Damien Mason

Hey all,

There’s a new challenge over at the International Superheroes of Illustration group, and the theme is Colour

This topic is particularly close to my heart. For a long time I wasn’t considering colour harmony in my work.. I would put down the lines, pick the colours and just go with it. Stuff might look okay.. but it didn’t really gel and feel like a complete piece.

When I created this piece I decided to do something different. I had found a small photo (someone’s avatar on facebook) and I remember thinking the warmth of the colours was really impressive.. so I pulled a colour palette from the photo and used it for the image.

Now of course that image isn’t perfect, but I was actually pretty happy with how the colours turned out. The overall effect is (hopefully) fairly warm and cozy, which was what I was aiming for.

Since then, I don’t start a work without first considering the colours individually and how they will work with each other. I will create a palette to work from, testing out the colours next to each other and making sure it all works. Like I said, my work is far from perfect.. but I think the likes of this one is much better than what I was doing before.. and the colour use does help make the picture feel more complete.

So that’s the story about my constantly evolving relationship with colour. I hope the illustrators and painters out there will head over to the group and submit something to the challenge, and also maybe post their own experiences and influential work in the forum

So what are you waiting for? ;)