Seeking input on color choices

[Tabbyclaw]

I've got a pair of ponies in the works right now, and one of them is giving me fits because I know everything about her except her body color. Thus I am turning to you, O great pony collective, for your thoughts.

The pony in question is a pegasus, and since she's based on an existing character a lot of her colors are non-negotiable. She's going to have yellow hair -- probably Dollyhair "lemonade" -- and brown eyes. Symbols are a medium-green banner outlined in gold with a white crest on one side, and an intricate alchemical circle in red-brown on the other with a chunk of pink scar tissue over it. (Yeah, if you think you know who it is you're probably right.) I have been waffling mostly between light tangerine and lavender, neither of which feels entirely right, mostly because of the hair color. I am open to your thoughts on these colors, as well as suggestions for any others.

A couple points I have to keep in mind:
- It has to be a light color, for the sake of the second symbol's visibility. Otherwise I'd have put them both in royal blue to match the characters' uniforms.
- Her companion has already been airbrushed in medium blue-grey. (And may I just say, good Lord, the thing about thinning your paints with Windex! I finally tried it out, and I am a total convert. I have never had paint go on that smoothly or that quickly, or had such an easy time cleaning the airbrush afterwards. The only reason he's not entirely done after only a half-hour of work is because I found some flaws in his muzzle resculpt and have to redo it before I can paint his head.) I'm not worried about them matching, exactly, but they do need to not clash when displayed together.
- While it would probably meet all the other color needs, for this particular character I'd like to avoid pink.

Thus is the problem that faces me now, pony people. A small one, in the grand scheme of things, but one I hope you'll be able to help me solve.

-Tabby
the princess with claws

[gemini_pony]

May I ask who the character is?

[MidnightMocha]

Is it Risa from FMA by chance?

[Tabbyclaw]

Is it Risa from FMA by chance?

Yep. Wasn't trying to keep it secret, just going with a description alone to deter people from thinking "Oh, I'm not familiar with that character, so my ideas won't be helpful."

(And yes, the blue-grey one is Roy.)

-Tabby
the princess with claws

[sharnofshade]

She wears a white/light grey jacket over a dark turtleneck in a couple of episodes of the anime (example), so I think you could get away with making her pony form white or light grey if you're using the anime as a reference rather than the manga.

[Uninu]

I agree with sharnofshade, light grey could work well. Can't wait to see them both, Risa was one of my favorites.

[Tabbyclaw]

Light grey is a good suggestion! I could see it working, and I might go with that if nothing else seems right. The reason I'm hesitating, though, is that there's a tiny chance I might want to do an Izumi custom later, and if anyone in the series needs to be done on a white/light grey base, it's her. I like to avoid duplicate colors in related customs unless the characters are supposed to be connected somehow.

-Tabby
the princess with claws

[Griffin]

How about a very, very light yellow/tan? More like white with a yellowish/brownish tint.

Looking forward to seeing them, it's been ages since I watched FMA but I always loved Roy.

[Sparkly_Sherbert]

How about a very, very light yellow/tan? More like white with a yellowish/brownish tint.

Looking forward to seeing them, it's been ages since I watched FMA but I always loved Roy.

I was thinking the same - maybe a pale lemon or creamy yellow?

[SunPony]

Ah ha, I knew who you were talking about! 

I agree with the suggestions for a very light yellowish/tan-ish/ivory color.  Light enough that it won't clash with the Lemonade, but dark enough that you can tell it is not white.  I think it would look good with all the other colors you mentioned for the symbol painting.  I just used ivory on somepony and I think ivory tinted a little more yellow or tan would look great.  My 2 cents 

I would like to add that I am *very* excited to see the results   

[Tabbyclaw]

Ooh, yes, an antique ivory color would probably be perfect! And it would look good next to Roy's body color, since that's also a pretty muted shade. I think that's what I'm gonna go with!

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions!

-Tabby
the princess with claws

[Tabbyclaw]

Just a little update to show the combination now that I've finally got some paint on both of them (I had a forced break because my compressor took a walk off a countertop and its replacement took a week to ship):

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


Heads not finished or pictured, Roy's because I'm still not a million percent happy with his muzzle and will probably resculpt it again and Riza's because my airbrush threw a tantrum after I finished her body and it's in timeout for the rest of the night. He's in French Blue and she's in Vintage White, and they look pretty snazzy together so far.

-Tabby
the princess with claws

[Uninu]

Good choice! They look great next to each other