I was wondering, because I never knew whether or not that was stealing? I know that sounds stupid, but I was never sure, then again, the buyer probably wants the product to look as much like the original as possible.

I try to colour it the most similar to the ref colours, but usually I don't take the colours from the image.

Usually I pick the colour from the ref, paint the colour base with this one, and when I start shading it, I change the colour of the base for a lighter/darker one so when I finish the shadows it seems like the ref colour (actually, if I keep the colour of the ref it ends looking like if it was painted in a darker/lighter colour overall, I guess it's because of the way I shade)

Sometimes I eyedrop it for the base colour then adjust for aesthetic purposes if necessary. Most of the time I wing it though.

I don't think using the proper colour is stealing. X'D

Okay, thank you guys!

It depends on what I'm given for a reference. If I'm drawing from an avatar or a reference page with specific colors listed, I use the colors straight from the source. If I'm given loose guidelines, then I stray a little. I figure the people who want my art will be okay with how I work.

I generally pick the base color straight off the ref. xD The way I color tends to distort colors anyway, so I have to at least TRY make it a bit accurate.

usually with my shading and highlights I go all around on value and intensity, so I'll probably just get whatever colour. Still, sometimes people's colours for their ocs need a little, modifications. lala And its not as though all item combinations on HAs always work together. So eyedropping each colour straight from the HA ref is kind of... pointless to me.

I'm too lazy to find the base colours so I usually eyedrop from the ref to get an approximation for what colour to use and just wing it from there. :)

I generally don't eyedrop from the refs xD I always find them too dark/light for my taste so I end up going through a range and find similar colors. And if I do eyedrop the color, I still end up adjusting the hues/saturation till I'm content with the colors. xD

I eyedrop, but the way I paint changes the colors completely by the end XD I just use them to make sure I have the right mix of colors.

Unless I'm imitating the style of the character ... then I'll just do with the solid colors.