Tutorial
And here it is... the long awaited tutorial of how I color and stuff. Note: I only use a mouse and Photoshop 7 for coloring, so... hopefully it translates through. And yes, this is rather image heavy.
We are turning this->
into this->
or this->
♔First, of course, we pick our image. I chose this pic and am doing it in its entirety. Crazy? It's what you guys asked, and I'm determined to do this for those who requested it. Plus, I think it just might cover enough of what I do.
Now then! Since the image itself is pretty much cleaned out, I start out by going to Layer < New < Layer and on the little window that shows up, I switch the Mode to Linear Burn to get an "oomph" to my base colors from the get go.
The only thing I change during this phase on my brush is its size to fit within the lines. I work on C.C. first with a little bit of Lelouch on his eyes; her gold eyes, then her skin. Since C.C. is noted to be rather pale compared to others, I gave her a skin tone that befitted that. If one wants to easily solve this color thing, pick up the Eye Drop tool, get an official image, and use the Eye Drop tool to take a color from that picture.
C.C. probably doesn't look all that dark, right? Don't worry; up against Lelouch, she'll look it.
♕Once I get the base colors down, I make a New Layer, set it on Lighten, then drag it below the Linear Burn layer and set the opacity to either 60% or 70%. Why?
To get this! You can see C.C.'s skin and eyes, and Lelouch's eyes are a bit brighter, right? Once I set a base color down, I usually go back - with the same color I'm using currently, and go over the lines and/or gray areas of the area I colored on the Linear Burn layer. This is to get the effect of that brightness and to add more color the pic.
Then we move onto her beautiful, long, bright emerald hair and do the same routine from the last two.
See how C.C.'s popping up more than Lelouch? Yeah.
♖At this point, I might just put his base colors and stuff on separate layers. In other cases, people keep layers separate for each individual thing (e.g. hair; skin; eyes, etc.) - I do it, too, but as of late, I keep stuff on one layer if I can.
Now, onto Lelouch! The one thing I always worry about Lelouch is his hair. It borders on black, but animators put it to brown or with a hint of purple. In this case, I put the color marker in the purple section and wander around the blackish or grayish areas for his hair. Once I have my color, I make a New Layer, then make it Vivid Light for his hair. This layer also goes under the Linear Burn layer. That's just my preference, though, and a base to put on when I do the most fun part of coloring. 8D
Then we add in his skin.
He's getting just as lively as C.C. Good, good.
♗For Lelouch's bits o' clothing you can see, I make a New Layer, put that on Screen, and again, this is just a preference. This layer can be any of the light options, depending on what you want. So, put that layer on top of the Vivid Light layer of Lelouch's hair, but below C.C.'s Linear Burn layer.
!
Like so.
Then I make a New Layer, set that on Linear Burn with the Opacity at 70%, place it on top of C.C.'s Linear Burn Layer, and fill in the color for that.
!
See how I went a little reverse on my Linear Burn < Lighten/Screen process? It can go either way, 'cause I'm sporadic like that and sometimes forgets things.
♘ NOW FOR THE FUN PART! SHADING. More volume and some nice lighting and shadowing can really turn up a pic.
First, we find a light source. Sometimes that's a given since the artist puts in those gray shading on the page for their own shadows. Since the event is in the Sword of Akasha, with lights everywhere, the shading and lighting get a bit more complicated, but I simplify it by just following where the shading already is. In either case, I'll indicate the light source.
Arrows are where the light would hit and go at. There's some lighting on C.C., but the fact that Lelouch is standing in front of her of the indicated lights would have more shadows cast on her, as he's blocking some of the light. Remember, shadows cast away from the light.
Now, we make a New Layer, put that on Multiply, then finally change the settings of my Brush. I pick a softer brush option, then change the opacity of the brush to 60%.
Just so you know where it is if I wasn't clear enough. Then we move onto the actual shading.
!
Notice how, at the top panel, C.C.'s a bit darker? That's the result. The 60% Opacity of the brush gives me the option of whether or not to go things over again to make them darker. But we're not done yet!
Go to Filter < Blur < Gaussian Blur and the Radius is around 6.5 for this bit. And you get this:
See how the lines between the shaded and non-shaded parts are soft? That's how I get my effect finally got to it, you slow ass. Repeat this process for the other shaded parts on Lelouch and C.C.
And there's the first layer of shading on C.C.'s skin. I usually add a second shading to everything I do, depending on what I'm shading over, to which I lower the size of my brush for those more precise shadow linings. I only just gave Lelouch one layer of shading on his hair, since it's dark enough.
♙The thing I usually top coloring off is with putting in some light streaks in the eyes and other features. So open up a New Layer and set it to Lighten and make sure it's on top of all the layers you created thus far. Put your brush back to normal and set it at a size 1 point.
They're jagged now, but go to Gaussian Blur again, set the Radius to around 2.5 but below 3, and you'll get that softer light. After that, I put in some dots here and there as subtle highlights.
♚
Bada bing, bada boom.
(♔♕♖♗♘♙♚♛)NOW THIS ONE IS VERY VERY OPTIONAL! We could just leave this as is, but it's kinda boring like that, plus - we know where they're at at this point in time. This'll just give more feeling to the pic.
Make a new Linear Burn layer. This is for the background of the Sword of Akasha place; given that the area's in perpetual twilight, this goes for some orange/yellow colors. Place this layer below C.C.'s Linear Burn layer, color it in, then duplicate it. Set this layer's opacity to 70%, then drag it behind its original layer, go to the Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to about 20-25. Duplicate the original layer again, keep it there, change its opacity to 60 or 70%, then change it to Screen.
You'll get this:
OHHHHHHHHH. MYYYYYYY. GOOOOOOOOOOOD. THIS TOOK FOREVER. ALL OF LAST NIGHT AND MOST OF THE DAY. B-But I hope you guys liked. ;; I tried really hard to explain my stuff and hope it was understandable (I fail at explaining shit) and to really make this one a good one for everyone, so...
orz /goes to find something to eat
We are turning this->
into this->
or this->
♔First, of course, we pick our image. I chose this pic and am doing it in its entirety. Crazy? It's what you guys asked, and I'm determined to do this for those who requested it. Plus, I think it just might cover enough of what I do.
Now then! Since the image itself is pretty much cleaned out, I start out by going to Layer < New < Layer and on the little window that shows up, I switch the Mode to Linear Burn to get an "oomph" to my base colors from the get go.
The only thing I change during this phase on my brush is its size to fit within the lines. I work on C.C. first with a little bit of Lelouch on his eyes; her gold eyes, then her skin. Since C.C. is noted to be rather pale compared to others, I gave her a skin tone that befitted that. If one wants to easily solve this color thing, pick up the Eye Drop tool, get an official image, and use the Eye Drop tool to take a color from that picture.
C.C. probably doesn't look all that dark, right? Don't worry; up against Lelouch, she'll look it.
♕Once I get the base colors down, I make a New Layer, set it on Lighten, then drag it below the Linear Burn layer and set the opacity to either 60% or 70%. Why?
To get this! You can see C.C.'s skin and eyes, and Lelouch's eyes are a bit brighter, right? Once I set a base color down, I usually go back - with the same color I'm using currently, and go over the lines and/or gray areas of the area I colored on the Linear Burn layer. This is to get the effect of that brightness and to add more color the pic.
Then we move onto her beautiful, long, bright emerald hair and do the same routine from the last two.
See how C.C.'s popping up more than Lelouch? Yeah.
♖At this point, I might just put his base colors and stuff on separate layers. In other cases, people keep layers separate for each individual thing (e.g. hair; skin; eyes, etc.) - I do it, too, but as of late, I keep stuff on one layer if I can.
Now, onto Lelouch! The one thing I always worry about Lelouch is his hair. It borders on black, but animators put it to brown or with a hint of purple. In this case, I put the color marker in the purple section and wander around the blackish or grayish areas for his hair. Once I have my color, I make a New Layer, then make it Vivid Light for his hair. This layer also goes under the Linear Burn layer. That's just my preference, though, and a base to put on when I do the most fun part of coloring. 8D
Then we add in his skin.
He's getting just as lively as C.C. Good, good.
♗For Lelouch's bits o' clothing you can see, I make a New Layer, put that on Screen, and again, this is just a preference. This layer can be any of the light options, depending on what you want. So, put that layer on top of the Vivid Light layer of Lelouch's hair, but below C.C.'s Linear Burn layer.
!
Like so.
Then I make a New Layer, set that on Linear Burn with the Opacity at 70%, place it on top of C.C.'s Linear Burn Layer, and fill in the color for that.
!
See how I went a little reverse on my Linear Burn < Lighten/Screen process? It can go either way, 'cause I'm sporadic like that and sometimes forgets things.
♘ NOW FOR THE FUN PART! SHADING. More volume and some nice lighting and shadowing can really turn up a pic.
First, we find a light source. Sometimes that's a given since the artist puts in those gray shading on the page for their own shadows. Since the event is in the Sword of Akasha, with lights everywhere, the shading and lighting get a bit more complicated, but I simplify it by just following where the shading already is. In either case, I'll indicate the light source.
Arrows are where the light would hit and go at. There's some lighting on C.C., but the fact that Lelouch is standing in front of her of the indicated lights would have more shadows cast on her, as he's blocking some of the light. Remember, shadows cast away from the light.
Now, we make a New Layer, put that on Multiply, then finally change the settings of my Brush. I pick a softer brush option, then change the opacity of the brush to 60%.
Just so you know where it is if I wasn't clear enough. Then we move onto the actual shading.
!
Notice how, at the top panel, C.C.'s a bit darker? That's the result. The 60% Opacity of the brush gives me the option of whether or not to go things over again to make them darker. But we're not done yet!
Go to Filter < Blur < Gaussian Blur and the Radius is around 6.5 for this bit. And you get this:
See how the lines between the shaded and non-shaded parts are soft? That's how I get my effect finally got to it, you slow ass. Repeat this process for the other shaded parts on Lelouch and C.C.
And there's the first layer of shading on C.C.'s skin. I usually add a second shading to everything I do, depending on what I'm shading over, to which I lower the size of my brush for those more precise shadow linings. I only just gave Lelouch one layer of shading on his hair, since it's dark enough.
♙The thing I usually top coloring off is with putting in some light streaks in the eyes and other features. So open up a New Layer and set it to Lighten and make sure it's on top of all the layers you created thus far. Put your brush back to normal and set it at a size 1 point.
They're jagged now, but go to Gaussian Blur again, set the Radius to around 2.5 but below 3, and you'll get that softer light. After that, I put in some dots here and there as subtle highlights.
♚
Bada bing, bada boom.
(♔♕♖♗♘♙♚♛)NOW THIS ONE IS VERY VERY OPTIONAL! We could just leave this as is, but it's kinda boring like that, plus - we know where they're at at this point in time. This'll just give more feeling to the pic.
Make a new Linear Burn layer. This is for the background of the Sword of Akasha place; given that the area's in perpetual twilight, this goes for some orange/yellow colors. Place this layer below C.C.'s Linear Burn layer, color it in, then duplicate it. Set this layer's opacity to 70%, then drag it behind its original layer, go to the Gaussian Blur and set the Radius to about 20-25. Duplicate the original layer again, keep it there, change its opacity to 60 or 70%, then change it to Screen.
You'll get this:
OHHHHHHHHH. MYYYYYYY. GOOOOOOOOOOOD. THIS TOOK FOREVER. ALL OF LAST NIGHT AND MOST OF THE DAY. B-But I hope you guys liked. ;; I tried really hard to explain my stuff and hope it was understandable (I fail at explaining shit) and to really make this one a good one for everyone, so...
orz /goes to find something to eat