Cartoon Character Color Choices?

[bluepaintcan123]

(Ignore the alliteration in the title.)
My question for all of you is what kinds of things should I consider when figuring out the colors of my character and their clothes? I know that less color is better, but I just can't find the right color combination.

This idea is a huge WIP, but in my sketches I made a character design I really liked. I want to design it as if it were to be a cartoon so I tried to use simple-ish shapes.

The big drawing in the center is her in uniform for a convenience store job, but I mainly want to talk about the one on the right.
I wanted to use the 4 or less color scheme, but it is hard to find something that fits.
- I want Nicole (the character here) to be tan/dark skinned with a strangely colored hair (nothing too bright but still stands out)
-I want her outfit to have colors that fit her her relaxed but devilish personality.

[solhawthorne]

Here are some palette generators that may be able to help you get that aesthetic balance:
https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/
http://paletton.com/#uid=1000u0kllllaFw0g0qFqFg0w0aF

As for fitting a relaxed but devilish personality, red and orange are definitely good colors to base around. You could also try finding a flower that symbolizes her and then match that flower's palette. Personally, unless your comic is heavily color-coded, I believe it's more about what the character wears and their silhouette that displays their personality rather than the color. I think the red and green base is pretty attractive for relaxed but devilish.

[jiany0u]

I really like that character design! It has a distinct silhouette and such a lovely palette! I especially love the convenience store outfit. It's very cool and has a lot of personality!

As far as relaxed and devilish personality, I can't say a particular palette comes to mind, but overall I think a relaxed silhouette and some unusual accents would help to convey that. Which are all things you already did, haha.

When designing characters, I try to give each character a signature color (or palette) and silhouette, keeping in mind that just like IRL, people have colors and silhouettes they prefer. I like to give each character a primary color and a secondary color; for example my MC is red and black, and the love interest is green and pink. In general, I find that using muted analogous colors + 1 complementary, saturated accent color makes for nice palettes.

[MissMagicGirl]

I think when designing character it is all about analyzing what the color choices menas. What you want the views to feel when looking at the characters. I like your designs a lot! Very cute, enough details and the colors gives a feeling of calmness since they are not that bright. They do feel very relaxed but still with a twist.

But who told you less color is better? :-o I don't agree with that all in general... If you want a more calm feeling to the comic then less color is better. But if you want a more action / slapstick feeling then more colors are definitely better in my opinion. ^^;

I made a video once about my thoughts on character design. Maybe it would interest you I will link it. https://youtu.be/sJgPon72MG0