inb4 @Plums gives us a psych lesson /brick'd I wanna know what each color represents to you. What imagery it brings to mind. Do light greens remind you of spring? Is purple a color that inspires you to draw? Do you feel unnerved when you see deep amber or blood-red eyes? If combinations of colors have special significance to you (such as complements or holiday colors) then feel free to share that as well. Orange, because of its link to fire, symbolizes energy and drive to me; bright oranges make an image more vivid and lively. Which is strange, since they can also mean the opposite, as in sunsets or autumn leaves which bring to mind images of passing, ending, or winding down. I also see magenta as a sort of spiritual color, for various reasons. One being that (aside from red, obviously) it's a color commonly used to represent the heart, usually in a metaphorical rather than literal sense.
My philosophy teacher tried an experiment once : he' d give us a day of the week and ask us which color it brings to mind. He expected to end up with all sorts of colors, illustrating how arbitrary and meaningless those associations are. Unfortunately for him he picked Monday and ended up with a lot of "black" answers. XD Not that "the week end is over" = bad/sad = black is any less arbitrary, it' s just more culturally enforced than, say, Saturday = Saturn = Orange. As for me there are colors I like more than others and a few cultural associations that I recognize and/or observe, but that' s about it. Someone posted a personality test on KHV once, one asking us to answer by picking colors. I clicked random colors for the first two questions and closed the test when I figured it was going to be like this all the way. I don' t speak colors.
Well, when you think about it, not much more separates the arbitrary from the meaningful than repetition and consensus. But that's part of my point in the thread, to see where meaning lies for each person.
I am thoroughly convinced you are mentally evaluating us with all these threads for some bigger scheme you have planned. I'm intrigued. Let me go by the classic rainbow: Red: The color of blood, anger, passion, sex, focus, desire, intensity, and determination. Orange: Thought, pensiveness, comfort, innovation, birth, sight, and heat. Yellow: Energy, weakness, lies, betrayal, infrequency, evil, and death. Green: Life, health, medicine, intelligence, and goodness. Blue: Power, stealth, agility, cunning, motion, and strength. Indigo: Sleep, apathy, calmness, peace, tranquility, and wisdom. Violet: Depression, revenge, mental breakdown, disorder, and loneliness.
It's interesting. Color associations do differ depending on the culture, I observed this whilst reading the manga adaption for Zelda: Four Swords Adventure. Unexpected class from me, eh. Spoiler: slight analysis thereof In the manga adaption, Blue represents Link's furious temper. Red represents Link's innocence. Quite the diversion from Western perspective, wherein the reverse is conceptualized: red would probably stand for righteous fury, blue for intellect, and violet for Link's innocence. Green's bravery is the only color choice which I found reasonable, expected, that was "logical" to me. If @Plums could theorize why Himekawa may have chosen for Blue to represent Link's feisty side, I'd be much obliged. Japanese Psych sounds right up his alley.
This is quite interesting and I don't know if I could explain it but my thoughts are, if you look at Japanese artwork, they tend to use a lot of whites, blacks and reds as base colours in quite tranquil pictures. (I know you asked about blue, but I didn't understand the red so I went for that first and will get to blue in a minute) Spoiler: Example Upon doing a bit of research, in Japanese culture they believe the sun to be red and perhaps that is what their flag is based upon. They especially love the red that comes from the safflower which is a common shade of red used in dyes and lipsticks etc. Just look at old Japanese buildings and you will see the amount of red that they use: Spoiler As for why red should represent innocence, my guess is it's more of a culturally normal colour to see and since they see in it everyday life it has become simply that: normal. Just like we see brown or white brick everywhere (depending on where you live of course). They are outside and so perhaps Japanese people associate it with the calm of nature (this also goes back to the safflower... which isn't always red as I have just looked it up... so I don't really follow that) like we'd associate green with it. As for blue, I have even less of an answer for that. Upon doing some more research I came across this. Which really doesn't make sense in the Link picture, my only guess would be, using the association with water, that Blue Link is associated with the ferocity of the ocean and it's mass destructive powers. This is all speculation though, I wish I had a clearer answer, Plums will probably know more about it than I.
Going to steal the style of your post, if you don't mind. Red: Rage, anger, passion, and violence. Orange: Caution, temperance, and middle ground. Yellow: Alert, pay attention, and unhappiness. Green: Good, clear, and calm waters. Blue: Coldness, detachment, and cruelty. Indigo: Night, clear headedness, and cool air. Violet: Darkness, negativity, and violence. Pink: Lightheartedness, innocence, and naïveté. White: Everything, completeness, happiness, and terror. Black: Nothing, emptiness, peace, and melancholy. Darker shades of most colors: Apathy, nostalgia and melancholy, depending on the mood and blend. Introspection.
