+13 Orange Cartoon Characters: Colors and Palette Details

Darwin Watterson

Darwin is the orange goldfish with legs from The Amazing World of Gumball. His round head and body are almost the same bright orange, broken up by white eyes, black outlines and green shoes. His warm body color sits in the Carrot Orange family.

Nemo

Nemo is the young clownfish in Pixar’s Finding Nemo. One pectoral fin is smaller than the other. The main colors are easy to separate:

Orange: the main body color.
White: the broad bands that divide the body.
Black: the narrow outlines around the bands and fins.

Applejack: pony and Equestria Girls versions

Applejack in her human Equestria Girls form, with blonde hair and brown boots — Applejack’s Equestria Girls version is pictured here.

Applejack’s pony form in Friendship Is Magic has an orange coat, a blonde mane and tail, green eyes and three red apples as her cutie mark. Hasbro’s character figure identifies the orange pony design.

The human Equestria Girls version shown here uses a different balance: blonde hair, a pale top, a blue skirt and brown boots. Her hat and apple details carry across to the human design.

Nonny from Bubble Guppies

Nonny’s orange is in his hair. The Bubble Guppies character has blue goggles, green eyes and a green tail with darker stripes. The blue goggles touch the orange hairline, while the green stripes stay lower on the tail.

Garfield

Jim Davis’s Garfield is an orange tabby cat with black stripes. A broad orange body, a pale muzzle and narrow black marks keep the palette simple.

Compare him with Nemo: broad white bands divide the fish’s body, while Garfield’s narrow black stripes leave much more orange visible.

Swiper from Dora the Explorer

Swiper, the fox from Dora the Explorer, pairs orange fur with a blue mask and gloves. Pale yellow covers his muzzle, chest and tail tip. The blue accessories occupy much less space than the orange fur, but they draw attention to his eyes and hands.

Goofy

An ochre-orange shirt sits below Goofy’s black ears and pale face in this illustration. A black vest, blue trousers and a blue hat split the outfit into separate blocks.

Velma Dinkley

Velma’s familiar orange sweater sits above a red skirt, with orange socks repeating the top’s color lower down. Her brown hair and dark-framed glasses add darker areas around her face. For a Velma-inspired palette, compare the burnt orange family with a deeper red for the skirt.

Lincoln Loud

Lincoln’s white hair is often the first thing you notice, but his orange polo shirt is the large warm-colored area in his everyday outfit. Dark trousers and white shoes keep the remaining colors quieter. In The Loud House, he is the middle child between five older and five younger sisters.

Princess Daisy from Super Mario

Daisy’s main dress color is yellow, with orange at the waist, shoulders and hem. Green flower-shaped jewelry picks out the earrings and brooch. Her brown-orange hair repeats the warmth of the dress trim. Nintendo identifies Daisy as the princess of Sarasaland. She appears in Super Mario Land.

Orange M&M

The Orange M&M character is an orange candy shell with white gloves, white shoes and a white letter on the front. The face and eyebrows add dark details, leaving most of the shell as one uninterrupted color.

The brand’s Orange character page plays up the mascot’s nervous expression. Raised brows and tense poses carry much of the expression.

The Lorax

The Lorax, created by Dr. Seuss, speaks for the trees. His orange fur surrounds a large yellow moustache and yellow eyebrows.

Merida from Brave

Merida pairs red-orange hair with a dark teal dress. Her curls spread around her face and shoulders, and the long dress forms a much narrower shape below.

In Pixar’s Brave, she is a princess and an archer. The brighter strands suggest the Tangerine family, with redder shadows between the curls.

Where does the orange sit?

An orange body, a sweater and red-orange hair give these designs different starting points:

Character	Main orange area	Other useful colors
Darwin	Head and body	Green shoes, white eyes, black outlines
Velma	Sweater and socks	Red skirt, brown hair, dark glasses
Merida	Red-orange hair	Dark teal dress, pale skin

These are visual palette observations, not official studio color specifications. Shades can change with the illustration, costume and lighting.