November 2025 – The Art of Nathan Parkinson

Borrowing a Colour Palette

11/23/2025 • Art, Art Advice, Nathan's Thoughts, Other Creators

Having impactful colours in your images can do so much for the interest, even if the quality is rough.

This is a rough illustration I did a while back.

It’s got some fun action, but the colours, contrast, and saturation are weak.

I decided to see how borrowing the colour palette from the following image by Tim McBurnie could improve my image. I paid attention to the saturation and values. I probably just used the colour picker.

Borrow Palette 2 Tim McBurnie nathanparkinson.com

This is the result of my application of that palette to the same composition.

I think it gave the impact a massive boost. I also tried to add motion blur and a bit more of a painterly quality. Now the image throbs with intensity! What happens next!?

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the before and after:

Don’t worry, he’s okay in the end 😉

Like this

AlphaCon

AlphaCon (Alphabet of Concepts) is an abstract illustrated alphabet. Each letter visualizes an abstract concept.

These illustrations are my first steps in developing a new line and colour style of art with Tim McBurnie’s Line and Color Academy. I started with abstract letters because I really enjoy this sort of design, but it also meant I didn’t have to worry about realism yet or things like anatomy and perspective.

Click on the following image to go to the art collection.

1 Like