Illustrating the Pantone Color of the Year: Viva Magenta 2023
5 Tips to Keep in Mind when illustrating w/ 2023s Pantone Color of the Year! Viva Magenta (Pantone 18-1750).
💫#1 A valid excuse to play with new color palettes!
We all get stuck in our personal color palette rut. It can be a dangerous place to linger. Allow yourself some space to infuse new colors into your illustrations & you will marvel at the added emotions, feelings, and overall sense of place and story that comes alive in your art. Each color choice is a gateway to mood, environment, time of day, sense of place, and the feeling of the story. Play with the Pantone color of the year to see what world’s Via Magenta opens in your art.
💫#2 Be ‘market ready’ aka ‘ahead of the bookshelf trends’!
It ceases to amaze me how the bookshelves tend to start turning toward the color of the year prior. Why? Well books are commissioned 1-2 years in advance of printing. So what you see is what was commissioned potentially 1-2 years before. With this in mind, stay AHEAD of the trend on the shelves, and you will be on trend in the commissioning world. Add a fun Viva Magenta illo IN YOUR STYLE & grab those art director’s attention. As well as a fun excuse to use hashtags #pantonecoloroftheyear #vivamagenta #pantone2023 #pantonecoloroftheyear2023 !
💫 #3 How do we use it?
You can feature it on a main character, do a limited color palette, infuse it into the background, or just add a bit here & there into your piece, choosing its use with great purpose! Have fun, try out a few different versions.
💫 #4 Color trends are cyclical, often just a shade away from one a decade or half decade ago! Just visit #Pantone's site and see the colors over the past 10 years. As an example, Marsalas’s 2015 color is similar to this years, a less vibrant version. So no harm comes from working in a trendy color palette - as we know trends circle back around, each time with a new play on the old style.
💫 #5 Can you predict it? I think so! One of my favorite things to do is guess the color before it comes out. I believe the color is indeed something one can predict by watching the market & keeping an eye on emerging trends in the worlds of FASHION and ART far outside the world of children's books. This year I had a feeling it would be a color from earth tones — a red, orange, or potentially an earthy purple. I wasn’t exactly right, but the vibe was there!
Let's Empower your visual storytelling!
Emily - feel free to reach out to me at illustrationinitiative@gmail.com
Founder || The Illustration Initiative LLC
