Do my lines and coloring look better (update)

[NaSetsu]

I did my own correction over your art, to show what a tablet can do. Since you have a mouse, definitely follow LWR's advice regarding how to block in shadows and shading in cel-shade style. Like they said, your base drawing itself is good and you just need to learn more color basics and how to use your tools more effectively.

For my version, I tried to have something closer to your original palette, but also to show how soft-shading can be used more effectively (especially if you ever get yourself a tablet). You can see that I blended a lot, but you can still make out the form of the ruffles in the skirt. It doesn't look like a big mass of black like it did originally. I made some highlights on the skirt to make it pop out and add dimension as well. Overall, you can make out the edges of the shading on both the skin and clothing; the shaded parts are softened, but they aren't blurred out completely (this is done using a watercolor brush for blurring).

Color wise, you can see that I'm using a dull color, but it's more saturated than the straight up black/gray that you had going on before. You can still read it as black, but I avoided using straight up black and instead went for a super desaturated pink (if you use the eye drop tool you can get most of the base colors I used in this quite easily. Sorry I didn't make a swatch).

One thing to notice is the color of the lineart. I went over your lines again with my pen tablet using black first, but then I colored the lines a dark dark, brownish pink color. This really heightens the soft-cging technique because black lines tend to be very harsh and contrast too much against soft coloring.

On the skin, you can see how much the shaded parts contrast with the lighter parts of the skin. This is to give the head more dimension.

For hair, I guess the best way I can explain what I did was using this tutorial by Rosuuri: http://rosuuri.deviantart.com/art/Hair- ... -397073984. I didn't follow it exactly, but I didn't have to. The point is that you can still make out the strands of the hair despite it being dark. With highlights, you can airbrush parts of the hair with a lighter color so it can pop out more.

Eyes are just kind of a matter of preference. I basically did my own thing and you'll have to experiment to see how you want your eyes to look. I guess the only difference is again, I don't use straight up black and the eye color pops out more because I'm using slightly more saturated colors.

That's all, I hope this makes sense! I don't know what your money situation is, but honestly a tablet is a really, really, REALLY good investment if you're going to keep pursuing digital art. Yes, you can make do with a mouse and probably make terrific art with it, but since you're planning to offer commissions, I will tell you right now that a tablet will help you to work faster.

To tell you the truth that's kind of what I've been trying to save up to, but I don't earn allowance and so on. Nor can I work so there for I'll have to use my mouse and the commission money to get the tablet. But aside from that, what do you think about the new one I just did. I looked at my extremely old version to the most recent one. I'm not done with the jacket, skin, skirt, bow and probably not the hair I also plan to recolor the line art. But I used LWR's color pallet for a short reference on how I should do the colors and then I made sure it wasn't to close to black. Did I do good? I don't want to finish it and it doesn't look good.

[NaSetsu]

Oohh, thank you. I hope you don't mind but I would like to keep your color pallete in my computer for future refrence.

No problem. That's why I kept those color swatches on there for you, so you could grab them easily if you wished. Looking forward to seeing your next improvement!

What do you think about my new one?

[NaSetsu]

Oh and another version I did with the original color pallet somewhat.

[LateWhiteRabbit]

What do you think about my new one?

Oh, much better. The bottom edge of the white shirt is starting to get a little too soft - specifically the shadowed curve on the bottom right of the shirt - it makes the material look thick. A good rule of thumb when decided when to use sharp-edged shadows versus soft-edged is to think about the material that is creasing. A white linen dress shirt is going to crease sharply, while a thick sweater will have soft round creases. Also - the closer a surface receiving shadow is to the light occluder (blocker), the sharper the edge of the shadow will be. You can test this yourself by holding something like a pencil or box over a table and moving it up and down from the surface of the table and watching what happens. In practice, that means that wear the jacket hangs close to the shirt, those shadows should be crisper (which you've already done to a degree!). The shading on the chest of the shirt looks perfect.

Don't stress too much over those things right now, just keep them in mind. It all comes with practice.

Oh and another version I did with the original color pallet somewhat.

Your hair has better shadows and definition in this one. It has a better contrast and lets the inside shadowed part of the hair stand out clearly from the hair on top.

So go ahead, you're on the right track!

[NaSetsu]

Oh, much better. The bottom edge of the white shirt is starting to get a little too soft - specifically the shadowed curve on the bottom right of the shirt - it makes the material look thick. A good rule of thumb when decided when to use sharp-edged shadows versus soft-edged is to think about the material that is creasing. A white linen dress shirt is going to crease sharply, while a thick sweater will have soft round creases. Also - the closer a surface receiving shadow is to the light occluder (blocker), the sharper the edge of the shadow will be. You can test this yourself by holding something like a pencil or box over a table and moving it up and down from the surface of the table and watching what happens. In practice, that means that wear the jacket hangs close to the shirt, those shadows should be crisper (which you've already done to a degree!). The shading on the chest of the shirt looks perfect

Don't stress too much over those things right now, just keep them in mind. It all comes with practice..

Ah I never recognized that, must have been when I had the density and blending a little higher. I was trying to blur it in a little because I had mixed it in with a purple and blue, but as I said before. I had raised the density and blending up, I think I raised up a little to high though. But it's good I got the chest shading done pretty well, I'll get rid of the darker shaded hair as well and keep with the original colors. Though I will still darken it, I will keep in mind that it shouldn't be too dark to where you can't see the lines of the hair in the back.

Oh and another version I did with the original color pallet somewhat.

Your hair has better shadows and definition in this one. It has a better contrast and lets the inside shadowed part of the hair stand out clearly from the hair on top.

So go ahead, you're on the right track![/quote]



Oh and does this look a little better concerning the crispiness of the shirt, and the hair a little darker but still having definition? I think the hair is a little better because when I went to go finish the jacket,(still not finished) the wand tool picked up the hair lines which I would guess is a good thing..

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Oh and does this look a little better concerning the crispiness of the shirt, and the hair a little darker but still having definition? I think the hair is a little better because when I went to go finish the jacket,(still not finished) the wand tool picked up the hair lines which I would guess is a good thing..

Yep, the shirt looks better now, and your colors look like they are all on the right track. Full speed ahead!

A few general coloring tips for ease of life:
1. Make sure you are 'flatting' different objects with a base color on separate layers. (Google 'flatting colors' or look it up on Youtube for the breakdown of the practice. I recommend THIS ONE myself - it is for Photoshop, but SAI has all the same tools used, and most of them are even the same name. It also demonstrates the lasso selection and fill method I mentioned earlier.) This will let you select whole areas again like the hair or jacket, or skin or skirt without have to go back and reselect or separate them each time.
2. Having the base colors each on their own layer will let you select them and then use the HSV Slider in SAI (Hue, Saturation, and Value) to quickly experiment with how different colors would look without having to redo anything.

[NaSetsu]

Oh and does this look a little better concerning the crispiness of the shirt, and the hair a little darker but still having definition? I think the hair is a little better because when I went to go finish the jacket,(still not finished) the wand tool picked up the hair lines which I would guess is a good thing..

Yep, the shirt looks better now, and your colors look like they are all on the right track. Full speed ahead!

A few general coloring tips for ease of life:
1. Make sure you are 'flatting' different objects with a base color on separate layers. (Google 'flatting colors' or look it up on Youtube for the breakdown of the practice. I recommend THIS ONE myself - it is for Photoshop, but SAI has all the same tools used, and most of them are even the same name. It also demonstrates the lasso selection and fill method I mentioned earlier.) This will let you select whole areas again like the hair or jacket, or skin or skirt without have to go back and reselect or separate them each time.
2. Having the base colors each on their own layer will let you select them and then use the HSV Slider in SAI (Hue, Saturation, and Value) to quickly experiment with how different colors would look without having to redo anything.

Sounds cool, and the tutorial helped a lot. I think I have pretty much finished the character but just wanted to make sure, in case there is anything you spot that could be done better. I know there's probably plenty I could do better, but for mouse wise what do you think.....?

[LateWhiteRabbit]

Sounds cool, and the tutorial helped a lot. I think I have pretty much finished the character but just wanted to make sure, in case there is anything you spot that could be done better. I know there's probably plenty I could do better, but for mouse wise what do you think.....?

Much, much better! Good job. I would use higher contrast highlights on the skirt and jacket if you are planning on keeping them that dark, but otherwise, excellent improvement. Make sure you are coloing on a 50% gray background. It will really help keep you from going too dark or too light.

[NaSetsu]

Sounds cool, and the tutorial helped a lot. I think I have pretty much finished the character but just wanted to make sure, in case there is anything you spot that could be done better. I know there's probably plenty I could do better, but for mouse wise what do you think.....?

Much, much better! Good job. I would use higher contrast highlights on the skirt and jacket if you are planning on keeping them that dark, but otherwise, excellent improvement. Make sure you are coloing on a 50% gray background. It will really help keep you from going too dark or too light.

Okay I'll fix the jacket and skirt and make sure to keep with the 50% gray background, thank you for all of your help I'll make sure to ask you if I have any other questions concerning my art.