Digital Coloring Practice

[Sage Hazzard]

Okay, I'm going to showcase some of my work. These are inked, black and white drawings from various artists, some professionals, that I took and colored for practice. I've only finished... 1 I think, picture. But I start and stop a lot, so I can get alot done quickly if I work hard. :)

I'd like honest critism. :) And if you look at it and like it, tell me please. Don't just assume I don't need to hear it, or that someone else said the same thing. I like support, so please take the time to reply if you look at the picture. Thanks :)

This first one is Batman by Jim Lee. I was going to give him a yellow circle around his symbol, but I don't think that's how Jim draws him, since there were no lines for the symbol shape. So I didn't color that area yellow, respecting the author's vision of how it should look. :) You can comment on the drawing itself, but don't blame me for any mistakes. I didn't draw the piece... Though you'd be hard pressed to find any mistakes in this piece. Jim Lee's amazing.

Oh, and I wasn't sure what to do with the background buildings. I honestly have no clue how to color buildings that well yet, and I had less of a clue figuring out how to color far away buildings. :)

EDIT: Oh, and I'm using a method called cutting. Or atleast how I figured out how to do it with paintshop and a little trail and error. It doesn't look realistic persay, but it looks cooler I thing. Maybe I'll try something different with another piece? :) Also, the quality might be grainy or bad due to file size compression.

[Oriadin]

Looks very good to me. The cape especially. The only thing that I think still needs work are the highlighted bits on the grey of Batmans uniform. They seem too white to me. Take a look at Sejahs new sig for a great example of highlighting. I think youve got it right for the cape but the suit needs a little more work.

[Destiny Stormrider]

Yep, the suit needs slightly more work! And the buildings you mentionned look cool to me. (But I could be wrong, arts isn't my thing :p)

[Sage Hazzard]

I thought I was going for a kind of rubber look, though I now see what you mean. Got a bit carried away I guess. :lol I might redo it later, but for now I'm going to just move onto a next one. :)

Thanks on the cape comment. I thought it look pretty cool. I love that cutting technique. :)

Sejah... he needs to stop practicing at let me catch up. :lol He does all that kind of stuff better than I could hope to do. :)

[Sejah Haversh]

I have one question: HOW the HECK do you do the seperated color blocks within the same color? I mean, where it looks like several layers of the same shade instead of a smooth transition. I've been trying to figure that one out forever.... And, the suit does look very good, but instead of toning down just the light areas, try darkening the shadows a bit more, that would make him look even more dramatic.

[GraNi NaColu]

I think that this picture is amazing. Im not really an artist, so I cant give good criticism. But the cape looks like it came from Spawn? Though it does make Batman look more fierce. AH!

[Sage Hazzard]

Okay, I'll reveal the secrets of how I do cutting. I think that's what you mean Sejah. :)

First you start with a color you want for a base, then remember the lightness. Say it's a lightness of 100. You fill the area you want that color on a layer of it's own. Then you create a new layer over that and here's where the highlights come in. You make a selection, point-by-point lasso, and you make sure the selectin is anti-aliased and has a feather of about 5. For smaller areas of highlighting, like an elbow, you should lower the feather. Now you create a gradient, from foreground color to transperant. Make the transition from foreground to transperant a bit harsh, with an even area of transperancy and color, and with a small fade. Now use a suburst style gradient, with the gradient you just created. Make the foreground color the color you used for the base, plus 40 lightness. So it's 140 lightness now. Now you repeat the process, and use your old gradient you created, with a color of 160 or so. Make a selection smaller and inside the first. Continue until it looks good. :) I use Paintshop, so it might take some fiddling to translate to Photoshop.

On shadowing, I apply a color of about 20 below the original base, then smudge it so it's faded into the base. Then I, on a new layer, do a color of 40 below the base color. It's like the highlight technuiqe except it's with the smudge tool. :)

I'm going to make his suit look more dramatic now. Should have it done soon. :)

[Sejah Haversh]

Holy Crap! That's a lot of work, and uses tools that don't do the same thing in Photoshop....

I think I'll stick to block coliring and then dodging and burning the heck out of everything....

[Jacen Himes]

Ah it's not that much work. You get into a zone, a pattern, where you can do it quickly. Once you have the gradient saved, you can just select the foreground color, select, and fill. :)

Although your method, which you seem to think is easier, looks a lot better than mine. So maybe you've got the right idea.

[Jacen Himes]

Batman touchups. :)

[Sejah Haversh]

Hmmm, mayhaps that's a little too dark...

[Sejah Haversh]

My method of colorign is different. I take a sketch and then drop in the colors as solid blocks int heir desgnated areas. Then, for most all my lighting, shading, and texturing needs, I use the Dodge and Burn tools on different brush settings.

So, I can take a flat image like this:
http://www.boomspeed.com/nehantish/Maensk-Head-color.jpg

And with very little work, turn it into this: (Note, I know the image isn't finished yet. So sue me.)
http://www.boomspeed.com/nehantish/Maensk-Head-2.jpg

I loves my Dodge and Burn. The pencil line around hsi scar will eb erased after the fur is textured and shaded, by the way.

[Lilaena De'Ville]

Both of those links are the same, Sejah. :)

[Sejah Haversh]

*Hint* One is shaded.....

[Sage Hazzard]

You have to scroll down, his clothing is shaded. The face, I don't think has any work on, or maybe it's just not that noticeable.

Wow, that looks great. The only problem I see is that it's hard to change. You are doing all the work on one layer correct? With my approach, I can always turn on a layers "protect transperancy" option and just flood fill with a new color. It's also better if you want secondary lighting, or if you want the highlight to look like it's coming from a colored light source, like a neon sign.

Though your results are impressive. I might give 'em a try! :)

Well, I'm calling quits on this batman pic. It's kind of gotten on my nerves I've been looking at it for so long. :lol So I'll post a new pic when I get it done, in this thread. :)

BTW, Sejah, where'd you learn how to color? Did you get it from a tutorial, or did you just trial and error it?

[Oriadin]

The batman pic looks a lot better I think although I agree that it perhaps looks a little too dark now. Still, an improvment. I look forward to seeing what the next picture you come out with looks like.

[Sejah Haversh]

Heh, I forgot not everybody has a super-high resolution setting on their monitor like I do. That pic shows up with white space to spare at the bottom. I can't work at less than 1280x1024 in Photoshop. I would work at 1600x1200, but, alas, I only have a 17" monitor and would go blind looking at stuff that small.

Actually, that picture already has eight layers, I just flattened them to post it. And I guess I have to say I started to learn Photoshop back in High School, even though I did everything all wrong back then. I really learned it by trying to figure otu how to color like comic books do, and then picked up little bits here and there.

I also have a much older friend who is a professional artist and uses Photoshop a lot, and he gave me a few pointers, but much of my learning has been due to just flat out messing with the tools, and a bit of help from friends and www.polykarbon.com has a few neat little tutorials.

With my layers, if I want to change the color of something drastically, or even minutely, I can adjust the hue and saturation of the color on that layer, making it so I don't have to reselect anything for a color shift. All my lighting is done by hand to ensure that I get a proper and mostly realistic result. I actually do a little too good of a lighting job sometimes, though, and have to remember to sort of cartoon-ify my work on the occasion to compensate for the lack of full reality in my pencil work. Most of my color images though end up with between 15 and 25 working layers. Most layers I ever needed was 48, and that was on a very complex image.

[Morgan Evanar]

You want to change something? Make a new layer. Its the photoshop way.

[Sejah Haversh]

Fun in Photoshop after reading bunches of tutorials, then not obeying them and doing my own thing...

<center><img src=http://www.boomspeed.com/nehantish/Tevit-Ball.jpg></center>

It's Tevit's birthday today. He was fisrt drawn on February 8'th, 2000, and the drawing was finished at apoproximately 3:48 PM and done with a Zebra M-402 mechanical pencil. So, I fugured I'd use him in it, too.

[Ryla Relvinian]

*throws confetti in his fur* Harpy Borfday! :D

I am strangely inspired to go play in Photoshop, yet at the same time, ready to give it up completely.

[Oriadin]

dito

[Sorreessa Tarrineezi]

:lol haven't gotten the hang of Photoshop yet myself....

[Jamel Croko'yn]

Heh, I dont even have Photoshop.

[Sage Hazzard]

Okay... WONDER WOMAN! That's the attached file. Now I don't read her comic, don't know her colors well, and I don't know if I colored her right. But it was a Joe Mad drawing that was cool, so I colored it! :D

I know how you did that Sejah! Simply cloud rendered BG, texture filled table, circular cut-out of another cloud render, drawing inserted in with lowered opacity, lighting and shadow of the ball done through airbrushing! Am I close?! Great work btw. :D

Next drawing I will finish is a Legolas drawing. Perhaps I shall give it to Dasq. :)

[Sejah Haversh]

Wonder Woman looks great, Sage! And, you were pretty darn close on the ball. There was no airbrushing, though, only gradients and some burning. And also reverse pinched the image in the ball, and did some perspective transformation to make the drop shadow.

But, I have got to fugure out how to color like you do, but in Photoshop. That is really professional looking, pal. Good job! One thing, though; the bracelets are silver, not gold.

[Oriadin]

Excellent work there Sage. As Sejah said, really proffessional looking. If you hadnt have told me youd done it I would have belived thats how the drawing had been done originally.

The only thing I might say is that the lighlighted bits on her legs... well, you can see the lines of where the colour changes. Not sure if thats what you meant to do or not, but its something I noticed.

Great work :D

[Sage Hazzard]

Yeah that's cutting, or my variation of it. It's supposed to look like that. Though I have to admit it could use a bit of softening up...

Silver? Blegh... Gold looks prettier. I mean really, she's got the gold top and silver bracelets... wow, that's weird.

Thanks for the compliments guys! :D More to come, more to come...