. In this photo, there is a strong blue presence, but it still conveys a lot of contrast.
Of course, you are the ultimate arbitor of what looks good and what looks right for your own coloring adventures. But a little preparation is never a bad thing and selective paletting can lead to some truly memorable images. If you're interested in other games coming out this month, you can check out my video on my other channel https://youtu.be/PIxyaNrMtqM
How about you? Do you like to use color palettes? Where do you like to get inspiration for your own projects? Let me know in the comments.
This is very cool! Makes me wonder, what other specific techniques or tools can designers use to extract and apply color palettes from video games to their own projects?
OMG, this is a game-changer!!! 🥹🫶🏻 I’ve often struggled with picking the right color theme for my designs. I usually use Adobe Color Wheel, but sometimes the results don’t match what I envision. This technique of yours is exactly what I needed! I tried it with my photo, and it gave me the perfect color match. -- Thank you for such a useful tip!
I like to also use the color palate of the video game. This is such an interesting article that highlights a good point. Using what is already there can be vary helpful for sure!