Coloring Tips?

[Rozume]

I'm working on my coloring and experimenting with techniques. For the image below I followed this tutorial. There are some things that worked for me and there are some things that didn't (the hair for example).

I was wondering if you guys had any tips on coloring?

[truefaiterman]

I... honestly couldn't understand half of that tutorial myself... it looks like a very personal way of working, and if you're aiming for a more technical way of learning how to shade it's not the best idea.

As far as I see, you need to study about light and values, and then colour theory.

For the first, I recommend you Sycra's "Foundations of light and shadow" videos, they cover the basics and work pretty well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q-LZVFZuGE

For colour, the "Turtle walkthrough" of AquaSixio's tutorials covers most of the basics about color theory with easy to remember examples:
http://aquasixio.deviantart.com/art/Tut ... -345468329

My general tips:

-Have a well defined lightsource, otherwise locating the shadows will be... difficult, to say the least.
-Start with wide strokes, defining general shadows and hues, and don't go into little details until waaay later.
-Study anatomy, that way you'll have a good idea about how are the volumes of the face/body/etc, and it will make everything easier to you.

All of that can be applied to the hair that gave you all that trouble: have a clear idea about where are the lights and shadows, and then start with broad stains. Don't paint highlights or little hairs until the end.

[King-sama]

I did some color-over on your drawing....excuse me for going far too much on it XD;

All I wanted to actually say is that I think the best way to color hair is to make these smooth pen (using pen in sai) lines to describe the hair movement

I honestly don't know what else tips to give you that can help...but if you have a question ask me and I will try to help :> wish you the best with coloring!

[Katy133]

There are so many different ways to colour your art. Artists choose their colouring technique because the technique in question is faster/easier/more enjoyable/more suitable for them. It's a very personal choice. And many artists use different colouring techniques for different drawings because of what result they want.

It also depends on what program your using (Photoshop, Paint Tool Sai, Mischief, etc.) and what effect you want (semi-realistic, cell shading, painterly, watercolour, etc.)

From my experience with animation and life art classes, you can try these techniques and tips:

Colouring Techniques
- Method Type 1: Shade/Light/Render the drawing in black and white/greyscale. Then choose what you want the overall colour to be. Paint your chosen colours on another layer. Then change the coloured layer's blending mode (Multiply, Overlay, etc).
- Method Type 2: Choose your overall colour. Paint your chosen colours. Add darker/lighter colours to shade/highlight your subject. Blend the colours together. Then add a colour overlay on another layer on top with an overlay/screen/etc mode (and possibly adjust the opacity).
- There are many other methods. Keep an eye out for tutorials.

Brushes/Colouring Styles
- For blending in Photoshop, try using the brush titled "The Rotating Brush" (190) and set it as your Smudge Tool. You can download this brush along with others here. Blend in a circular "slinky" motion.
- If you are using Paint Tool Sai, look up custom brush settings other artists use that you like the look of. There are lots of examples on Tumblr. If you're using Photoshop, look for custom brushes you can download.
- I've saved some brushes (as well as some painting/colouring tutorials) on one of my Tumblr tags.
- Art Masterlist (lots of resources/tutorials)

Painting
- Tutorials I've collected

Choosing Colours/Overlay Colour
- How to Choose Colours Video (Colour is relative to surrounding colour)
- Tutorial Example
- Gamut Mask Tool (Colour picker helper)
- Tutorials I've collected
- Another tutorial
- Look up different skin tones and study how they look with different lighting.

Hope this helps!