In fact, there’s a good argument to make that TikTok ColorPick is the act of watching paint get wetter. Inspired by the effortlessly daft “#guessthepaint” videos of TikTok artist Christian M Hull, Tiny Islands creator David King has created an interactive toy for guessing your own paint without shelling out a fortune at B&Q. Hey, if it’s free and passes the time this evening, it might just be worth a shot.
Take my advice, though – it almost always ends up beige.
In case you’re not familiar with Mull’s catalogue of work (and I wasn’t until Alice O dropped this story on my digital desk), you can catch an example under King’s announcement post. It’s important to single out this video, in particular, as it forms the crux of everything King takes into consideration with ColorPick.
So, I made a game inspired by that #guessthepaint tiktok video that everyone liked. Now you too can guess what the color will be. Presenting TokTik ColorPick https://t.co/Cn5PORghU0 https://t.co/XKvPqwzjgB pic.twitter.com/MzNJBPDLC3
— David King (@dr_d_king) November 3, 2020
Using this wild clip as a foundation, ColorPick is excruciating in its adaptation. The music, the bewildered facial expressions, the splash of background colour once you’ve made a choice and the tap tap tap of the hammer on paint can, rendered in chunky 3D. It’s beautiful, only more so with the addition of mouth sound foley running throughout.
It’s also well bloody difficult, mind. It’s been a hot minute since I seriously thought about colours, and trying to mentally mix the palette on my mind-canvas in such a short timespan is pretty stressful. Fortunately, you’ve only got four options to pick from. Unfortunately, that number grows with each successful guess, widening your options. It’s still easier than the vast expanse of rainbow options Mull considers in his own performances, at least.
My best streak was one, so it’s not like that was a problem anyway.
TokTik ColorPick is free to play in your browser over on King’s Itch page. While you’re there, I’d wholeheartedly recommend checking out both archipelago puzzler Tiny Islands and construct ’em up Let’s Go Build A – both of which are very real, very good little daily challenges.