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shingworks — Coloring Walkthrough
Published: 2010-09-26 16:16:26 +0000 UTC; Views: 161632; Favourites: 6068; Downloads: 3111
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Dang so this is the biggest file ever, haha.
This is a quick (?) walkthrough of how I did the colors for the most recent page , using the first panel as an example.
I was going for a more general overview here, more of my thought process than a set of instructions of how to color like I do. Personally I don't think you should color the way I do, I take kind of a long time and anyways, everyone should develop their own style.
If you're one of those people who NEEDS TO KNOW RIGHT NOW what settings and such I use, here is a list for you:
- fill tool
- gradient tool
- default round brush
- default soft brush
- dropper tool
As of March is use Photoshop CS4, and as of last month I use a Wacom Cintiq (before that I was using an Intuos 3)/
I don't use fancy brushes or settings in Photoshop other than messing with opacity and pressure.
And my final color file for this page had these layers:
- Frame + Text
- Lines
- Soli Shading
- Soli Base Color
- Room Details (several layers flattened into one file)
- Room Shadows
- Room
- Base
Google Sketchup, a free and simple 3-D modeling program, is available here .
Hope that satisfies your curiosity
The Meek (c) me
My other tutorials:
Pose tutorial
Expression tutorial
Hand tutorial
Foot tutorial
Ladies tutorial
Fellas tutorial
Face tutorial
Commission Tutorial
Related content
Comments: 527
Everytime I sign on it asks me what I'm doing right now :C
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I adore your tutorials! Thank you!!
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OH MY GOD! You have introduced me to Google Sketchup! You are a GOD! I hate doing backgrounds because I don't want to copy peoples photos, I want to create something new. But I never do! Thanks a lot! You have saved me a ton of aggravation!
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XD No problem! It can be fun too, which is kind of rare for me when it comes to stuff like architecture...
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Great! I look forward to playing with it and then following your tutorial.
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Man, all my coloring always turns out flat. I'm hoping this'll really help me improve, very nicely done. Epic comic btw.
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You know that if you work so well your comic is gonna take a while, don't you?
Just kidding. What I'd really like to know is how you start a page from zero, compose the lineart, what canvas size you use, how you do the frames, etc. I'd really like a tut of yours about that.
But this one will be as useful, too! Well done!
OMG You never forget the chinchilla xDDD
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Yeah, about 40 years :C Its like a self-imposed life sentence. Oh well
The answers, in order are a lot of thinking; a lot more thinking; really big and random (which is bad, I should use something standard but am too lazy to change) (you should use something like Ka-Blam's printing template, they are about standard sized); a template file; etc. I probably won't do a tutorial for that kind of stuff because it is the sort of thing you learn on your own and get your own feel for, and because I'm pretty sure I do it the wrong way
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Alright, I still think you could do something useful as a tut...oh well
BTW, maybe one day you'd be able to hire someone to help you with the comic
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Nice tutorial. I found it easy to follow. The colors look great.
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The idea of a base layer intrigues me...I don't suppose you could also try applying a base layer when colouring a character? Or do you think this method is best suited for environments/backgrounds?
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Well, you can... but remember, your character belongs to a setting no matter what. It doesn't make as much sense to base the setting around the character unless they are uh God or something, I dunno XD Take a picture of yourself outdoors, then the same picture indoors (or at night, or in a club, or whatever) and you'll notice your colors changing to reflect what's around you.
If you want to do a base layer to make it easier to make selections, then definitely do that though. I always keep my flats on a layer below my shades so I can easily go back and make easy magic wand selections without having to deal with the hassle of selecting once I've done some coloring.
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i was waiting for your make something like this! <3
i love google sketchup. it's saved my ass a number of times.
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WOW. well that was amazingly informative. Thanks!
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Very interesting technique blending basic 3D renders with regular line art. I had dismissed the idea of doing the same since seeing it utilized somewhat jarringly in The Red Star comic, but you've nailed it pretty well. I will have to explore this. Thanks for sharing!
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Thank you 
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Yessss.
You make the best tutorials ever.
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You build a model! Are you friggin kidding me!? Yea, that does make sense actually.
j
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Oh Snap, just saw the link *bitch slaps self*
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Wow. Just, wow. That was extraordinarily helpful. I never thought of using Sketchup for designing rooms; that's always been my downfall. I love this whole tutorial and am downloading and saving it for all future reference. <3
Also, I have no clue why I didn't realize Soli was female. She was so androgynous I never really thought about it. But there's no Adam's apple, and now that I look back on the previous pages, I can totally see it.
My world, it has been rocked. XD
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Hmm, I have used google sketch up in class before, but where do you actually get it from?
Thanks for the tutorial man, it's been really useful, your a legend for doing this!
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Thanks for this! I love learning from the best!
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fantastic tutotial, i definitely think this'll help me out with background-ing in general
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Oh my god thank you so much for this! I am balls at background and actually putting the characters in the environment, but that is because I already have so much trouble drawing it that it would make sense for me to also have trouble coloring it.
And the existence of Google Sketchup! A GODSEND ♥ Thank you so much! This is loads, loads more useful than a tutorial about what tools you use and the mechanics of drawing/coloring this because, really, most everything can be boiled down to a very simple set of steps. Thought processes are harder to explain so well!
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That's wonderful! Since you mentioned you were going to do this tutorial, I kept checking back on DeviantArt to see if it was up yet. I've got a hell'a complicated scene coming up, and this has been a great help in getting my confidence up to color it without going insane. Thank you!
Sketchup is awesome, but hopefully people don't take that as being a green light to fail to learn perspective. Though I completely agree that for a complex scene like this, it is a huge help! It's hard to avoid getting lost in the little details sometimes, especially since Sketchup is so danged easy and intuitive to use. I've got to watch that.
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Exactly. I use sketchup as a time saver but I also have several perspective books and hours logged learning it... also sketchup is a lot easier if you know perspective tricks than just going into it cold...
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you use sketchup? that is cheating!!
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Haha, well, sketchup didn't do anything but provide a skeleton for me to draw on. If you think that I cheated to get from the sketchup version to the final product, then I guess I'll have to disagree!
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hahaha just playing with you 
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LOL I fail XD Sorry, I'm kind of on edge... earlier this week someone on this site hella dissed my coloring abilities and I'm still annoyed by that, haha... but yes, sketchup is great for math, I want to find a way to use it in bio classes too
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no you didn't fail, you have win! hahaha
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Oh my goodness, this is a fantastic tutorial! I've been wanting to start a comic of my own forever, and just couldn't figure out how to get such beautiful backgrounds like you have. Definetly going to get sketchup as another tool, thank you for linking it!
Oh, and the Meek is awesome. One of my favorites.
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THE CHINCHILLA YES!!! xD
Thank you so much for all of your great tutorials. This one I know I'm going to read numerous times, colors are not my thing when doing a comic page! So yes, thank you for that
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Very useful tutorial! I will look up Sketchup as I have a hard time being consistent with how I draw rooms and such.
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This is so brilliant. I have to say the first time I looked at the actual comic panel you did this for, I spent a good 5 minutes looking at all the detail and the awesome lighting. There's one thing I don't see here though, and that is how to determine where the lights will be on the objects in the scene. Bounce light? Light bleed? Reflections? Executed brilliantly here, but if I didn't already know how to do them, I might not notice. Do you do some sort of tracing to figure out how light ends up where? Or do you just emphasize certain things on purpose to lead the viewer's eye? (or some of both?)
Anyway, brilliant tutorial. Instant fave. I'll share this with my friends
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Light travels in straight lines (for the sake of my coloring) so I just add colors that way. If there's something large in the way, then it casts a shadow. If there's a shiny object it gets a pure light, if it is a fuzzy object then it gets a duller one. It's pretty straightforward, not a lot of math or thinking involved... coloring is the one part of the process where I can listen to the radio and still do my thing without messing up terribly.
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You know, it always makes me giggle when that Giant Chinchilla always somehow pops up in these xD
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Wow, great pointers. You really know how to make environments seem real.
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Whoa. I totally forgot that sketch-up existed! That's such a fantastic idea! Out of curiosity: do you actually use the model itself and then draw in the rest of the details?
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I take a screencap of the model in the orientation that I want it in, then I put it as a low opacity layer and draw on top of it
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Awesome! I love your use of gestalt to bring out the tonal variations. Some really great subtle color palettes you use, yet by contrast make the scene seem so colorfull. I love your lighting especially in this case too! I use a very similar process though I don't have a keen eye for color XD Something you forget to mention in your tutorial's tools! "Talent" XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD It's not that easy to unify a scene as well as this XD Kudos! And yay for sketchup! I love the 3D warehouse D8 it has saved me many a times! Google's street-view is great for drawing cities as well!
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No talent involved! Only a lot of hard work, haha.
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