Make a small palette from one sentence
Turn a mood into five swatches, then mix them yourself. The hex codes are a hypothesis.
A limited palette keeps a caricature night, a poster, and a picture book page from turning into every color you own. A model can propose. Your hand mixes.
Tools
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Adobe Color
Builds and checks small palettes, including a contrast view.
Coolors
A fast way to lock a few swatches and export the hex codes.
Claude
Turns a mood sentence into palette suggestions you then mix.
How to do it
- 1
Write the sentence
One line about light and place: late kitchen, fluorescent lobby, paper lamp, winter street. Not 'make it cinematic.'
- 2
Ask for five, with roles
Ask Claude for five colors and a job for each: paper, ink, skin, one accent, one shadow. Tell it not to invent a brand you did not name.
- 3
Rebuild them where you can see them
Put the codes into Adobe Color or Coolors. Lock the ones that still match the sentence. Throw out the rest.
- 4
Mix, don't sample forever
In the painting, mix from those swatches. If a tube you already have is closer than the hex code, use the tube and update the palette.