Not what color is his/her skin, eyes, hair, etc.
Not what is his/her favorite color.
Not what color clothing he/she most often wears.

What color immediately comes to mind when you think of your character, and vice versa what character immediately comes to mind when you a certain color? Now that color may happen to be, their hair/eye/skin color, or their favorite color, or the color they wear the most, but that's not what matters here. What we're looking for is the color that is instinctively embedded in your impression of that character. You can certainly explain how that color came to be associated with that character, if you know how, but you don't have to. So how about it, what colors do you immediately associate with your characters?

How can you convey that same level of deep, almost-subconscious association to your readers? Should you even try?

Huh, I'm not sure I have any such associations... Although when I was first thinking about it, I actually came up with something, I'm just not sure which character, or if it's actually anything at all.

Ah, I do this all the time. I'll get together a list later and post it.

I haven't got the foggiest idea, actually. Never even considered it before.

Most of the main characters from Peter's Angel have colors which embody their essence in a deep way. Very few of my other characters have such meaningful color associations, however. This may be simply because the PA characters are the most developed of my creations, but it might also be because of how my PA characters came to be.

As some of you know, Peter's Angel actually developed from a fanfic I'd written for LEGO Exo-Force. The "ancestors" of my characters were all anime figures with wacky colors of hair. Naturally those colors came to embody the essence of the character, so when I decided to rewrite the story as fantasy with normal-looking people, those colors transferred to other elements of the character's appearance and still remain a strong symbol of the character's personality. Through all the revisions, all the changes, the core essence has remained the same, and the color still lingers, cropping up in the character's looks and wardrobe.

Peter's predecessor had ice blue hair, representative of his chill, authoritative personality, which Peter still has. Peter's eyes have always been blue, and I have always envisioned him wearing robin's egg and slate blue. Is it any surprise that he morphed into a patriot soldier with a blue uniform?

Edwin's predecessor had green hair, and again, his green eyes have always been a notable part of his appearance. Red hair is a nice compliment to that, so he morphed into an Irishman, husky, strong, and kind, but also fiery and headstrong.

Nathan's predecessor had purple hair, and I still see purple as suitable for Nathan because of his noble character and royal heritage. He has a kingly bearing to him even if he doesn't realize it, and one day he will assume the role of authority that is rightfully his. (Oops! Guess that was a spoiler. ) Purple is rich and kingly but also in a kind way. Again, noble. Pure of heart. However, I couldn't very well give the kid purple eyes, so he came to have brown hair and brown eyes because brown represents the other part of him. The soft, gentle, unassuming part. The part that is weak, tender, and afraid. The part that wants nothing to do with the kingly, authoritative, royal side of him.

In a slightly lesser way, I've always envisioned Mariah as a contrast of black (dark hair, dark clothes) and white (pale skin). I am not sure why, but she was practically goth in the first revision she showed up in. She's still a bit of a rebel, and I cannot envision her wearing anything more bright or bold than burgundy or navy. I'm not entirely sure why, but it's part of her essence.

I don't think we need to "try" and convey these essences to our readers. Essence is intrinsic. It will emanate from the character itself. It is not something that needs to be told to the reader; it's something that helps we as the writers understand the character. The reader will figure it out for themselves.

Aaron is red. He's deep, sort of subdued but still intense, so that translates to a dark, deep red for me. Maybe something like this, or a little darker. He's also very loyal and very steady, so the red makes more sense to me rather than a brighter, more volatile color like yellow or orange.

Arionwyn is lavender. She always struck me as wanting to be tough, but she never really was there and she can't mask the sweet, compassionate nature, even when she's dealing with her enemies. That's what makes her such a good carrier of the hope that is the main message of the book(s). A color sort of like this, maybe lighter.

Iri is green. I'm a little puzzled about his color because I'm not sure why it fits him, but he has always been green to me. A dark green, but not too dark - the color of envy and poison, I guess, but it's also the color of growing and healing so it kind of follows his character arc in an odd way. It's also a very rich color and he's a very rich kind of character - lives a rich life, has a vivid personality, you know. A shade sort of like this.

Interesting question. Only one character comes to mind without me having to think about it that much. Interestingly enough, it is a character I just made up a few days ago named Thanguis.
Thanguis's color would be a deep red. The sort of red you see in a healing wound. This is also the color that encircles his dark blue eyes. I guess I thought of this color because I imagine him reacting to things as one might react to someone about to touch their wound; with quick reflexes and immediate anger. This is also the color of what lies beneath the immediate exterior.
Another Character with a color was a guy called Mizzah (I might change his name to Bakar). His color would be the color of wheat ready to harvest. This is because part of him has died in a very real way (complicated; I'll post about him sometime soon).
One other character, Zef. He has two colors that war within him all the time. These are reflected in his two eyes. One is ice (almost transparent) blue, and the other is an orange-ish, red-ish, brown. He is a person who, by all rights, shouldn't exist. So the colors reflect these two personalities of this one character.

I think that most generally a character’s color is an outflow, or a fruit of who they are. I don’t think it is at all necessary to describe a character’s color to a reader. If there is a color buried somewhere deep inside a character, then I think it will fairly naturally come into words on the page. We should never force a color out of a character unless it is necessary to show this certain aspect of their being. That’s what I think.

Yes, some of my characters do have colors. One is gray. I wonder if it's because of his invisibility in ways, sometimes. There's another that's black – but who is in no way evil, wicked, or villainous. Black is not necessarily a bad color...and he always just seemed that. So – deep, but unseen – cool, in a way – bold.

Anyway, the others are more generic. Bright yellow, muted poppy red, brilliant blue, pale pink (for a man – pink isn't necessarily a girl color, ya know), dusty purple, and so on. I tend to discover their colors sometimes when writing an X of them – especially when I use my favorite base for characters.