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Thank you SO MUCH for requesting, I absolutely love requests.

Rule of thirds

I often like to use the color wheel in thirds for the sake of harmony, I think the close relation of the colors could be the reason for the harmonious or "cozy" feeling of some of my pieces.

You'd think it would be limiting, but you can actually get a lot of variation not only from changing the hue, but also changing the saturation of colors.

For example, If you're working with yellows, oranges, and reds, you can create green tones through lowering the saturation of yellow and you can create blue and purple tones through lowering the saturation of red.

Colors can look drastically different depending on what colors they're next to, really contrasting or really harmonious colors can have their own really cool effects. I like to use both effects to my advantage in my art!

2. Pop of complementary

Even though I love a harmonious color palette, one of my favourite tools is adding a complementary color to add interest to a piece!

It can be used to create tension but I also like to add a good complementary color for variation and whimsicality

Here are a few examples of complementary colors in my pieces. I'm not super strict with my color palettes so these colors are kinda LOOSELY complementary... Take this all with a grain of salt...

Warm tones complemented with teal

Blues and purples complemented with orange

Yellow tones in ralsei's fur, clothing, and the background to complement the blue pathway

3. Unexpected colors

This one kinda goes hand in hand with complementary colors. I like to add tiny pops of unexpected colors to add some visual interest to the colors.

I like not to overuse this because it can get messy if you aren't careful!

In dark areas of this piece, I added a really true indigo/purple since most of the piece is so warm.

In this piece, I used white in light areas to give more of a childrens book feel! In my opinion, it gives the piece a childlike and fun vibe

4. Contrast in values

My biggest priority in my art is that colors next to each other have contrasting values!

If there's one thing to be taken from this whole ramble, it's that values can be more important than hue! A piece can really easily become muddy if the values are really close.

My favourite method is to turn the piece to black and white and see what parts aren't readable then making certain colors darker or lighter.

Readability is a big priority for me so generally, I'm always looking out for values when picking my colors!

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Sorry this has been one big ramble, I got way too excited when I saw this question...

Again, I'm no professional so take this all as you will.