How to Color Match in PicMonkey (and make your own color palette)

How to Match Colors and Make a Color Palette in PicMonkey

* PicMonkey affiliate links used in this post. See full note below.

Just when you thought Earth Day was over, I sneak in another green post. Earth month is all April long, after all. However, I saved this one for after Earth Day because it's less about the environment, and more about the actual color green. Or any color really.

Today, I'm sharing how to color-match and use the colors you really want in PicMonkey.

I was a true beginner lost in the color palette, struggling to find the colors I liked before finally giving up and choosing blindly. Until my sister-in-law (airstream dweller, teacher blogger and craftivity-creator extraordinaire) showed me color-matching in PicMonkey. Oh, the possibilities! And that's when I finally found the precise color palette I used to redesign Beginner Beans, and chose colors to brand my newest blog Prefolds Love.

Color-matching isn't only helpful in branding and designing a blog, it's also helpful in creating holiday cards, matching overlays to a photo, and limitless other possibilities.

So, let's get started.

How to Color-Match in PicMonkey

Find color inspiration and palettes on Pinterest or design blogs like Design Seeds

design-seeds color palette screenshot

1 | Choose your preferred color inspiration, and save as a jpeg.

I found mine at Design Seeds. Jessica continues to grow an incredible selection of color pairings! Seriously, I'm positive she has a palette that will tickle your fancy. Otherwise, inspiration can be found on Pinterest, design blogs, or even your favorite photos or online artwork. Actual color palettes (like those found on Design Seeds) are easiest to use. But colors can also be pulled from photos or even screen shots.

The key here is that it needs to be something you can save as a digital image. Once you choose your source color inspiration, save it as a jpeg image. (If you don't see an option to save the image: Ctrl + "Print screen" then insert into Paint and save as a jpeg.) You will need to be able to add it temporarily as an overlay to your work.

If you are matching text or overlays to the photo being used, skip to the next step.

Start color-matching in PicMonkey by uploading and editing an image.

2 | Load blank image or photo to PicMonkey, edit as desired.

If you're using a photo, then edit it (see basic photo editing steps >> here). A blank image like shown above can simply be resized as desired.

Add your own image overlay to match colors in PicMonkey.

3 | Add color palette jpeg as an overlay.

Add your color palette image as an overlay. This will be here temporarily while you work, and will be deleted when you're done color-matching. Adjust size or placement so it's out of your way. You can even take it completely off the image as you edit, then move it back on when you need to adjust colors.

If you are adding text and overlays over a photo background and wish to match them to the photo, then skip steps # 1 and 3.

Use PicMonkey color dropper to change colors of fonts and shapes.

4 | Add text or overlay, then use color match tool to select your color.

Add text or overlay shape. To adjust color, click on the color-matching tool (far right color strip in the text editing tool OR dropper icon in the top right corner of the overlay tool), and use the dropper to click on the color you wish to use--either from your color palette image or from the photo background itself.

You'll notice the color will continue to change as you hover over various colors on the PicMonkey editing screen until you finally click on something to select its color.

Match your colors, delete color palette image, edit before saving.

5 | Delete color palette overlay when you are done color-matching; finish editing image, and save.

The only editing that should be left to do is final cropping or moving text and overlays around. You'll want to do basic photo editing and adding effects in step #2 above in order to keep your colors how they are.

Tutorial on making a strip of colors in PicMonkey.

Tip | Make your own color palette strip if colors will be used again.

If you plan on reusing these colors in the future (like when designing a blog), it's handy to make your own color strip to upload for future color-matching. This is especially helpful if you had a hard time finding the colors you wanted to use, or pieced them together from a couple different palettes (like I did in the colors for this blog).

Simple add shapes (circles are my fav), and change each one to the color you wish to use in your palette using the steps above. Crop and save image as a jpeg in an easy to find location on your computer. When it's time to add a blog design element, your colors will be easy to find and use as detailed in the steps above.

Get started with your own color-matching magic at PicMonkey.

Happy color-matching!