Manga-colouring: Kobato

[stharridan]

Original Scan: Chapter 24, page 15
Animanga: Kobato
Character: Hanato Kobato
Time: 2 hours, give or take :T
Notes: For tcg_exchange.

Hnnnnnngggghhh, first time colouring manga. Her skin is too pale/yellowish, shading is horrendous and wtf is up with the haaaairrr? ;A;;;;;

Comments

[stharridan]

Heheh, naww. I hog CS5 just to make icons. Only recently did I decide to try out manga-colouring. ^^" But it's no use having good programs if you can't utilize them well. ;A;;;

I'll have to check the settings for the tablet again then. Because I remember fiddling around with it when I first got it, and the pressure now seems to be a bit off. A Wacom Bamboo Fun, if the model's all that relevant. (Actually wanted it to draw, but I had in mind the tablet that acts like a canvas where you draw on it and the picture comes out ON the tablet screen itself, like the Wacom Cintiq. But it's damn expensive. o.o) Airbrush pen opacity flow - have to remember that.

By the way, how would you say the hair colouring is? Just...threw in random colours and gaussian-blurred them. Didn't know what I was even doing. I was trying to get the look of fiendie's hair-colouring, but ehhh...

Oh, thank you very much! I'll most definitely take a look at those tutorials once I have the time! I am buried under tons of homework right now. >_> (One thing that I never could understand is how you blend the dark colours and the light colours together for the skin. It always turns out horrendous for me.)

[dreamer1789]

One thing that I never could understand is how you blend the dark colours and the light colours together for the skin. It always turns out horrendous for me. What sort of works for me is gradially shading in many layers: first I take a tone that is slightly (not radically) darker than the base tone and put shade everywhere I think is necessary. Then, on another layer, I use again darker shades for overlaping shadows, etc. Some people then like to throw in other colours like purple, blue or orange from a secondary light source (and to give contrast.) It's just a matter of experimenting, until you find something you think looks nice.

Yeah, you might want to reset the tablet settings back to default, and then work from there.

Didn't know what I was even doing. I was trying to get the look of fiendie's hair-colouring, but ehhh... Okay, for short-term goals I suggest: keep to an easier example. I know fiendie's work is dropdead gorgeous and inspiring, and it's neat to set high standards for yourself, but this is your first coloring, so try something easy first and then when you've mastered PS, try and find your own cool sytle? ;)

I think for the hair, it depends how many hours you want to put into it.
The fastest way is cell shading style: either using vectors or just brushes or this, or seperate but grouped layers.
If you don't mind putting loads of time into it, you can actually paint individual strands for a more 'realistic' look.

I'm just putting some ideas here, I'm not even good at this myself. XD So the best advice I can give is: find some vasic tutorials to start out, until you know exactly how a certain setting will have what effect and then play around with you you like. ^^ When you know what you're doing and how it'll impact your work, you can not just recreate it another time, but give it your own twist.
There are hundreds of tutorials and none are wrong, some are just easier, faster than others. ^^

[stharridan]

I actually downloaded some hair brushes a while back, but for some reason, my PS just deleted them from the program. Don't know how that happened, but eh, it did. ._.

Yeah, practice! I must practice! I'm planning on doing like one every weekend. One thing good about that is I can earn cards through tcg_exchange, killing two birds with one stone. \m/

You sound like you're an expert in this! XD Now I know who I should go to to ask questions. x3

By the way, may I add you? You sound awesome, btw.

[dreamer1789]

Lol, actually, if you take a look at my colorings, you'll see that I'm just a novice.
I just look for things, so I sort of know the theory - like I said: unless you practice (which I sadly don't have the time for anymore), that doesn't change much. (Except for light, I can never accurately say where the lightsource does and doesn't hit.) ^^
And here I was concerned I sounded patronizing - which I didn't want, but once I start to ramble... Sure, feel free to add me, thanks for asking. :D