Using Colors to Convey Emotion

adult coloring

When choosing colors for your designs, consider the mood you want to convey.

Here’s a brief overview of the associations for each color:

  • Red is sassy, bold, daring, and always up for a challenge. It suggests adventure and playfulness.
  • Pink is soft, quiet, and delicate.
  • Orange is outgoing and adventurous.
  • Yellow is happy, exuberant, and cheerful.
  • Green is reserved, contemplative, and thoughtful.
  • Blue is calm and relaxed, yet sophisticated. It is often thought of as a masculine color, but has strong associations with nature as well.
  • Purple is regal and dignified. It suggests fantasy and mysteriousness.
  • Brown is earthy and rustic, but can be used to provide a neutral backdrop for other color schemes.
  • Black can be sad and mournful or powerful and respectful, depending upon what other colors it is paired with.
  • White suggests purity and innocence. When paired with other colors, it lends an element of tranquility to your adult coloring page.

[Photo is a finished page colored from Outside the Lines: An Artist’s Coloring Book for Giant Imaginations by Souris Hong-Porretta.]