Colour Schemes!

[Mermaid Kelda]

I originally posted this in the tail design thread, but I feel like colour schemes on their own need to have a thread.
So this could be somewhere you can post your colour schemes and get feedback before you figure out design or shape etc. I know it's going to be useful for me at least xD

So I'll re-post my original question, with a few added colour schemes as well.


The first one is the scheme (roughly) that Kanti is using to make my tail. I feel I look best in "autumn" colours, i.e. mostly warm, dark or muted, and with gold jewelry - hence why I chose this collection of colours. I really feel it fits me.
I want to get a tail from Finfolk as well, and I was planning on getting the same sort of thing. But a big part of me (also my boyfriend) is saying "why would you spend that much money on another tail with the same colour scheme?"
So, I thought I'd send it out to all of you and get your advice. Should I stick with the same colours? I've done up a few more schemes around different base metals, and I like them a lot too; but I also don't know if they'll go with my skin tone and everything. Here's a link to my facebook if that's at all helpful in matching colours to me: https://www.facebook.com/annie.partick/photos
I guess essentially I'm asking, which colour scheme do you like best?

Also, I feel like most mermaids who have a "mersona" tend to have one colour scheme they use. I've based Melaina on freshwater nymphs à la pre-Raphaelites, so I sort of feel like changing her colours so much will make her a different mer? Would it be sacrilege to have multiple mer-sonas? xD

Gold scheme:


Silver scheme:


Bronze scheme:


Pewter scheme:


Any feedback and opinions are greatly appreciated!

[MerEmma]

I think it's totally okay to switch color schemes for different tails! I also think it's okay to use the same for two different tails, after all, it is YOUR tails and YOUR money so you can spend it however you like. It kind of reminds me of this one fursuiter I heard of who has like 8 of the same characters because he wanted to see how the artist took his character in different directions. I really like the silver scheme. :3

[PearlieMae]

Wow! Add a little peach to that gold and that is the color scheme for the tail I have in progress! I haven't looked at your fb photos, so I can't comment on what colors would best suit you, but all the colorways you have shown are near the same color family.

What colors do you wear most? Do you like brights or muted colors? Which ones are always catching your eye? Live with the swatches for a while. Pick the one you come back to most. There's no hurry, is there?

PS We are mermaids! You can have as many mersonas as you want! We can break every rule except one: DON'T DROWN.

[Mermaid Kelda]

It kind of reminds me of this one fursuiter I heard of who has like 8 of the same characters because he wanted to see how the artist took his character in different directions. I really like the silver scheme. :3

That's exactly what I feel like, Emma - I'd love to see where each tail maker takes my colour scheme. But at the same time, I think it'd be fun to have a fresh-water and salt-water mersona, so I can do beach parties as well as pool parties, and cater to the ocean-loving mer inside me as well as the lake-loving one

Wow! Add a little peach to that gold and that is the color scheme for the tail I have in progress! I haven't looked at your fb photos, so I can't comment on what colors would best suit you, but all the colorways you have shown are near the same color family.

What colors do you wear most? Do you like brights or muted colors? Which ones are always catching your eye? Live with the swatches for a while. Pick the one you come back to most. There's no hurry, is there?

PS We are mermaids! You can have as many mersonas as you want! We can break every rule except one: DON'T DROWN.

Haha, that's cause they're the best colours, and the best people choose them can't wait to see how yours turns out!
And yeah, they're all similar because I tend to be drawn to deep/muted colours. At the moment I think I might be leaning towards the bronze scheme, and looking at it again I've realised it's basically the gold scheme but lighter and more washed out xD that's probably why I like it.

[PearlieMae]

I'm an autumn , too. Your bronze scheme are the colors of the eye makeup I wear every day!

In looking at the gold one, my tail will have a bit brighter royal purple in it, but purple and green is my favorite color combo.

[Mermaid Kelda]

I love purple and green! I was always bummed as a kid that only the villains ever wore it xD

[SeaSister]

PearlieMae, I'm a spring but I just LOVE the colours that autumns get to wear lol. Fortunately I can get away with a lot of those warm, richer hues (I think it's partly because I have dark hair). I just love crimson and gold.

As for colour schemes, I think my favourite for a tail would be the pewter one. But if you're better with warm-toned colours then the bronze is really nice, too.

[ShyMer]

If you like the first color scheme, why not use the same one again but in a different way? You could emphasize some colors more than others, or leave them out, or play with different values and intensities of those colors. You could also use different patterns and blends to get something different.

I do think the bronze color scheme would look lovely, though.

[Mermaid Kelda]

That's pretty much what the bronze scheme is - a lighter, more muted version of the first one. I don't think I want to change what colours are emphasised, because I've already emphasised the colours I like the best, and if I didn't do that, it'd be mostly colours I didn't like the best :P if I went for a whole new set of harmonic colours, I could choose a new set of favourite colours to emphasise. But I think I'll stick with, like you said, different intensities of the colours I already like.

Patterning is something else I hadn't really put much thought into, though; I was going to go with the same sort of patterning (salmon-like dots) but since I'll be making this a saltwater tail instead of freshwater, it makes sense to make the patterns noticeably different too. Thanks!

[Echinacea]

I like the bronze - like you said, a quieter version of the gold! Maybe do some stripes and extra fins on the pale one, if you are thinking dots for the darker? Or reverse it - do dots with the lighter, and stripes with the darker? I was thinking about trout and dots (being more familiar with them than with salmon.) Ordinarily, purples, teals and greens are my favorite colors, but my mersona jumps at golds and oranges and aqua/turquoise!

[Mermaid Kelda]

I'm not huge on stripes, but other than dots and stripes I'm having trouble thinking of any other patterning that would look good with these colours. I might throw it over to Finfolk to work their magic to create something for me

[SeaGlass Siren]

Technically barney and baby bop are green and purple

[Seatan]

Color schemes can be so tricky! Every time I shop my cart is filled with seafoam green, deep purple, electric pink, and turquoise, so I know that is what I want in a tail but no clue as to how I want it applied! I am hoping talking to FinFolk will help me decide. I am very much about bright colors, but i really like your original gold scheme. I don't think there is anything wrong with reusing a scheme you love, as it can be applied in SO many different ways. I like the silver too, but what is important is that when you look at your tail it instantly takes your breath away! Go with whatever colors do that!

[Mermaid Kelda]

Technically barney and baby bop are green and purple

Yes, but they're dinosaurs, so it doesn't count :P

what is important is that when you look at your tail it instantly takes your breath away! Go with whatever colors do that!

I'm sure that whatever colours I choose, Finfolk will make a tail that'll take my breath away! But, when I imagine all the colour schemes as tails, I feel that I'd fall in love with the bronze one.
So, bronze it is! Thanks everyone for your help, at least in cementing my choice into my mind now I just have to decide if I want patterning or not, and if so, research a whole heap of fish!

[AmbrGlows]

I posted then realized this post was almost a year old. My bad. Lol

[SeaGlass Siren]

damn i was looking for ths thread!! thanks!