My Favorite Free Color Palette Resources for Illustration

Aug 10
4 min read

Choosing a color palette is one of the starting points of a good illustration. It sounds simple, but it's often more challenging than it seems. The colors need to work well together, fit the market and target audience, suit the product or category you're designing for, and at the same time help your artwork stand out.

Over the years, I've found a few free resources that I come back to again and again when working on greeting cards, surface pattern designs, and other illustration projects. Whether I'm looking for seasonal inspiration or trying to build a balanced color palette, these are my go-to tools.

Banana pattern poster with orange 4 and text Color Palette Resources for your Surface Pattern Designs on green background

1. Pinterest for Color Palettes

Pinterest is full of beautiful color inspiration, making it a great starting point for any illustration project. I often create a mood board with photos, interiors, fashion, flowers, landscapes, or anything that matches the feeling I'm trying to achieve.

One thing to keep in mind is that a color palette that looks great in a photograph doesn't always work as an illustration. You'll often need to adjust the colors, values, or saturation to create enough contrast and make your artwork stand out.

Best for: Seasonal inspiration, trends, and discovering color combinations in real life.

2. Color Harmony Generator

Sometimes I already have one color I know I want to use, but I'm not sure which other colors will work well with it. That's when I use the Color Harmony Generator.

The tool lets you explore different harmony rules, such as monochromatic, analogous, complementary, and triadic color schemes. It's a great way to experiment with different directions before committing to a palette.

For example, you can create a monochromatic Valentine's Day color palette with just one click. Simply choose a base red, and the tool automatically generates four matching shades and tints that work well together.

Color palette generator UI with a color wheel, monochromatic selected, pink shades with HEX codes, and www.franzispeer.com at bottom

Or, if you're designing a vibrant summer illustration, you can switch to an analogous color harmony. Starting with a red base color, the tool creates a palette with warm reds, oranges, pinks, and yellows that feels bright, cheerful, and balanced.

Color harmony tool showing a color wheel, Analogous selected, and four bright hex swatches on a white interface.

Best for: Building a balanced palette around one starting color.

3. Coolors

When I'm feeling stuck, Coolors is my go-to tool. I can quickly generate lots of palette ideas, lock the colors I like, and keep refining the rest until something feels right.

Another feature I really like is the visualization tool. It shows you what your color palette looks like when it's actually applied to a design, which makes it much easier to see whether the colors work well together beyond just looking at them as a row of color swatches.

Coolors palette generator with five vertical bars in purple, blue, cyan, gray and pink, labeled 52489C to F45B69, plus a sidebar.

Best for: Quickly exploring color combinations and seeing how a palette works in practice.

4. Adobe Color

Adobe Color is a great all-round tool for creating and exploring color palettes. You can experiment with different color harmony rules, adjust individual colors, and save your palettes.

One feature I particularly like is the option to create a color palette from a photo. Simply upload an image you like, and Adobe Color automatically picks out the main colors. This can be a great starting point for an illustration or surface pattern.

Color palette editor with a pink-and-white flower photo, four swatches, and hex codes #D90467, #FFEBEE, #F3D06F, #57714A.

For example, you could use a photo of a colorful garden, a cozy interior, or a summer landscape and turn the colors into a palette for your next collection.

Best for: Creating color palettes from photos and experimenting with different color harmonies.

Putting These Tools to Use

I don't use every one of these tools for every color palette I create. Sometimes I already have a clear idea of the colors I want to use, and sometimes a palette comes together naturally while I'm working on an illustration.

These tools are not a replacement for your own eye, though. A palette can look beautiful on a screen or as a set of color swatches and still not work well in an illustration. I always recommend testing your colors in the actual artwork before committing to a final palette. You may find that you need to adjust the saturation, brightness, or contrast to make the colors work together and help your illustration stand out.

But whenever I feel stuck or need some fresh inspiration, these tools are a great starting point. They help me explore different color combinations and often lead me in a direction I wouldn't have thought of on my own.

Do you have a favorite color palette tool or resource that you use for your illustration or surface pattern designs? I'd love to hear about it!

Hi, I'm Franzi!

I am a freelance illustrator, who wants to bring a spark of joy to everyday life. My design style focuses on happy colors, a playful minimalistic aesthetic and a hand-drawn feel through layered textures.

I create unique illustrations for greeting cards as well as seamless patterns for fabric, wallpaper and home decor items.

Interested in a collaboration, licensing my artwork for your products, or looking for a custom illustration tailored to your project? Just send me a message and I will get in contact with you.