most singular...

PART 1 & PART 2 of the Monster Tutorial.

In this Installment:
1. Coloring/Shading like an addict
2. Finishing;
3. Final Notes
4. Links out

Previously: We left at CURVES

1. Bind the Curve Layer to your Base.
2. Go to the Red Channel, and nudge it a little to the left, about 2 mm = Get RED
3. Go to the Blue Channel, and nudge it a little to the lower right, about 2 mm = GET Yellow. The Red and the Blue curves will give you a Brownish color.

COLORING/SHADING LIKE AN ADDICT

There are MANY ways to shade/color. Some shade with violet, blue, orange, or some undead color. Others take use a darker shade of the base. I uh...kinda use all of the techniques...except for shading with violet.

Use the dropper tool to get the exact base color, then double click the color box in the toolbar. It should take you to the Color Picker.

As you go left, Color gets Saturated (the more color it has, more Red or Blue)
As you go down, Color gets Darker (color has more Black)
You can use the middle slide to Change the color.



When coloring, always think of a light source. Here, I imagine a light coming from the lower right.

1. SKIN & HAIR

Create a Layer above your Base Skin Color. Using your Base Color as a starting point, move to the right and a little down to get a Shade. Or, use the middle Slide to change color. It depends really on how you want to do it. What I did for this skin, I moved right and down, then I moved the middle slide to change the color. Well, if this color doesn't work, you can always lock it (Box thing Lock), then Fill with another color.

For the Hair, I just moved to the Right.





2. SHIRT

This is where picking your background first is useful. You can pick colors from the background so that the figure will look more natural. You can use the dropper tool to pick the initial color, then move the picture down, to the left-side to get a very dull color.





3. IT STILL LOOKS ABNORMAL

Pick a more saturated Shade (avoid the duller colors), whatever color it is. Here I chose orange for the Skin and Hair. Orange/Brown shades are easy to manage then ('sides it looks cute with Green). So we have orangy Hair and Skin. Then, using the Color Picker again, I picked a more Saturated Blue. I also messed with the Background to add texture/color.





4. HIGHLIGHTS AND BORDER

The background is yellowish enough, so yellow highlights are ok. I used very pale yellow highlights. Just imagine the lighter areas of your face (consider the light source) and color!

Here I added the tongue color (Slightly unsaturated Pink). I don't go for red tongues, as usually grab your focus when you have a light-colored pictures.



For bigger panels, though, you need to consider the background color and the light source. Bleeding them, or painting bits of them over your picture makes the figure more natural against the background.

POLISHING WITH CURVES

1. Cleaned a couple of stray, weird lines; Added texture to the background, NOT ABOVE the (color) Layers,so you can see a bit of sparklies. Can skip this. You don't need to do this.

2. Used Curves to Make the Picture Richer/Darker: RGB Channel, Pull it Down a Little.
I did this for the whole Picture. I put the Curves Layer on Top without binding to any layer.

3. Used Curves: Create another Curve Layer just above the background textures with no binding:
RGB Channel, Pull it down a little. That makes the Background Richer/Darker. xD

AND WOAH-LA Hikaru Sparkly! Finished. :))



Your graphic is your own. Do what you think is best to it. Add textures, if you want. Again, I haven't added any textures on the (color) Layers , just the background. The colors look richer because they were adjusted with Curves, not because of any textures. With what you learned in the Curves guide, you can use Curves to Polish or to Adjust the colors to achieve the effect you want. :)

OTHER WAYS TO COLOR / SHADE

1. SHADING USING COLOR BURN

For Super Fast/Painless Shading, Use the Color Burn Tool. You can find it (along with the Dodge and Sponge Tool) below the Paint Bucket/ Fill Tool. It's great for Fast Iconage. I don't really recommend using this when coloring Panels or Banners as the Bigger your Base is, the more color details it has, the better.

The Color Burn for Shading is popular at winnar. Most of the coloring there is done with Color Burn. Although, sometimes they use more Saturated Colors, like the one in this tut. Here's a Winnar Entry by dragonsquee which makes use a lot of Color Burn Tool.

ETA 4/11/2008 (dragonsquee updated): dragonsquee did not make use of mostly color burn in her recent icon batches. However, for the icon batch linked above, my guess is still color burn. :| Of course, my guess my be wrong. =.='
Thanks, atroquinine. :)


2. SHADING USING SATURATED OR DARKER & SATURATED COLORS (kinda like in this tut)

tekla has a very direct approach when it comes to this. Take a look at her Naruto Icons in this entry. Her colors are VERY clean.


3. SHADING USING DIFFERENT COLORS (LIGHT SOURCE / BACKGROUND DEPENDENT)

Look at Loveless Manga. 'Nuff Said. About using violet (or a pink derivative) as Shading: not a fan of it, though it can work perfectly. I have to use this sometime.


You can use all of the approaches, really. I mean, if you followed the tutorial, you already did -_-;;. Warning though, it may get complicated, so if you're using different colors for shading, I recommend putting on the background first if you want the picture to be more er... united with the background. And a little palette planning is always good.

NOTES ON POLISHING and ADJUSTMENT LAYERS:

Adjustment Layers are the easiest way to polish a picture.

1. You can use Curves to Make the colors richer/darker/lighter or to tint them with a certain shade.
2. Colors look dull? You can use Hue/Saturation Layers to make your colors stand out. Adding a bit Saturation usually does the trick. Hue/Saturation dialog box is similar to Curves. There's the Master Channel where everything can be Saturated; and there's the individual color channels. Er, don't use it too much...please.
3. Some colors weirding you out? Selective Coloring can used to change certain colors into something else, or make certain colors stand out. The principles for adjustments here are basically the same with Curves, except it's...ummm more complex.
4. Color Balance is very similar to Curves.
5. I don't even need to explain Brightness/Contrast. Just fiddle with it and you'll know how it works.

MORE LINKS OUT

You can check my DA account for some experiments I've done with coloring.
My icon journal is here: timicons; with mostly colored manga icons.

AND THE DEVIANT@ART GODS WITH NEWBIE-FRIENDLY TUTS:

Amaretti @ Deviant Again. Because I can't mention her/him? enough.

Photoshop Tutorials Gallery @ Deviant

Coloring Tut by Abuze @ Deviant


I'm done with writing tuts. This exhausted me beyond belief. Please sound the alarm for typos and such. :DDD

ETA: Notes on Shading Techniques; Polishing and Adjustment Layers. Added LJ Links. =.=

ETA2 (4/11/2008). Modified and polished the tut for the newbie-ish.

Somehow, someone recommended this tut to somebody/some people. I plan on x-posting this, but I don't like x-posting without checking typos. Also, I want this to be more user-friendly to a beginner.

Thanks to all the peeps who found this useful (and for those who told me they found it useful: thanks thanks ♥).