annestecia asked:

What exactly does a ''Color Stylist'' do?

A color stylist chooses the colors for characters, props, and effects in a cartoon.



This sounds like a relatively simple job, but it’s not. You have to take into account a lot of things: how the colors will read on multiple surfaces and backgrounds (and multiple colors within one background), when you should have shadows on the model, how the shadow actually affects the model, why you’re choosing cool colors or warm colors, how colors look after they’ve been compressed to be seen on phones versus broadcast TV, the subconscious meaning of colors culturally, etc etc. It’s a full time job because you have to do that for every single character, prop, or effect in every single lighting situation that happens in a show.

So for example, if you watch the Infinity Train pilot, Tulip is a different color palette in the puzzle car, a different palette outside, a different palette in the corgi car, a different palette inside the temple, and a different palette in the foggy area. Then she has to have a different palette every time she looks at glowing number on her hand in each of those locations. All of that just for one character, not including any props or lighting that affects other characters.

Here’s a quick rundown from the pilot I can show you (note, the colors are a little washed because I just took screenshots from youtube, but you can still see the difference):

As you can see, she doesn’t just have a green hoodie, she has like 9 different green hoodies. When I was eyedropping these colors, there were colors in there I didn’t even realize we were using in there. These are all decisions that a color stylist makes.

The reason a lot of people in animation are talking about color stylists right now is that, currently, color stylists are fighting to get paid a higher wage in the upcoming union contract negotiations. In the 40’s and 50’s, these jobs were the only jobs in animation that women were allowed to have. They were paid less than everyone else, and generally viewed as lowest on the rung. At that point, they weren’t called color stylists, they were called “ink and paint” because that’s literally what they did, ink and paint the animation cels.

As time has marched forward, all wages across the board have increased, based on what they were way back when the union first started (1952). Granted, everyone agrees that wages across the board should’ve increased a LOT more than how much they actually increased, but they’ve increased none-the-less.

However, the wage increases over time have all been from the sexist baseline from the 1950’s. So all the jobs in the animation industry that were typically held by men in the 50’s are still paid “man” prices, but the one job held by women in the 50’s are still paid “woman” prices. It’s so bonkers because at this point, color stylists are STILL under a category called “ink and paint” in the union’s contract, another leftover from the 50’s for a job that doesn’t even exist anymore because no one uses cels or paint.

Hope this helps!