What Is “Local Color”? (And Why It’s the Heart of Local Color Shop)
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If you’ve found your way here, you probably know Local Color as our line of premium coloring books filled with real places—bagel shops, observatories, hotels, neighborhood streets, and more.
But long before it was the name of our company, “local color” was an art term.
This post is about both:
- what local color means in visual art, and
- how that idea shapes everything we create at Local Color Shop.
Local Color in Art: The Color Your Brain Thinks It Sees
In painting, local color is the “default” color your brain assigns to an object when you aren’t thinking about lighting, reflections, or shadows.
Art textbooks will say something like:
Local color is the color of an object under neutral white light, without considering form shadows or the color of the light hitting it.
In everyday language, that translates to:
- “The sky is blue.”
- “Grass is green.”
- “An apple is red.”
Of course, if you slow down and really look, none of that is always true:
- A “white” building at sunset goes peach, gold, even lavender.
- A “red” apple has yellows, browns, deep maroons, and bright highlights.
- “Green” grass might be blue-green in shade and almost yellow in direct sun.
But as kids, we’re taught these quick labels—sky is blue, trees are green—to simplify a very complicated world. That shorthand is what artists call local color.
Painters who want to work realistically have to learn to look beyond local color and notice all those subtle changes. But that doesn’t make local color wrong. It just means:
Local color is how your memory and mind organize the world, even when reality is more nuanced.
And that’s exactly where our brand lives.
Local Color Shop: From Art Term to Brand Name
When we named Local Color, we weren’t just picking something clever and artsy. We were naming what we actually care about:
- Real places
- Personal memories
- The colors your mind attaches to both
Just like the art concept, Local Color (the brand) sits in that space between what’s literally in front of you and how you remember it.
Our books are filled with local landmarks and everyday spots—especially around Los Angeles:
- A cozy bagel shop in Beverly Hills
- Griffith Observatory in Los Feliz
- Classic hotels and neon signs
- Cafés, piers, and streets you might pass every week
When you color one of our pages, you’re doing what painters do with local color—but in your own way:
- You see the line art of a real place.
- Your brain fills in: “Oh, I know that pink. I’ve seen that green. I remember that warm glow at sunset.”
- You reach for the pencils or markers that match your memory—not just what a photo says.
That’s local color in the art sense, and Local Color in the brand sense, working together.
From “The Sky Is Blue” to “This Is My Sky Blue”
Art theory says that local color is something we learn as children:
- We’re told the sky is blue,
- the tree is green,
- the building is white.
Those shortcuts help kids make sense of a loud, overwhelming world.
Our coloring books gently expand that early idea:
- The sky over Griffith Observatory at twilight isn’t just “blue”—it might be dusty purple with a band of coral near the horizon.
- A Beverly Hills hotel isn’t just “pink”—it might be a very specific pale blush with deep green accents and warm yellow windows.
- The ocean at the pier isn’t just “blue”—it shifts between teal, gray, and silver depending on the light.
When kids (and adults) color these pages, they’re doing small but powerful things:
- Revising that early, flat local color (“sky is blue”) with something more nuanced (“this sky at this time of day”).
- Connecting art theory to lived experience, without needing an art-school lecture.
- Owning the colors of their world: “This is how I see LA. This is my version of local color.”
Local Places, Local Feelings
There’s another meaning of “local color” outside the art studio:
people use it to describe the unique flavor and personality of a place—its signage, storefronts, slang, rituals, and quirks.
That meaning is just as important to us.
When you color:
- Pop’s Bagels in Beverly Hills
- A night out at The Dresden
- A walk around Griffith Observatory
you’re not only choosing colors for buildings and trees. You’re capturing:
- The mood of a late weekend breakfast
- The warmth of a dimly lit lounge
- The excited buzz of a family trip to see the stars
Your color choices become emotional choices:
- When a child colors a local café bright and bold, maybe that place feels fun and exciting.
- When they color a familiar street in softer tones, maybe it feels calm and safe.
- When you color a landmark in saturated, nostalgic colors, you might be preserving a memory you don’t want to fade.
In that sense, “local color” is:
The story of a place, told through the specific colors you choose for it.
A Simple Way to Play With Local Color (Art + Brand) at Home
The next time you open a Local Color book, try this mini exercise that combines the art concept with what our brand is all about.
1. Name the “Default” Colors
Look at the page and say the basic, art-theory local colors:
- “The building is white.”
- “The trees are green.”
- “The sky is blue.”
This is the childhood-level, mental shorthand version.
2. Remember the Real Place
Then ask:
- “Have we been here (or somewhere like this) in real life?”
- “What did it actually look like when we were there?”
Prompt your kid (or yourself):
- “Was the sky bright, hazy, or almost purple?”
- “Were the lights warm and yellow, or cool and bright?”
- “Did anything stand out—a pink wall, a teal sign, a red awning?”
Now you’re moving beyond textbook local color and into your local color.
3. Build Your “Local Color Palette”
Pick 5–10 colors that match your memory:
- 2–3 for the main building or landmark
- 2–3 for trees, plants, or water
- 2–3 for the sky, shadows, and lights
Lay them out and say:
“This is our local color palette for this place.”
4. Talk About Feelings, Not Just Facts
Local color in painting ignores light and mood; you don’t have to.
Ask:
- “How do you feel when you’re here?”
- “If this place were a feeling, what color would it be?”
Encourage using non-literal choices:
- Maybe the real building is beige, but your child colors it mint green because they think it’s fun.
- Maybe the sky goes magenta because that’s how sunset felt, even if it didn’t look exactly that way.
That’s the moment where art theory, personal memory, and our brand’s mission collide—in the best way.
Why This Matters to Us at Local Color
We didn’t call the company Local Color by accident.
We chose it because we believe:
- Places shape us. The local spots where you grab coffee, walk your dog, or watch the sunset matter just as much as famous landmarks.
- Color is memory. The hues you choose—accurate or imagined—are how you file those memories away.
- Art language can be warm, not intimidating. You don’t need to say “local color under flat white light” to experience the concept. You just need a coloring page and a box of pencils.
Every book we make is an invitation to:
-
Start with the simple, childhood idea of local color:
“The hotel is pink, the palm trees are green.” -
Layer on your own reality and emotion:
“This is the exact pink I remember from that drive,” or
“I’m going to make this sky look the way it felt that night.”
That’s what we mean when we say Local Color is about iconic scenes, personal stories.