If it's Purple, someone's gonna die

Patti Bellantoni wrote this book, and I’m really enjoying it so far, it is very informative and hopefully it will help me for developing colour palettes for my creature designs. Below are some quotes for each colour and the different types of actions and meanings each colour can have. I plan on discussing this book further when I have read a bit more after my Christmas holidays etc.   

Red

“Bright red is like visual caffeine. It can activate your libido, or make you aggressive, anxious, or compulsive. In fact, red can activate whatever latent passions you might bring to the table, or to the movie. Red is power. But red doesn’t come with a moral imperative. Depending on the story’s needs, red can give power to a good guy or bad guy. After all, both the wicked witch and Dorothy wore the ruby shoes.” Page 2

“Red darkened to burgundy reads as mature, regal, and elegant.” Page 3 

Different types of Reds:

-       Powerful Reds

-       Lusty Reds

-       Defiant Reds

-       Anxious Reds

-       Romantic Reds

Yellow

“Yellow is a contrary colour. It’s the colour of both jonquils and yellow jackets. One of the reasons yellow is the colour used for caution signs is that it’s visually aggressive. It appears to come towards you. We’ve built it into our consciousness as a cautionary colour. Venomous reptiles and amphibians often are yellow – a warning to all who come near, a big beware built into our genetic code.” Page 42

Different types of yellows:

-       Exuberant Yellows

-       Obsessive Yellows

-       Daring Yellows

-       Innocent Yellows

-       Cautionary Yellows

-       Idyllic Yellows

Blue

“Blue can be a tranquil pond or a soft blanket of sadness. It is quiet and aloof. Year after year, our colour investigations show that in a blue environment, people become passive and introspective. It’s a colour to think to, but not to act.” Page 82

Different types of Blues:

-       Powerless Blues

-       Cerebral Blues

-       Warm Blues

-       Melancholy Blues

-       Cold Blues Passive Blues

Orange

“Orange manifests its influence in a different way from the other colours. While red says I’m here! Yellow is exuberant, and blue is laid back, our research revealed that orange is generally nice.”

Different types of oranges:

-       Warm Oranges

-       Naïve Oranges

-       Romantic Oranges

-       Toxic Oranges

-       Natural Oranges

-       Exotic Oranges

Green

“Green is really a dichotomous colour. It’s the colour of fresh vegetables and spoiled meat. It is a simple fact that green, in its plant manifestation, signals life itself. Green in the atmosphere, however, can signal a low pressure system that can spawn a tornado, and beware of the green water is a sailors warning. So green can signal health and vitality or danger and decay.”

Different types of Green:

-       Healthy Greens

-       Ambivalent Greens

-       Vital Greens

-       Ominous Greens

-       Corrupt Greens

-       Poisonous Greens

Purple

“There have been times, particularly in romantic tales and poetry, when purple has been associated with sensuality. I suspect that may be because of the colours association with imbiding the grape. However, during our more than twenty years of research into the efforts of colour on behavior, purple was not once associated with sensuality. In fact, there seemed to be no real evidence of purples having an effect in the physical realm at all. The colour did, however, hold a powerful sway in the realm of the noncorporal, the mystical, and even the paranormal.”

Different types of purples:

-       Illusory Purples

-       Fantastic Purples

-       Asexual Purples

-       Ominous Purples

-       Ethereal Purples

-       Mystical Purples 

All quotes in this blog post are from the referenced book below:

Bellantoni P. 2005. If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die: The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling. Focal Press.