Disney's Color of Evil

Overview: A visual catalog of over 60 Disney villain color palettes to reveal how hue, contrast, and design choices shape our perception of animated evil.

Villainy! Enjoy this collection of color swatches derived solely from Disney’s cast of animated deplorables.

What you’ll learn

Is it possible to tell whether or not a character is ‘evil’ based on their appearance? Is there a predisposition to stereotype characters wearing sinister shades of blue/purple/red as the “bad guys?” Are these 60+ evil color palettes fairly distributed across the spectrum? Are we just profiling Disney antagonists like some sort of TSA agent? Find out below!

Download the Palettes

All 60+ five‑color Disney villain palettes are available as a downloadable collection in the following formats:

• Sync with your Adobe CC Library

• Download the Illustrator swatch ASE file

• Download the PDF swatch sheet (seen below)

Disney villain color references

I’ve organized this collection of color palettes of Disney’s most iconic animated villains into two groups—major villains and minor villains. Each major and minor Disney villain color reference was extracted directly from their on‑screen designs under typical lighting conditions.

Major Villains

Captain Hook – Peter Pan

#CCA68B

#AF832D

#AC779F

#761118

#4E1420

Cruella de Vil – 101 Dalmatians

#CEC8C6

#F3DAB2

#51BE93

#CB2B2A

#131313

Dr. Facilier – Princess and the Frog

#AF6944

#DDAF8F

#A81F23

#6C233F

#32151B

Gaston – Beauty and the Beast

#D86E54

#BF5D28

#971B1E

#321212

#1F70B2

Evil Queen Grimhilde – Snow White

#CDAA9A

#D3D0D6

#CC8A2B

#D53F27

#3B2F83

Hades – Hercules

#6488A3

#E2A02b

#1F1822

#2260AD

#40C7F4

Jafar – Aladdin

#AD5D55

#C47650

#934521

#751F18

#311417

Lady Tremaine – Cinderella

#D8BCAD

#576E85

#2FB88A

#7D618A

#93192B

Maleficent – Sleeping Beauty

#BFC2C4

#E9E96A

#A1Cd3A

#DA1F3D

#4D2F7D

Queen of Hearts – Alice in Wonderland

#D4696A

#D5D0DD

#E4B023

#D47A29

#A61E12

Scar – Lion King

#9A6261

#6B291F

#3E151F

#81BC49

#C59D4E

Ursula – Little Mermaid

#807D96

#B7B7B7

#2F7491

#682C82

#8A191E

Minor Villains

Amos Slade – Fox and the Hound

#A66568

#352C2A

#264049

#6C3F24

#65593B

Aunt Sarah – Lady and the Tramp

#CCA89B

#9F5A93

#3B4D2F

#222F19

#030102

AUTO – Wall-E

#A5B2C0

#58606C

#363B42

#1D2023

#BB2025

Bowler Hat Guy aka “Goob“ – Meet the Robinsons

#FBF1E9

#EBA79A

#5F4E72

#2F2C3D

#20202C

Bruce – Finding Nemo

#58A7DC

#426B73

#123043

#513731

#A5CCD3

Charles F. Muntz – Up

#D39B72

#446B57

#6A4A36

#422F20

#1E1A16

Chernabog – Fantasia

#0B1333

#201B58

#3C52A4

#CF7928

#FCf8CB

Chef Skinner – Ratatouille

#DD9561

#C57348

#9B4222

#775A2B

#D3C8BE

Claude Frollo – Hunchback of Notre Dame

#967472

#6C6873

#064C43

#2E263D

#671113

Dawn Bellweather – Zootopia

#E5E4DF

#ECBBAB

#F79865

#7A7D32

#303A3A

Clayton – Tarzan

#D67572

#ACA0A7

#2E1A16

#9D352E

#D88552

Jumba Jookiba – Lilo and Stitch

#7A4B4F

#502A31

#282038

#333E4B

#485963

Edgar Balthazar – Aristocats

#B78274

#776C6E

#351F1D

#120E0E

#791214

Ernesto de la Cruz – Coco

#E4ECE9

#D87B28

#838ab2

#6269B0

#313254

Evelyn Deavor – Incredibles 2

#F1D7C7

#B09265

#366792

#3DB6B4

#1D2C3D

The Headless Horseman – Legend of Sleepy Hollow

#0A0607

#560D37

#AF8BC0

#9BBCC9

#EE6D25

Henry J. Waternoose III – Monsters, Inc.

#91ADDB

#27344C

#0E1526

#3C1315

#558E8C

Honest John – Pinocchio

#8B1A1B

#A38C77

#5D6758

#304D37

#283579

Hopper – A Bug’s Life

#AA754D

#563E2E

#351F18

#1B1018

#723B5A

The Horned King – Black Cauldron

#4B441A

#352B13

#301111

#100E09

#E01F26

John Silver – Treasure Planet

#FBF285

#F18292

#714E3E

#653A27

#3A1F15

Kaa – Jungle Book

#DDC8C2

#FBB35F

#A5827C

#6D4A32

#402C1D

King Candy – Wreck it Ralph

#E7B9A1

#E06256

#B21F24

#541E23

#352523

Lotso – Toy Story 3

#DE74A1

#F2DBBB

#937F6B

#A0542D

#480633

Lyle Tiberius Rourke – Atlantis the Lost Empire

#7C5B55

#6F6854

#37301E

#171E21

#58111D

Madam Mim – The Sword in the Stone

#DBC1CD

#D1D84A

#DA3881

#912063

#5D5091

Madame Medusa – The Rescuers

#967C89

#59823E

#B02A24

#76101F

#32508A

Mor‘du – Brave

#11151F

#24344F

#354A69

#843F1F

#EFEDF4

Mother Gothel – Tangled

#D3B2AB

#CA7B75

#799392

#EFA43F

#5A0726

Oogie Boogie – Nightmare Before Christmas

#44B97B

#1A824E

#92321E

#C96A32

#D6A07D

Percival C. McLeach and Joanna – Rescuers Down Under

#1A626E

#4A6E78

#A77B70

#6B5142

#533018

Prince Hans – Frozen

#F8A894

#BE5C4F

#59174B

#2D4C81

#C4C5C5

Prince John – Robin Hood

#EDA121

#C79E4F

#996823

#4E121B

#77B9CD

Prospector Stinky Pete – Toy Story 2

#DAE3F4

#D2C4C8

#B03544

#E8DC5E

#31499E

Randall Boggs – Monsters, Inc.

#D2AAC6

#E48A88

#63527B

#54A3BD

#728E42

Ratcliffe – Pocahontas

#9B6162

#026092

#585088

#692062

#841618

Ratigan – Great Mouse Detective

#B3735E

#835A6B

#5F376E

#2A1D17

#ED5649

Ringmaster – Dumbo

#A27652

#4C907C

#A51E22

#74644F

#B29A63

Shan Yu – Mulan

#4E4444

#995E37

#2B2F39

#171B26

#101214

Shere Khan – Jungle Book

#EAC767

#C0B7B7

#8F908D

#89432A

#593B36

Sheriff of Nottingham – Robin Hood

#4E3A31

#582412

#782F18

#B26F82

#AC97AC

Sid Phillips – Toy Story

#FCC18F

#6B4444

#532B18

#171116

#636028

Stromboli – Pinocchio

#A3684A

#87974C

#374C22

#861719

#B1424A

Syndrome – Incredibles

#FBE3CC

#A24F38

#653323

#232323

#4EA8AF

Tamatoa – Moana

#78D0E7

#1E86C8

#275C91

#091630

#BB509E

Thunderclap – The Good Dinosaur

#E5BA50

#E73926

#5A3B44

#322E7B

#19242F

Yokai – Big Hero 6

#E4F4F7

#74949B

#D64E4B

#AEB257

#19272E

Yzma – The Emporer’s New Groove

#B5A196

#8E798A

#4D7C93

#46315B

#0C0E0B

A profile of evil

According to the Cartoon Safety Administration (CSA), there are signs a character might be evil in addition to the color of their skin palette.

STOP! Stereotype toons by observing personality

The CSA have developed this friendly checklist to Stereotype Toons by Observing Personality (STOP) to make profiling quick and easy.

STOP and look for these common signs a cartoon might be evil:

• Excessive baring of teeth, claws, sarcasm.

• Complains about minor inconveniences or is overly impatient.

• Conspires or strives to rule the kingdom, kitchen, daycare.

• Literally a snake (or can transform into one).

• Widely open staring eyes with hypnotic powers.

• Extravagant, ceremonial, or authoritative attire, jewelry, accessories.

• Measured or reserved attitude with cold, manipulative, calculated responses.

• Gazes into and/or solicits advice from spooky sentient objects.

• Collects souls, talks about souls, guards souls, can’t wait to acquire more souls.

• Wringing of hands in a sinister manner.

• Doofus henchmen (assess using the Distribution of Intelligence Measurement—*DIM).

* The DIM is an intelligence distribution calculation asserting that all henchmen are equally dumb. As such: 1 henchmen will contain 100% of the available (usually low) intelligence, 2 henchmen will contain 50% of the intelligence, 3 henchmen will each have 33%, 10 will have 10%, and so on. See also key henchmen exception.

Wrapping up

Thanks for readaing and I hope you enjoyed that little diversion! Be sure to check out my data visualization poster for this Disney villain color study, available in the store.

The Color of Evil

from $16.00