Some of you know that in a previous life, I made my living (it was a meager living, mind you) as an illustrator and occasional artist-for-hire. Though I don't do much in the way of drawing or illustration these days, I am still interested in art and like most lifelong creatives, enjoy poking my toe back in the water when I get a chance. In my day job, that might mean choosing the color scheme or photo illustrations for a report. And even though I'm fast approaching the point of no return when it comes to joining Bifocal Nation, and my eyes get a little blurry easier than they used to when I was in my twenties, my color vision is still pretty decent.
I suppose this is the illustrator's version of having absolute pitch? Whatever the case, it was fun to discover that at least something about me is perfect (Lord knows nothing else is!), and it does come in handy when I'm trying to find just the right shade for a photo border, or when I need to match paint to fabric in a room I'm decorating, stuff like that. Sort of a moderately useful party trick, I guess.
These tools also make it easier for people who really love color to play around with it, even if there's no money for a lot of art supplies or materials. There are lots of fun websites where you can create palettes based on images you like (especially fun for you photography-minded folks; you can create color schemes based on favorite photos...for example, a taupe-and-aquamarine-and-pale-pinky-gray scheme might just look a little familiar - let's call it "Kitsy"!); here are two of my favorites: ColourLovers and Design Seeds. The color-mad folks on these websites also track color trends in everything from graphic design to fashion to crafting to webpage design.
Do certain shades make you happy or look especially good on you? Are there colors that depress you every time you see them, or think should be outlawed? Is your favorite shade a rare one, or do you (like most people) favor blue? Do certain people, places or things have color associations for you? What colors your world?
The Most Excellent GUS Team!
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