How to make realistic colors in Photoshop

[FantasyMapmakingCo.]

I am wondering how to make colors in photoshop that aren't garish or gross when next to each other. So the other part of it is how to blend colors and not make them stand out, if you want to contact me my email is at fantasymapmakingco@gmail.com.

[Tiana]

Well, opinions are wildly varied on garish and gross. A good rule if you want to avoid garish is to pick one neutral color and one pop color, like parchment + red, and don't venture further than that. Contrast warm shadows with cool highlights, or cool shadows and warm highlights. Pick colors that triangulate from each other on the color wheel, or are directly across from each other. If you have a high saturated main color, pick a low saturated color that's opposing it in warmness / coolness if you aren't directly picking based from a color wheel. If you do two high saturated colors, offset them with a couple of low saturated or otherwise extreme contrasting colors, like a very light and very dark color.

[FantasyMapmakingCo.]

Thank you so much! That was very helpful, I will be sure to try it out on my maps.

[Turambar]

I like to cheat a bit and use Adobe color to browse palettes or extract a color palette from an image (often photographs I take such as the one of a building near where I live below): https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel

IMG_1927.jpg
AdobeColor-My Color Theme based on Connecticut Ave building.jpeg

[FantasyMapmakingCo.]

I like to cheat a bit and use Adobe color to browse palettes or extract a color palette from an image (often photographs I take such as the one of a building near where I live below): https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel

IMG_1927.jpg
AdobeColor-My Color Theme based on Connecticut Ave building.jpeg

Thank you so much! It has some amazing color palettes and I love this site.