Palette by Role

About this prompt pack

This pack teaches you to control color by visible area, value, protected local color, depth, material, and semantic category. The eight prompts move from a clean 80/15/5 still life to portraits, mixed materials, a workshop, a crowd, and live action. The rules transfer because they describe what each color does, how much room it gets, and where it is allowed to appear.

What you'll learn

• Color by area — The base move is measurable: one dominant field, one support mass, and one accent. Area comes before color adjectives.
• Value before hue — A ratio is not enough if every hue has the same value. This prompt assigns light, dark, and mid-value roles so the frame survives grayscale.
• Protect local color — Human skin should not be forced into a brand palette. The prompt reserves it as a protected local color, then budgets the designed colors around it.
• Materials obey — Reflective and translucent materials often leak new colors into a scene. Here, texture and highlight behavior do the material work while hue stays locked.
• Depth gets roles — Color can organize space, not just objects. Giving each depth plane one role keeps a wide scene readable with four hues.
• Color by category — The palette becomes a map: environment, people, active tools, and rolling parts each own a color. That rule scales better than naming every object.
• Control the crowd — Crowds expose weak palette instructions fast. Percentages plus category ownership keep eighteen figures varied without turning the frame into a rainbow.
• Full-scene lock — The final frame combines every rule under motion: large-area roles, protected skin, controlled materials, and a 2% accent that stays scarce.