What techniques do you use for colour matching?

[TheDragon]

When it comes to matching colours what is the method that people use and have used to ID certain colours in the past? I've read about the floquil paints for the scale models but not sure if those paints saw use on other props such as alien masks, costumes, helmets etc. that ILM produced for RotJ.

The main questions I had were:

- When attempting to match a colour is there a certain few paints you're looking through that are known to have been used in the film?

- How do you know when a paint is a match?

- It is possible to get a colour match without having hands-on access to the prop in question (using online images etc.)?

- Does the process normally involve mixing certain colours outside of to darken/lighten a colour?

But really what it boils down to is whether colour matching is more subjective than what my perception of it is and if it's more what feels right than what was actually used for the production.

Any clarification on this would be great as it's something I haven't seen talked about outside of scale models.

 

[joberg]

I'll answer your question in order of appearance:

1: Yes, if we know, for sure, what type of color/brand of paint was used by the model/prop makers in the movie, we'll use that color/brand.
2: Difficult to know if the paint is a match by just looking at pics (screen grabs) or stills on line. You should always try to have a grey scale near the model/prop to know if it's a match.
3: No, see above.
4: Even outside light will not match the original model/prop. I've seen real props before and it's always a surprise at how the color doesn't match what's seen on screen...even when filmed outside (lighting is used for exterior shots and you have to factor the color grading that could be done for certain scene by the lab in post.
5: Yes, it's, in the end, subjective and if you're happy with the result, then that's the main thing.

 

[Sluis Van Shipyards]

I saw a video someone posted about the coloring of the TIE Fighters. The color was about five different shades of blue/gray depending on the lighting or camera. After seeing that, unless I know the color (like SW models), I'm just going to go with what I think looks right.

 

[teecrooz]

Here’s what I’ve been doing:

 

[Astyanax]

I saw a video someone posted about the coloring of the TIE Fighters. The color was about five different shades of blue/gray depending on the lighting or camera. After seeing that, unless I know the color (like SW models), I'm just going to go with what I think looks right.

This 100%. As the Aliens enthusiasts will tell you, how it looks on screen can be very different from the actual coloration. So what are you going for? Actual prop accuracy, or in-world plausibility? I live wholly in the latter camp.

 

[TheDragon]

This 100%. As the Aliens enthusiasts will tell you, how it looks on screen can be very different from the actual coloration. So what are you going for? Actual prop accuracy, or in-world plausibility? I live wholly in the latter camp.

I'm more in the actual prop accuracy camp. I've read a few things about the Aliens guns looking green but actually being brown or vice versa, I can't quite remember. In regards to reference, I was more so talking about exhibition photos than screencaps as I have found them misleading due to colour grading.

I forgot to ask this in my initial post, but is there a good reference for what colours I should be looking at that may have possibly been used or known to be used by ILM for production?

 

[8 perf]

Havent most colors used by ILM back in the day been replicated by Archive X?

 

[TheDragon]

Havent most colors used by ILM back in the day been replicated by Archive X?

It's my understanding that that is true for boba fett and certain scale models but their line doesn't have anything outside of that. I looked at their range a while back when painting a rebel endor helmet and couldn't find what I was after.