[Moro]

..and anyone else's opinion, too. I haven't been here in ages, and my friend just informed me that Liquid posts here occasionally. I've always liked Liquid's work, and I was wondering what he thought about my color stuff. I'm wondering if I'm good enough to work on coloring comics as a job, and if not, what I should be working on to improve myself. I don't color comics the "traditional" way with cuts, but I would like to learn. I tried it once but the method seemed really foreign to me and I fell back on what I knew instead (not necessarily the best thing to do if you want to learn something, huh? BAD Steph...BAD)

Well, here's one of my latest Photoshop images:


I've also been doing a lot of marker work lately, so if anyone's interested, all my latest stuff is on this page:
http://www.nethersphere.com/art.html

Any comments are appreciated, on my color, drawings, design...anything.

It's good to be back! This forum is so informative compared to the others I frequent, where everyone just kisses everyone else's ass in fear of hurting someone's feelings. Bah!

[troopa]

maybe you should give me some tips, my coloring is horrible


[This message has been edited by troopa (edited February 18, 2001).]

[Steel Dolphin]

Reply: Chapel
I choose this pic because i wanted to illustrate that there can be smooth graduation of tone and shading without using the airbrush tool. You are right about the flatness though, but it was the only piece i had available at work.

[HiFi_Guy]

I like the overall approach. Like others have said it could use some bolder strokes/cuts to solidify the form and add some visual depth.

An easy area to pick on would be the animal's horns... you have started to define the segments with cuts and the overall form is kept in tact but I can see where you could also add a second set of cuts and some rim lighting to really finish it off.

I think that if you started there and produced results you were happy with you would start to see other areas in the pic that would benefit from the same sort of finishing touches. (I picked the horns since they are non threatening to work on and you would have to worry about second guessing yourself).

Again, overall very nice. Hopefully Liquid! will be able to give you some pointers. Chris's color work is fantastic and he seems to show a keen eye for this type of thing.

Best,
Hi-Fi

[Steel Dolphin]

The job of the colorist is made easier with high quality line art. In order to do a professional job, you must start with a proffessional quality line art work. I am not saying that the original art here is not good, just that part of making the colors sing is having good thick black lines, and strokes from the original art. Remember to create an alpha channel with the orignal art.

The other suggestion i might offer is to not rely as much on airbrushing solid colors, but uisng the airbrush for highlights. The polygonal marquee is my best friend when i color, and i tend to use a few extra layers for high lights and shadows. Layer masks are also useful, for smooth transitions of color and shading. I find that using the air brush softens things far too much and the image color becomes too blurred.

Here is a quick sample i did up...the original pencils were done by someelse, but she was redrawn in illustrator and colored in PS5.5 The final line art isn't pro quality but maybe this post will help.

Keep on coloring...you'll get there!

[Light]

Moro: I don't know anything about coloring but looks good to me. You might work on the clouds more.

[Chapel]

Moro: Liquid! is hammered with deadlines right now... so you get me instead. Not that I compare, but I know a little about coloring. So on with the crit..

I think you are off to a good start. Your style is reminiscant of Dreamwave studio's manga style coloring they do on their comics. I think the piece in general looks a little too soft. You need to put some more hard edges and show more contrast between the light and dark areas. http://www.seegmiller-art.com has a little run down on edges you should take a look at. I think the general technique you are using looks promising, but if you want to pursue comic coloring keep in mind you have to do around 2 pages a day. One thing that makes "cuts" so common is that they are quidk for rendering. I like the cloud effect and the spell effect on the hand. Those look really cool. I think the ground should fade to a darker tone as it goes out into the horizon and not leave so much of an edge. Other than you make great color choices in your pics. I love the different textures you use in them as well. I think if you get the edges thing down you would do good.. plus keep in mind the speed factor.

By the way, this is not your best pic. I think some of the other pieces on your site are much better. Also, you need to try some sequentials before anybody can make a good evaluation.

Good luck.

Steel Dolphin: I don't understand why that pic was posted. Its too flat and no form was added by the colors. And like you said.. pro quality linework does help.

[This message has been edited by Chapel (edited February 19, 2001).]