Colour: Above or Below Shading? (digital)

[AshenhartKrie]

I've seen a few techniques where you shade everything in greyscale first, and then add the colour in later, usually on top or below the shading layer.
Obviously, it's more of a personal choice. I tend to shade on multiply above my colour (I use CS6 btw), and play around with colours, although sometimes I do just stick with very terrible colours sometimes (like using a darker shade of the same colour instead of messing with reds and blues). However, since my lineart is on a completely different layer, it usually stays the same shade of dark reddish brown, or black if I'm feeling lazy, and it seems a little out of place, especially if I'm going for a softer look without wanting to paint the whole thing.
So, how do you do your shading? I'm curious. A lot of my shading seems very plain in comparison to some stunning pieces, and I'd love to learn new tips and ways to improve on that.

[MaiMai]

One way to play around with shading/coloring in general is to use color correction layers. Since you use CS6, there are several ways you can play around so you can make your colors pop:

http://maiscribble.deviantart.com/art/C ... -500416568

As for your lineart, you can change the color pretty easily by making another layer on top of your lines, clipping it, and then using the paint bucket to try out different colors for your lines without having to paint it; even better, use the gradient tool and make your lines two different colors (or similar colors, one lighter than the other) to give your lines an interesting amount of depth.

It sounds like you just need to experiment more, especially with color.

[AshenhartKrie]

One way to play around with shading/coloring in general is to use color correction layers. Since you use CS6, there are several ways you can play around so you can make your colors pop:

http://maiscribble.deviantart.com/art/C ... -500416568

As for your lineart, you can change the color pretty easily by making another layer on top of your lines, clipping it, and then using the paint bucket to try out different colors for your lines without having to paint it; even better, use the gradient tool and make your lines two different colors (or similar colors, one lighter than the other) to give your lines an interesting amount of depth.

It sounds like you just need to experiment more, especially with color.

I have tried changing the colour of my lines using similar methods, but it always looks a little odd to me. I'll definitely try the gradient suggestion next time I do some sketches.
Thanks c:

[sei.chan]

If I need a bit of a pop of color (specially during a grey scale) I use overlay it doesn't darken it (except sometimes in greyscale) I usually use multiply if its for the color scheme or to create a quick illusion of shadow (even if not placed correctly I just brush a huge spot and blend it) yeah i agree its mostly personal preference.

[AshenhartKrie]

If I need a bit of a pop of color (specially during a grey scale) I use overlay it doesn't darken it (except sometimes in greyscale) I usually use multiply if its for the color scheme or to create a quick illusion of shadow (even if not placed correctly I just brush a huge spot and blend it) yeah i agree its mostly personal preference.

I've found that it's hard to keep the same colour when I overlay. Sometimes blue looks purple? Or sometimes pink, especially if its darker. I suppose that's more because of the base colour - is there more red or blue or green etc.

[truefaiterman]

Just having a layer in Overlay may not be enough: take care of the saturation and the different hues, and play with the opacity. Also, remember that nothing stays in a single colour. Just a face can have multiple reds, oranges, blues...

About colouring your lineart, what I do is blocking the layer's opacity (there's a button for that, which looks like a chessboard) and painting in a darker shade than the shadows, also varying with different colour.

[blankd]

(FYI CS4 user so I don't have accsess to as many tools)

Typically my layer breakdown looks like this:
(Topmost) - Lines
-highlights
-shading
(bottommost) - flats

Sometimes gradients or other effects are shuffled about, but GENERALLY I find that flat/base colors work best on the bottom layer.

Shadows that tend to "look best" are anything but a pure color (eg: black) unless you're going for a really stylized look or the lighting is incredibly strong. The "grey shading" you're referring to is sometimes used to get an idea about what the intensity of the shadows but not necessarily the "color" of the shadows. This technique tends to be used for a more realistic idea for the shadows since it tends to rely on having multiple values. Gradient maps, overlay or even the hue slider can be used to tweak these shadows if you want.

I'm not 100% certain of what you mean by a softer look, would you mind clarifying? (Also your tumblr link is broken)

EDIT: Also you can quickly change your line color by locking opacity (hitting / or clicking the "checkerboard" icon on the line layer) and hitting alt+backspace to quickly color the whole layer with the color you have selected.

[wendybirdx]

I personally do a bit of both, I guess? I have my base colors under a multiply layer of shading, but afterwards, I may use adjustment or overlay layers to make the colors more saturated and varied. While most of my color work tends to be under the shading (at least where I'm really thinking about color and blocking in areas I need), the overlay layers tend to make a pretty big difference! Like in my avi, for example - this is the difference between the colors after finishing the shading work and the colors after painting over that and tons of overlay layers.

To get a softer look with cel shading, I just color the lineart according to the area that's around it. I usually pick colors that are a bit more saturated and go towards the hue of the shadow. I kind of did that for my latest class project to get a kid appeal kind of thing going on, so I think it's pretty noticeable. Maybe you could try that! (The teacher gave us the name to use, by the way. I know. )

[Jate]

When I'm working on a picture and the lineart feels out of place, I'll trace it with whatever tool(s) I used for the colouring (generally oil paint) but a bit darker and bolder than the rest of the piece. It comes out a lot softer than the original inked lineart.

[AshenhartKrie]

(FYI CS4 user so I don't have accsess to as many tools)

Typically my layer breakdown looks like this:
(Topmost) - Lines
-highlights
-shading
(bottommost) - flats

Sometimes gradients or other effects are shuffled about, but GENERALLY I find that flat/base colors work best on the bottom layer.

Shadows that tend to "look best" are anything but a pure color (eg: black) unless you're going for a really stylized look or the lighting is incredibly strong. The "grey shading" you're referring to is sometimes used to get an idea about what the intensity of the shadows but not necessarily the "color" of the shadows. This technique tends to be used for a more realistic idea for the shadows since it tends to rely on having multiple values. Gradient maps, overlay or even the hue slider can be used to tweak these shadows if you want.

I'm not 100% certain of what you mean by a softer look, would you mind clarifying? (Also your tumblr link is broken)

EDIT: Also you can quickly change your line color by locking opacity (hitting / or clicking the "checkerboard" icon on the line layer) and hitting alt+backspace to quickly color the whole layer with the color you have selected.

Well when I draw, I usually have very obvious lineart, which I like sometimes, but it can get a bit jarring. By softer I guess I mean it blends more (like, I paint the whole thing, there's not as many hard lines - I attached an example of each.)
The 'hard line' style I used the curves to tweak the shadow colour until I was happy with it. The 'soft' style was mostly just fiddling with colours.

[blankd]

Do you have a commercial example of art that exemplifies what you are asking?

From the sounds of it if you want this "soft look" it's going to require painting since you have specified you don't want your lines to be that obvious. A possible workaround is to use thinner or softer brush lines but that probably won't give you the effect you're looking for.

Kinda softer lines can be achieved by using different colored lineart but that doesn't really address what you are looking for.

[AshenhartKrie]

Do you have a commercial example of art that exemplifies what you are asking?

From the sounds of it if you want this "soft look" it's going to require painting since you have specified you don't want your lines to be that obvious. A possible workaround is to use thinner or softer brush lines but that probably won't give you the effect you're looking for.

Kinda softer lines can be achieved by using different colored lineart but that doesn't really address what you are looking for.

By commercial you mean something I would buy or? Something I would sell a print of?
I'm not sure I quite understand.

[MaiMai]

I'm assuming blankd means art you've drawn inspiration from that's more professional?

edit; maybe a better way to put that is like, what's an example of what you want to achieve?

[AshenhartKrie]

I'm assuming blankd means art you've drawn inspiration from that's more professional?

edit; maybe a better way to put that is like, what's an example of what you want to achieve?

Oh, I get it now. I don't actually have many examples (not any that I know where they're originally from anyway.)
Mostly I just enjoy playing around with my own style and figuring out what I can improve on.

[blankd]

Oh, I get it now. I don't actually have many examples (not any that I know where they're originally from anyway.)
Mostly I just enjoy playing around with my own style and figuring out what I can improve on.

Yes I'm asking for if there are any professional pieces you are aiming to get a result similar to. It can also provide some valuable scope for what you're trying to achieve such as the practicality/possible time factor if that's what you're aiming for.

If you want a critique I could help, but again I'd need a concrete example of what you're aiming for to best address that. You can also try reverse google image searching the images you're referring to to figure out the source.