Friday, February 11, 2011

Summertime...Where the Living is Easy

Lora Alexander, author of Color Revival and a Color Analyst
We've looked at springs (briefly) and winters yesterday. With three variations within each of the four seasons, you have to concentrate on certain key words. Summer has three keywords--light, cool, and soft. If you have light and cool = light summer; cool and light = cool summer; and soft and light= soft summer. The eye is soft and light.

Sarah is a Cool Summer

Example of a Summer Eyeball
Coming up with an example from my author friends for a summer proved difficult. Therefore, I had to swipe Lora Alexander's example with Sarah Chalke, a celebrity. Think ash blonde and blue, blue gray eyes. See how muted? And you wear soft colors of a summer day.
Lora Alexander even gives you a clothing and accessories palette to work from--this one is light summer
So now that you see all these, do you see why I think my mother was a light summer? And her favorite colors were blues and powdery pink.

Mom knew her colors and wore them well
My mother was of Swedish/Norwegian descent and was very tall, cool and blonde. (She was several inches taller than I was.) She was really thin most of her life.

When you're describing a character, can we picture that character? If you go to Lora's site, you'll find descriptions of various seasons and the variations within them, but in her book she goes into greater detail.

Here's an up-and-coming author whose book cover will have a gorgeous, colorful cover, but the author is definitely a summer--what do you think? I think she is probably a light summer, but could be a cool summer.
Author Christine Lindsay
One of the beautiful photos for the cover art for her book, Shadowed in Silk (WhiteFire Publishing) features her daughter in a beautiful fabric from India. The character in her book would look like this woman, so see how color and descriptions of your character could set the tone for the type of character is in the story?

Shadowed in Silk by Christine Lindsay
Do check out Lora's site and her book if you write fiction.

  
Color Revival by Lora Alexander

You can still enter the drawing for either the ebook or a eColor Analysis by Lora Alexander. Leave a comment!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I had discovered Lora Alexander's site several years ago...it made so much sense to me, as I had already noticed wearing different colors made me feel different. I do need to be brave and get photos taken of me -- no make-up, hair pulled back as I do color it and have for years...to get my colors done so I can always wear my correct colors. Thank you for offering this! HeidiLee

Crystal Laine said...

Heidi, yes, do get those photos--look at the ones of June and that's what will be telling.

But also, what colors look best on you? Do you have a color that always brings compliments to YOU?

In Lora's book there are some test colors, especially if you are choosing between two palettes.

K said...

Here's my season :) still not sure which kind of summer I am, though. I've noticed that lavender is a color that really works on me, more than other colors. Lavender and pinks make a dramatic difference...

Christine Lindsay said...

Very interesting article, with a concept I hadn't thought of much--using color to define my characters. I think with my character Abby in SHADOWED IN SILK I kind of knew it instinctively. Or perhaps it was God's fingerprints all over it, but somehow the front cover model wearing the sari material I bought in India last year all came together beautifully. I can hardly wait for the art designer to finish the front cover. WhiteFire thinks the release date will be May for the eBook and Oct. for the printed book.