On Colour in China: The Primary Colours of Spring

Asia Pacific is one of the most vibrant and diverse regions on the planet and there’s no better way to showcase this diversity than through the local community, local moments and local colour palettes. #AdobeOnColour explores the dynamic colours through the work of our creative community, sharing what the colours of their homelands mean to them.

We started with India’s Holi Festival and followed this by exploring the colours of South East Asia’s landmarks, cultural events and foods. We then looked at the spectacular shades of Autumn in Australia and New Zealand, and now we turn to China to gather the thoughts of Shanghai based UoU Studio, led by Yixuan Cheng(程奕轩), who explains how they took inspiration from the 5 primary colours of China and their associated mythical creatures to create these amazing animations:

“Chinese ancestors observed the time changes of days and night, seasons and years, and during this time formed China’s five primary colours from five mythical creatures, which are:

• the Azure Dragon (青龙, indigo blue)
• the White Tiger (白虎, white)
• the Vermilion bird (朱雀, red)
• the Black Tortoise (玄武, black)
• the Yellow Dragon (黄龙, yellow)

Inspired by these 5 colours we began to work on three different themes to express the colours of Spring in China.

One Fine Spring Night with Thunder

‘One Fine Spring Night with Thunder’ presents us with a unique spring night featuring mysterious breezes and strange, but attractive, legendary creatures. It is based on the famous fictional storybook ‘The Classics of Mountains and Seas’ which features a variety of different creatures including the indigo blue azure dragon, the predominant colour in this animation, alongside shades of black and red.

One Fine Spring Day with Kites

Based on the lively indigo blue and yellow colours, ‘One Fine Spring Day with Kites’ brings out the flourishing spirits of spring, featuring traditional Chinese kites flying with the spring breeze alongside some interesting creatures and animals.

One Fine Spring Break with Indoor Activities

‘One Fine Spring Break with Indoor Activities’ focuses on the warm and fuzzy feeling that the spring season brings when you open the windows and let the sunshine into your home. We used a mixture of yellow, red and whites in this uplifting animation as we look forward to summertime.

Follow #AdobeOnColour on social for more colourful inspirations and stay tuned to the Adobe blog as we share more amazing work from our creative community.