Reduce colors without flattening the subject

A color can be a background, outline, dominant fill, shadow, highlight, or a small identity cue. Group samples by the job they do in the shape, not by whether their hexadecimal values are close. Two colors with a visible contrast may both be needed; several tiny variations in the same highlight usually are not.

For the teal cup, protect the dark handle boundary and the warm rim highlight first. The pale reflections on the body can share one highlight role even when the source photo contains several almost identical pixels.

Start with background gradients and broad shadow fields, then inspect the silhouette and focal features. This order reduces the palette where changes are least costly. Never merge an outline into its neighboring fill solely because it is a rare color; rarity is a supply problem, while contrast is a recognition problem.

After each merge, check the preview at thumbnail size and count the remaining roles. If the cup stops looking round, restore the shadow before adding a new decorative color. A smaller palette is successful when it makes the build clearer, not when it wins a color-count contest.

Keep the original sample count, final count, and intentional substitutions with the project version. The exported color table should tell a maker which shades to sort and which can be replaced by a nearby owned color. This is especially important when a pattern will be rebuilt months later.

Use the creator's palette reducer to compare a controlled eight-color pass with the source. If an isolated accent carries the story, keep it and explain why. If it exists only because of compression noise, remove it and let the larger shape speak.