Guys I realized why I hate "default red" and "default blue" so much

[NanettesClouds]

Hey - so if you're a regular here in the forums or you read my comic or if you've ever interacted with me for more than a minute you've probably heard me complain about "default red/blue". It's also worth noting that "default green" is also really terrible but I don't see it as often so I don't get to complain about it as much.

For the longest time I didn't know why I hated these so much. Did default red kill my goldfish as a child? Is default blue the same color used for the windows death screen? Am I just being a pretentious prick?

The answer to all of those questions is "yes" but... Here's the thing - they are - objectively the worst colors, regardless of any negative associations that I personally have with them, because they are scientifically painful to look at.

The reason why is because of pixels.
(heres a video explaining how they work in case you don't know)

When you use any color from the unholy trinity, you're cranking all of those pixels on your screen to their full - terrifying - potential. Each part of your image with those colors has its brightness cranked up as far as it can possibly go - and as a result it is definitely literally burning your eyes out.

"But Niah" I can hear you asking "I'm making my comic to be printed someday and I really want to use these colors so in the final product it should be okay right?"

No - don't use them at all - CMYK can't even physically create these colors and all of your terrible vibrant garbage will look muddy and gross.

I guess if you REALLY wanted to you might be able to get your printer to find some spot colors that are similar to default-red/green/blue for you, but then you'd be raising up your print costs in order to create some objectively terrible colors that everyone should hate, and I know you're strapped for cash because you thought that this was a good idea in the first place and I imagine you're not getting much commission work as a result.

So yeah. Stop fucking using these colors.

~ Niah, C̩̫̞̤̲̮r̟̣͡e̼͉͈ą͇̭̜͔t̸̤̭͉̜̩o̟̬̺͍̬̥r ̥͈͚͟ǫ͕̩̺͕̠̝̜f͙̞̥͈͚͇̞ ̲͕̦̤͈͓ͅt͙̻h̹̙͈a̠̰̳ț̲̲̼͚͘ o̤̱n̼͚ḙ̷̞̗͚ ̥̩̯e̦͖̖͙͇d͚ǵ̟̠̤̖ỵ̹͉̭͈ ̯͇̱͕̟̪̰c҉̺͖̠̫̼̬o͓m̶i̡̮̥͈̗͖͚c͚͉͓ ͈͉̩̟͔̯͈w̶̝̙͓i̱t̶̥̲h̬ ̢t̖̣͡h͍̻͕͓̯ḙ͎͔̯̦̹ ̜g̝̮̙o͙̹͈̗̩̤o̞̲̗̦͕d͓̟͉̦ ͓͜ç̻̣͇o̮̼ͅͅl̰̠̤̦͍̬̟o̷r̥̮̬̟s̷̰̩̣͓.̥̞͝

[LordVincent]

.... am i the only one who hates beige and brown far more than these colors?
Then again i think too much of these would be far more painful for the eyes.

[Kann]

I like "default green" and "default blue" and I'm impartial to "default red", but yeah. They're not very good choice for coloring. I could see one of those used in a drawing without burning my eyes, but two or all three? No way!

If we're talking about our disliked colors... I dislike that shade of brown that's slightly yellowish. And while I don't mind yellow as a color in general, I hate working with it. It brings too much attention to itself and is a pain in the ass to shade. D:

[NanettesClouds]

[LordVincent]

WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS that is so evil

You are banned from my birthday party

[NanettesClouds]

[gh0stcr33p]

don't kill me for this

[Luminosophy]

w̡͓͉̭̰̒̄̈́̇̿̀̔̄͟h̸̢̛͕̝̺̪͔̖̣͍̅͛̋͒͛̾͜ä̛̞͇̳̩̈́̓͆͂̓́ͅt̢͍̤͎̰̣͒́͆̆͟͜͠ h̸̨͓͍̺̩͈͓͇̑͋̐͋̽ą̵͔̰̞̍͑̎̂̌̒̈͜s̛͍̘̩̟̻̖̔̄́͗̽̉͑͟͠ṭ̨̨̲̹͕̾͂̐͛̿͞ t̮̮͉̰̬̞̞́̅̋̓̈̚h̴̠͔͔̫͋̀̉̇͞ͅǫ̸̛͚͖̞͕́͋͋̎͘͘u̶̧̧̩͚͓͓̪̤͛̄͑͌̈̕̕͟͠͝ w̤͔̦̮̭̟̥̓̉̔͋͐͐̅͋̃͡ŗ̵͍͕̣̱̺̂́̀̑̐̽̌̕̚͢͝ó̷̜̙̖͇̓̇̐̚̕͜u̷̢̩̰̣̯̓̽͋͋͛̄̚̚ğ̷̯̼͖͙͔̩̞̺̹̥̅̂̇͗̒̊̂̓ḩ̢̞̫̝͎͙̈̎̔̔̉̋̓̚͝t̸͓̰̞̲̟̂͊̈́͒̚͠ ǘ̸̢̖̟̜̖͔͊̄̔̈̅͛͋͢͝p̸̧̛͙͕͔͚̀̒̉͐͐̂͐̽̕͢õ͓̰͔͇̖̺̐͂̀̅̚͘͢n̡͎̫̯̜̼̓͌̀̈̄͒͢͝ͅ ţ̴̱̲̼̫̩̰̞̎͌̅́̾́̉̆̈́̈͢ͅḫ̢̛͓̮̉͆̌͌́͛͌̕͢͡į̲͕̝͂̈́͗́̐͐̕ͅņ͈̥̗̤̮̠̱̾͗̓́͂̃͂͞͡ę̞̤͚̘̠͂̑̆̅̀ ẻ̵̫̻̞͔̻̈̿͐̔͌̒̐͂͘a̖̦̰̬̳̽́͑͌̊̕͞r̫͎̺͍͚̎̈̊̉̈́̏̂͜͜ͅͅt̗͖͕͈́͊̂̆̆͑͢͡͞h̶̨̛͔͎͇͚͙͍̫̩͓̆̉̂̌̚?̵̠̤͙̤̳̻͊̀̓̑̍̔̕͡

[Luminosophy]

I know you deleted your comment but it's a legitimate question. I use these values for certain textures that are highly reflective such as water, metal, gems, etc. But never really at the 'edge' of the colour spectrum. The brighter it is, the more it's going to demand attention. High saturated values are great for compositional arrangement when you want to draw attention to a certain area. However it's all about contrast. If the palette base is already very muted you don't need to use neon to get that effect, and the difference might be so great it washes everything else out. I like to think of these values as literally being light though, because that's what I tend to use that range for. Usually a saturated colour that builds into almost pure white, great for magical effects.

[Samuraiflame]

I blame @niah146 if I get banned

[NanettesClouds]

@̺̩͓̳͇̺s͈͔͠t̟̙̲͠a̵̟͚̬f̬̯̹̱͘f̛̱̹̭̝̜

[qwerty]

Personally I don't ever use the brightest, most saturated version of any color. I can see how using the "default" red/blue/green in small amounts for accents might not be bad (although I don't think I ever push the saturation that far even for that). But yeah, having a lot of those colors is terrible and is something I've only seen beginner artists do ><;

[baasinsimple]

[kimketli]

Oh shit, you are right.
Default green killed my mother too.
A bonus story: I have a dead pixel on my tabletmonitor. It is always default blue. Maybe that's why I hate it so much... Besides it does not work.

[beta1042]

Fight me Niah

[Kann]

Yeah, exactly this one. Looks so bad. XD

[Kann]

I had a default blue dead pixel on my first laptop's screen. Named him Frank.

The laptop died rather quickly and I might know whoose fault it was. Looking at you, Frank.

[kimketli]

Now I know I should not name it... It would boost its self-confidence...