Coloricombo 2024
“Colours speak all languages.”
Joseph Addison
What is Coloricombo?
Coloricombo is a free weekly creative prompt of colour. I’ll share a selection of colours chosen from a featured artwork, usually created by an artist or designer from the past.
“Colour is something I am passionate about, mixing and exploring combinations is my jam.”
FAQs
What is Coloricombo?
It’s a weekly creative prompt of colour. I curate a selection of colours from featured artworks created by artists and designers from the past. I’d love to invite you to join the thousands already subscribed to Coloricombo which, in 2024, is entering its third year.
Where did it all start?
Colour is something I am passionate about, mixing and exploring combinations is my jam.
I started doing creative colour challenges on Instagram back in 2019 and these grew into something bigger with the incredible response from participants.
How do I generate a new selection of colours for the weekly prompt? It’s a happy coincidence that apart from being a colour nerd, I’m also interested in history and in particular the lives of artists and creatives of the past.
I love doing the research and sharing these bite-sized instalments of fresh colours every week together with a back story of these mostly more obscure and lesser known artists (with extra attention paid to female artists who were overlooked in their lifetimes).
This simple but effective concept is a great way to connect creativity, colour and a bit of arty history on a weekly basis to be used by anyone as they like, to make something colourful.
Join this program of fifty two colour prompts delivered to you in weekly emails, subscribe for FREE now available on Substack.
How does it work?
Use the limited selection of colours to create something in any medium or art form, and with any topic you like. There are between two and five colours taken from that week’s artwork and you can add a neutral light colour (like a buff or soft grey) and a darker contrasting colour (like deep blue, brown, grey or black) to your creation.
You can create in any way you like, whether it’s a little drawing or a doodle in sketchbook, an entry in a journal or a more elaborate artwork. You can choose to sew, knit, crochet or work in 3D in any other media you like that’ll suit your time and pace of working.
Twelve themes for 2024
New for 2024! In addition to the colour combinations, each month will have a different theme linked to the artworks featured. January’s theme is HOUSE and all artworks used for the prompts contains images of houses or dwellings. You can decide whether to use the theme when you’re creating your own artwork or not, it’s totally optional.
My plan for 2024
This year is going to be a busy one for me so to make things simpler I’ve picked a topic that I’ll use for all fifty two prompts: HOME
Over 2024, I’ll be adapting this archetypal, basic house shape to work with. It’s simple yet versatile, it can contain colours, objects or occupants, it can be patterned or part of a landscape, it can become abstracted or even 3D.
By keeping to this basic shape I’ll be able to explore a number of possibilities to suit available time and creative energy throughout the year.
Why don’t you grab a new sketchbook and join me for a year of exploration?
Accessing Coloricombo
Prompts are sent out via email every Monday morning at 9am London time. You’ll also be able to access previously weeks prompts on Substack.
Support Coloricombo
You can access the archive of 2022 and 2023 prompts on my course platform where they can be purchased for £15 each. Please consider acquiring these since it will help to cover some of the costs of time and hosting online.
I’m also looking at how I can add additional content for subscribers supporting me directly via Substack.
Posting online
Coloricombo originally started in 2020 as an Instagram challenge and I encourange you to post your work, please tag #coloricombo and #estemacleod. Take a look at some previous creations here.
There’s also the private Creative Prompts Facebook group where artists, both professional and amateur post regularly, it’s a great place to see what others do with the weekly batch of colours.
Find me on Instagram and my YouTube channel where I post artworks and processes linked to the coloricombo
Why Substack?
We made the decsion to move Coloricombo across to Substack at the beginning of 2024 as it was becoming tricky and quite expensive to manage almost 10,000 subscribers on my Kajabi-based course platform. Substack is a fantastic platform for writers and creatives and the way it works really suits the weekly format of Coloricombo.
Moving to Substack allows me to separate Coloricombo from my courses, gives you more control over your subscription and makes it easier for you to see previous weeks prompts.
