Year one: everything I painted was oversaturated. I thought vivid color meant good color. My pieces looked like they were screaming at the viewer. Nobody told me this directly but I could feel something was wrong when I looked at work I admired and compared it to mine.
Year one, months seven through twelve
I discovered the concept of color temperature and immediately overcorrected. Every shadow became aggressively blue, every highlight aggressively orange. The pieces looked more sophisticated but still mechanical, like I was following a formula without understanding it.
Year two was about learning to see neutrals
I started doing color studies from photographs of Gardening and Landscape Design scenes, specifically because natural outdoor light is complex and unforgiving. Grass in shadow is not simply dark green. It shifts toward blue-gray depending on sky conditions. Practicing with that kind of reference forced me to stop guessing and start observing.
Year three: color harmony as a habit
By this point I was limiting my palettes deliberately. Five colors maximum for most pieces, sometimes three. Constraint forced harmony in a way that freedom never had. The pieces from year three are quieter than year one but they hold attention longer.
If you have tried digital illustration and your color always felt wrong, the problem is almost certainly not your eye. It is the number of choices you are giving yourself at once. Fewer options, better results. That pattern holds across a lot of creative work.