Wild West Color Palette

[WesternOutlaw]

I was giving the Wild West theme a critical eye by looking at the various colors that Lego designers used in building Gold City and Fort Legoredo.

To give you an idea:

General Store: Brown walls with green door and window. Black roof. Red sign & design.

Bank: White walls with grey door and window. Blue roof pieces. Red roof facade.

Sheriff's Office: Brown walls with white door and windows. Red roof sign & design.

Fort Headquarters: Brown walls with blue door and brown and blue windows. Light grey shutters. Red roof.

In looking at each of the buildings, I find the color palette rather interesting.

We have:

Brown

Black

White

Red

Lt. Grey

Green

Blue

I was thinking, what other colors would look good for WW buildings, esp. for windows and doors? How did Lego arrive at brown framed windows, blue panes, and grey shutters? That's definately an unusual selection of colors.

Aside from brown and white, what other colors work well for Western buildings?

Discuss the WW color palette here.

[Ricecracker]

maybe tan or dark tan?

[Flatfoot Thompsen]

I would say Yellow.

[WesternOutlaw]

maybe tan or dark tan?

I would say Yellow.

Good colors, but for what? Buildings, doors, windows, or other?

[Ricecracker]

i think tan for buildings with dark tan or brown accents (doors, windows, brickwork)

[oo7]

Indeed the most iconic dusty, dry frontier atmosphere of the American Old West is achieved through the use of tans and browns. Nathan Wells combines dark tan, dark orange, and brown with added tan colored soil out front in his saloon mega-vignette -

Our member Sir Nadroj exhibits another excellent use of dark tan integration in the Western theme with the "Broken Spoke" Gold Mine -

I myself have used similar tan and brown chromatic schemes (with the limited dark tan available) along with highlights of dark red inspired by the 10182 Caf

Edited April 24, 2008 by oo7

[Ricecracker]

thanks for that 007!

And yes, dark brown is a great colour!. in fact i am using it in my upcoming fabuland MOC, though not very much.

those really are great combinations and nice work to everyone who made those creations.

[WesternOutlaw]

Excellent 007! Thank you for sharing the wonderful imagery, esp. the Nathan Wells saloon. That would make a great addition to the existing WW theme (the size appears perfect).

As I've previously commented, I love your southwest scene. It's among my favorite WW MOC. It's very creative and the colors look wonderful. That genre of the WW is very rare indeed, and only a few MOCs possess similar southwest concepts including:

My Fort Jacinto (which I would have loved to make in tan if I had enough bricks)

and

ApophisV's Gatling Stronghold

[Scouty]

My Fort Jacinto (which I would have loved to make in tan if I had enough bricks)

I think white fits it well. Especially being a Mexican structure, I think it should be white.

I couldn't say anymore colors than have already been said .

[oo7]

Ahh yes, those are another two marvelous works of American adobe architecture. I was actually meaning to cite Apophis' work as another use of dark orange, but it seems I missed it! Thanks for getting that for me. But as far as "Tex-Mex" Southwest settings go, I also admire to OldHamk's American Indian cliff dwelling and Joheru's Alamo, both of which are very realistic.

And I trust you know the pleasure of sharing is mine, but I would be like to thank you guys for the awesome compliments.

My Fort Jacinto (which I would have loved to make in tan if I had enough bricks)

At least the composition of the image you have doctored makes the white look more tinted than it would actually be; when you first posted this beauty I had to think twice in order to confirm the difference between the white and tan.

[Flatfoot Thompsen]

Good colors, but for what? Buildings, doors, windows, or other?

While the yellow could be used for the people, window shutters, and maybe a building.

Edited April 24, 2008 by Flatfoot Thompsen

[Athos]

Personally, I think almost any color can work, of course that's coming from the guy who brought you this.

I like colors in my MOCs, so I've thought a lot about color schemes. Generally, and I think this works in most themes, I think a bright strong primary color (red, yellow, orange, blue, green, the ones in my MOC, etc.), needs to be paired with a more neutral color, like white, grey or tan. I also don't advocate using more than three colors in any particular building (not counting black as a color). I think sand colors (blue, red, green) would look the best, since WW buildings are often beaten and worn, but its hard to get them in that color. And I'm not sure about white. It seems to clean for the WW.

Its more about building style and architecture to me, than color. For example, if you just heard the color scheme for Brickster's hotel (turquoise, burnt orange and white) you think it would be completely horrible. But when you see it, it works, despite the kooky colors.

Here's what I've done in the WW theme, which uses red, yellow, blue, white, grey and black. I think the colors work, even if the architecture isn't outstanding.

Steve

[WesternOutlaw]

Here's what I've done in the WW theme, which uses red, yellow, blue, white, grey and black. I think the colors work, even if the architecture isn't outstanding.

Great little WW town Athos. I esp like the little church and grave yard. I'm not sure about the bright blue though. The yellow building looks pretty good. I like how you combined the white on the 2nd floor.