CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
EN/FR
Search
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

Colors!

series of digital painting applications

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 26, 2026
Entity authorityQ100789617 ↗
Source-derived summary

Colors! is a series of digital painting applications for handheld game consoles and mobile devices. Originally created as a homebrew application for Nintendo DS (as Colors!), which was since officially distributed on PlayStation Vita, Android, and iOS, the project eventually evolved into an officially licensed application for Nintendo 3DS (as Colors! 3D) and Nintendo Switch (as Colors Live).

History

Colors!

Colors! was originally released in June 2007 as a simple homebrew painting application for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Jens Andersson, a programmer and designer on sabbatical from the games industry who wanted to experiment with the potential of the new handheld platform. Shortly after, Rafał Piasek created an online gallery where users could upload paintings made with the program.

Colors! quickly became one of the best-known homebrew applications on the Nintendo DS, and in September 2008, it was also released for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Colors!” as series of digital painting applications. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Colors, series and digital.

Editorial reviewBest approached as a cultural-object dossier: authorship and date matter, but circulation and reception often explain the wider significance. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007, 2008—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Colors, series and digital providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Colors!”, the useful work is to connect “series of digital painting applications” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q100789617. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2007 and 2008.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Colors!”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Colors! primary sources, Colors! archive and Colors research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Colors!”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Colors!” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.