Colour Theory

Of course, the basics of colour theory are taught to primary school-aged children, and so everyone knows them: the whole circle of colours is made up of three primary colours (yellow, blue, and red), three secondary colours (green, orange, and purple), and six tertiary colours (blood orange, mustard, lime, turquoise, indigo, and magenta). Primary colours are often used to make a design stick out and look bold, whereas secondary and tertiary colours are used to blend and accent a design. For example, fast food brands such as McDonald's will often use a colour palette consisting of primary colours in order to make their brand stand out more; red and yellow are distinct and will draw the eye a lot more.

Hue, Brightness, and Saturation

Hue is the professional word for what is generally known as colour. Red, yellow, blue, and green—these are all words for different hues. The hue simply changes depending on where on the colour wheel you are. Brightness is the word to describe how much black and white you add to the colour; the darker the colour, the lower the brightness. Colour language wise, brightness is fairly obvious; darker colours translate to darker themes, while brighter colours are easier to see and are therefore more thematically transparent. Saturation generally dictates how much pigment you add to a colour. The more "strong", or "bright" the colour is, the more saturated it is. Low saturation tends to have the opposite effect of low brightness, namely, coolness, calmness, and overall inoffensiveness and clarity. If the brightness and saturation are both full, then you get the default "corner colour." An infinite number of colours can be created by combining these three variables.

Saturation

When it comes to making a colour palette interesting, playing with the saturation is really important. A lot of the time, emerging artists who aren't as aware of colour theory will use fully saturated colours, which is a mistake in a lot of contexts. Using cool, desaturated colours can be a real asset to a good piece of art. Take the sketch at the top right for an example, where the first image uses fully saturated colours and the second utilises desaturated colours. The hue is exactly the same on both examples, but to the right there is less hypothetical pigment used (though, obviously, with digital art there is no actual pigment). You can see that the drawing on the right, in my opinion, looks much more professional and realistic, as if the character is in a real environment. Desaturated colours convey coolness and are useful when you want a calm, low-energy drawing.

Of course, realism and calmness are not always relevant, and a lot of the time the opposite is actually better. Take the drawing at the bottom right, where I wanted to convey themes of high energy and futurism, so I used lots of very saturated purples and blues. This colour scheme works very well for this kind of drawing, and while saturated colours are needed when you want a drawing to be cool and soft on the eye, when you want a colour pallet to stand out and look intense, saturated colours are a lot more effective. The colours on the bottom drawing are so intense that they give you a headache, which of course was the intention.

Brightness

Brightness is, of course, a more commonly known fundamental of a colour pallet. The messages that light colours vs. dark colours give are more obvious, but I will use an example anyway. The top left is an example of a light colour scheme; this looks very conventionally pretty and light-hearted and gives off generally positive vibes. The bottom left image has a much darker colour scheme and conveys a much darker theme. It looks ominous, even creepy. Of course I have accentuated these themes using saturation and hue, as desaturated blue is generally seen as much more ominous even when brighter, but of course the dark colour scheme is the main focus of this image.

I do like it, however, when brightness is played around with and your expectations are defied. For example, the movie K12 is well known for having a light colour scheme, using very bright pastel colours and conventionally pretty clothing (frills, dresses, etc.) while exploring really dark and complex themes. And alternatively, I quite like it when the dark, creepy environment turns out to be the more welcoming one. This is often a theme in alternative media, such as music or short films, where the creators will express how communities that use darker colours in their fashion or aesthetics (such as emo, goth, or alternative fashion or music movements) are commonly the most accepting and freeing communities.

Complimenting/Contrasting Colours

The one advantage of looking at all of the primary and secondary colours on a wheel is that you can take inspiration from what colours are next to each other and opposite each other. Using this as a guide, creating an aesthetically pleasing colour palette for your design is fairly easy and can even tell the viewer more about your piece of art. For example, as a general rule of thumb, the colours between red and yellow tend to be "warm" colours, used to indicate danger, happiness, or vibrancy (depending on the context), while the colours between blue and purple are "cool" colours and indicate peace, serenity, and sadness. Green and magenta are often considered "neutral" colours, with green generally indicating nature and magenta being unnatural and vibrant.

One way to use the colour placement on the colour wheel is to use "complimenting colours." A set of colours that are close together, often right next to each other, on the colour wheel can be used to create a dynamic colour palette. For example, in the sketch to the top right, I have used a "yellow-themed" colour scheme and have used all of the colours around yellow as accent colours. The hair, which is the main focus of the design, is blonde, the jumper is orange, and the bow is green. Using complementary colours in your art can indicate coherency, peace, and simplicity. Another thing I have done with this drawing in order to convey these themes is to use primarily muted colours. This is where I turn the saturation down, which makes everything look a little more cool and inoffensive. This can further push themes of peace and coherency.

On the other end of the spectrum, colours placed on opposite ends of the colour wheel can also be used to convey themes. Take this sketch, for example (bottom right), where I have used the contrasting colours of blue and orange, which are directly opposite each other on the colour wheel. This, along with the fact that I made them incredibly saturated and vibrant, conveys themes of danger, unnaturalness, and high energy. Using contrasting colours, however, can make a drawing look busy and offensive to the eye, and so I tend to reserve contrasting colours for accents (meaning small amounts of colour in accessories, eyes, or small bits of clothing). For example, I might make most of the drawing comprise complementary colours, as in the yellow-inspired drawing above, but make the eyes a saturated purple to add spice.

Colour Theory in Video Games

As I have discussed, the colours shown in an image or video can influence every aspect of how the viewer perceives it, but what does this mean in the context of video games? Well, colour theory is strongly tied to the aesthetic of the game. So, for example, the saturation, hues, and brightness shown in the game's general colour palette are likely to link to the atmosphere of the game, the environment, and the genre.

Studies even go so far as to tell you about what colours correlate with what emotions in video games. For example, in many competitive games, red and blue are used as the colours for competing parties, and furthermore, players in the red party generally go on to win more games, as the colour red makes players more competitive and aggressive. Blue, on the other hand, is generally a more calm, creative colour, which is why many puzzle games (such as Portal) use it in their levels. Of course, basic hue theory also applies, so purple indicates fantasy and mystery, black represents neutrality and power, and white can indicate innocence and harmony.

The link between a game's colour palette and the game's genre is also worth mentioning. Choosing a warm palette (featuring sunsets, fire, and orange-tinted scenery) might indicate war or the wilderness, while choosing a cool palette (featuring metal, blue skies, or even ice) indicates futurism and sanitization. Of course, there are colour palettes that are extremely genre-specific; bright neon colours against a dark background are almost exclusively used for cyberpunk or noir games. Colours can tell you everything, from how complex a game will be (for example, simple platformers often include a limited colour palette to match) to the aesthetic of the game, and they can even convey different story beats.

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