Color Key Course
This course is designed for artists who want to learn how to use color and lighting as narrative tools, creating clear and coherent atmospheres at a professional level.
You’ll learn to work with industry-standard color workflows, understanding how Color Key and Color Script help define emotion, visual hierarchy, and narrative intent. Through hands-on exercises, you’ll apply the entire process, from initial sketches to a final presentation ready for portfolio or production, with professional support and feedback.
What will you learn?
Lighting and color are key to defining the final look of an image, creating atmosphere, and clearly communicating visual intent.
This course covers the fundamentals and tools applied to Color Key Art/Color Script, including:
View learning blocks
Color theory
Applied to production (harmonies, contrast, temperature, saturation and value control).
Munsell system
And how it is used in the industry to understand and organize color in a solid way (hue, value, chroma).
Light and shadow
Reading shots, hierarchy, ambient occlusion, projected shadows and reflected light.
Lighting design
Direction, intensity, quality of light (hard/soft), and how it affects materials and shape.
Painting pipeline for Color Keys
Step-by-step process from initial blocks to final render (priorities, layers, brushes and polish).
Professional presentation
How to structure and export the final document in a clean and portfolio/production-ready format.
Color theory
Applied to production (harmonies, contrast, temperature, saturation and value control).
Munsell system
And how it is used in the industry to understand and organize color in a solid way (hue, value, chroma).
Light and shadow
Shots reading, hierarchy, ambient occlusion, projected shadows and reflected light.
Lighting design
Direction, intensity, quality of light (hard/soft), and how it affects materials and shape.
Painting pipeline for Color Keys
Step-by-step process from initial blocks to final render (priorities, layers, brushes and polish).
Professional presentation
How to structure and export the final document in a clean and portfolio/production-ready format.
Images from the course
Adria Alvarado
Hi! I’m Adria Alvarado, a Visual Development artist specializing in visual storytelling through color and atmosphere, both digital and traditional.
Since 2019, I’ve collaborated on animation and video game productions, working on color scripts, illustration, and key art to enhance the story with a cinematic approach.
I’m currently the Lead Concept Artist on Star Trek Online, and I’ve previously worked with Disney, Nimble Giant, Final Frontier, and Believe TV.
Projects I did
Level
No prior knowledge of Color Script is required, but a beginner’s level of digital painting and basic layer management skills in Photoshop/Procreate are recommended. We’ll start with the essentials and build a solid workflow step by step.
Demo lessons
If you want to see what the course is like inside, here you can see the first demo lesson:
Final project
The course includes progressive exercises during the first 5 weeks, with original material created by professionals for you to add to your portfolio. By the end, you will have developed:
- An original color script created by you.
- Between 2 and 4 polished final keyframes (ready for presentation).
- A professional submission: polished and formatted final document (presentation, organization, titles, breakdown, and portfolio version).
Why choose us?
Professional mentors
Our team consists of industry professionals with years of experience in leading animation and video game studios such as MachineGames, Microsoft, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, among others.
Practical methodology
Learn through hands-on projects and real-time exercises to develop skills applicable in the real world.
Personalized feedback
You will receive feedback from the teacher to get valuable comments and personalized guidance, perfect your techniques and improve your work.
Networking and community
Connect with other video game enthusiasts, expand your professional network, and collaborate on exciting projects.
Continuous update
Stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies in the world of video games.
Color Key Course
500€ + VAT
- Access to the community
- Over +30h of recorded lessons
- Weekly call with Adria
- Daily feedback through chat
- Exclusive scenes