The Eye

Color Palettes Inspired by New York City Street Art and Architecture

Color Me NYC is a series of palettes derived from Instagram photos taken by New Yorker Andrew C. Bly.  

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

When advertising art director Andrew C. Bly arrived in New York City two years ago, he felt compelled to take snapshots while out and about walking the streets of his new home base. The city’s vibrant storefronts, street art, and architecture caught his eye. After taking a photo at 28th and Lexington (top), he decided to translate his Instagram images into a series of color palettes that provided abstract color capsules of various corners of the city, which he documents on Color Me NYC.  

Bowery and Hester.

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

“I had passed this building multiple times while visiting a chiropractor on 28th Street,” he told me in an email. “However on this afternoon the light was hitting the building perfectly and the colors were just screaming at me.”

South Street Seaport.

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

Bly edits his Instagram photos using Afterlight on his phone, then uses Photoshop to create four dominant colors from each scene to create a palette. He says he’s hoping to develop an app that could allow him to create palettes from live photos.

3rd Avenue and 17th Street.

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

“This one from Bleecker Street is a great example [of] how every single piece of this city can inspire, even an unmarked tiny building that thousands of people pass every day,” he says of the photo below.

Bleeker Street.  

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

Great Jones Street.  

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

A mural-in-progress by Maya Hayuk on the Bowery.

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

Shepard Fairey’s Obey on Lafayette and Spring.  

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

Grace Memorial House on Fourth Avenue.

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

Empire State Building.

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

Flower art by Michael De Feo on Mulberry Street.  

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly

Fineline Tattoo in the East Village.

Courtesy of Andrew C. Bly