Welcome to our Color Spotlight feature! Every so often we’ll showcase a different color and give ideas of color combos that will work with it.
Marianne’s Note: When I mention a color combo whatever color I put first is the color I put down as my base color, then I blend in the second color. Also, these colors on the screen are NOT accurate and are for comparison only.
YG17, Grass Green
Story behind YG17: YG17 was introduced in the second set of 72 colors Copic produced. They already had YG13, so to add a darker tone to that family, Japan produced YG17. YG11 would not come until later. YG17 is among the new Ciao colors introduced in 2010. It is a nice, grassy green, as the name implies, and a great base for any kind of foliage. To get a darker green than YG17, you need to jump to another color family, and my favorite group to jump to for deep, rich green shadows is G28 or G29.
Available in these styles:
Copic, Sketch, Ciao, Various
Natural Blending Family:
YG11, YG13, YG17
Simple Blend:
YG13, YG17, G28
Similar Colors, other families:
G17, B16, R17, V17
Marianne’s Unusual Combos:
YG17 + BG72, YG17 + Y28, W5 + YG17
Advanced Color Rules for YG17*:
Complimentary: YG17, R39
Triad (simple 3 color combo): YG17, V09, E07
Tetrad (simple 4 color combo): YG17, B39, R39, E37
Pentagram (simple 5 color combo): YG17, B66, Y28, E09, V09
High Contrast: YG17, G99, C9, 100, R89
Compound: YG17, G16, C8, V06, RV19, RV99
*Advanced color rules are generated by Adobe Illustrator CS3 based on the digital representation of the Copic Color Spectrum set into a special color wheel. I generate these as suggestions for color combos to try when you are looking for a nice change, or you have a paper that matches this particular color and you want help picking other unusual colors to go with it.
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The Project I made for YG17: Blue Butterfly
This drawing was inspired heavily by the beautiful combination of the YG17, B66, and Y28 from the pentagram color swatches. I would never consider using those three colors together, but I loved how they looked in a row, so I decided to try them. In thinking of intense blue images, I kept thinking of blue butterflies, so a butterfly and leaves were a natural choice. I wanted to keep this illustration light and different from my usual work. You can see the strong use of the B66, YG17, and Y28 as a background color. I drew light sketches in pencil, then colored the image with B29, B66, E09, E37, RV99, YG11, YG17, G16, G99, Y28, C9, V06, V09. I dripped on a lot of Colorless Blender, and finished the image with Opaque White. 
