Falcon-
02-05-2006, 06:21 PM
Wrote this up for another forum and figured I'd post it here for anyone who wants.
(1)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/1.jpg
(2)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/2.jpg
(3)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/3.jpg
(4)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/4.jpg
(5)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/5.jpg
(6)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/6.jpg
(7)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/7.jpg
(8)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/8.jpg
(9)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/9.jpg
(10)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/10.jpg
(11)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/11.jpg
---------------------------------------------
Alright guys, here goes kind of a brief overview of my work flow currently, with an emphasis on color. **WARNING** my work is chok full of bad habits and non-traditional techniques... if you want good habits study craig mullins or natural media :]. I still have several different styles when coloring, so I tried to show a little of all of them.
---------------------------------------------
(1) Black and White - Painter7
I usually start off in painter to do any sketching which doesn't involve straight lines. When it involves straight lines photohop has that handy feature of holding down shift and drawing and the line stays at a 90 degree angle.
I've noted a few areas with arrows, the first being the tool that I mainly use to draw with. Under pens, I use the scratchboard tool. Instead of using the eraser tool I just switch back and forth between drawing with white and black, because it gives a cleaner/crisper result than the eraser tool.
The next arrow ( on the left ) points out the line of motion that i based this off of.
(2)Painter 7 still
I continued to fill out the drawing with mainly the scratchboard tool. The other tool I mainly use is the dry ink brush, under the brush section.
(3) Brushes for Photoshop
One of the most common questions I get is brushes that I use. Frankly, it involves a lot of collecting them as I go. Google, or artists websites, deviantart. They all have brush packs. Search for grunge brushes especially. Also, I make some of my own, but those are typically techy type brushes that are repeating straight lines or structure like objects.
Links:
brush creation tutorial:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/7791449/
brushes:
http://www.angryblue.com/downloads.shtml
http://www.pensnpixels.com/downloads.html
(4) Photoshop 7 - Color
K first thing I do is copy the background layer with the lines on it and make it a multiply layer. I then make 3 more layers, one on top, and two below. I then fill of of the ones below a base color to paint off of. On the other layer below, I start putting some general large brush figures down. Also, I start putting down some texture. On this, I used a photoshop general brush that comes with photoshop. Also, sometimes I will use large 200-300 px soft brushes with dynamics on opacity.
(5) Photoshop 7 - Color
Here is another example of priming a picture for coloring. Same steps with the line art and layers. However, this time I'm going to go crazy with textures. I grab tons of my favorite large texture brushes (typically 700px+) and increase the brightness or decrease the brightness of my background color and throw some down on a 60%+ opacity. You can do this manually on another layer, or make a few layers with color dodge and overlay etc if you want.
(6) Photoshop 7 - Rendering
My current style of rendering is based off of detail levels. First start with a low opacity, large, soft brush with the pen dynamics set to opacity. Gradually build up the values in an area. Next, I switch to a hard brush with dynamics set to opacity. Also, make sure you set the spacing to a lower value, such as 5%. I gradually build up an area more, if I want more attention to that area then it is a fast buildup with harder edges. Lastly, I select a hard brush with dynamics set to size. Opacity usually is set around 60% or so. I use this brush to put details in and draw the eye's attention. I also use the 60% opacity size dynamic hard brush for general rendering a lot also, such as on the chest this time... I like the hard edges it gives.
links:
rendering advice from Prometheus ANJ
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/main.php?id=ps55paint
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
(7) Photoshop 7 - Dynamics
The next step will def. offend any digital art purists who shun blending modes. I create a couple of layers with color dodge mode or overlay mode (play around with the modes, I like these two the best myself). Use the large fuzzy brush with opacity dynamics to create a sense of unity of color. Arrows are pointing to the main areas I used this on. Use white or black on overlay modes for a value increase, but it is more interesting to use different colors. For example, I use red at first ont he cape, then a little orange, then even less yellow. Use these effects to draw the viewer's eye such as to the head area where I used the bright blue to be the focal point.
(8) Photoshop 7 - Final editing
Here is an example between before editing and after.
I usually save the image around this time and then flatten it. I then Dodge some of the hightlights (JUST A LITTLE BIT) and burn the shadows if needed. I apply Image->Adjustments->Auto Contrast usually also. I use the sharpen tool to bring out areas I want the user to be drawn too. If there is no lineart, you can usually get away with using the sharpen filter also... but if there is lineart then it will oversharpen the black and leave artifacts and jaggies. Sometimes I use the sponge tool to take away saturation from backgrounds or areas that should not be focal areas, but not much. Next I adjust the Levels and Curves. You don't have to modify every single aspect of them, but it is good to mess around with them and see what you can get. I typically modify 2/3 of the channels in levels and 50% of the time I modify 1 channel in curves. Decide which colors you want to be prominent before adjusting levels or else you will get a conflicting color theme. Image 9 has the settings I used for this image.
(9) Photoshop 7 - Levels and Curves
Self explanitory, if there are any questions feel free to ask in the replies.
(10) Photoshop 7 - Texturing
Sometimes I like to put textures on the final image to give it a certain mood. You can find these textures by just going Google->Wood textures or Concrete textures. Deviantart and other artists websites also have textures to download. Open these textures, select all, and go to Edit->Define pattern. Then whenever you want to add a texture, create a new layer and go to Edit->Fill. From pattern, and select your texture. If there are hard edges where the pattern repeats, use the healing brush the smooth them out a bit. Put your texture layer on overlay or color burn, etc and reduce the opacity a bit (the color blending modes are optional, but usually look best). Erase out where you don't want the texture, or leave it in tact if you want it as a texture over the entire image.
(11) - Photoshop 7 - Non-Lineart Images
Most of the things I have talked about don't matter if you have line art or not. However, there are some techniques that are more benificiant if there isn't a ton of black all over your image. In this image I put a layer on Overlay and used a large soft brush to add extra color saturation. Also, it is usually a really cool effect to use custom made brushes that have a nifty repeating pattern, I'm still trying to get the hang of it. M@ from sijun has very good example of this:
http://mv.cgcommunity.com/ . When there is no lineart there is nothing to hide your brush strokes behind. So be very concious of your level of detail and brush edges. Start out large and soft and build on it. Whenever you have a hard brush the undo button is usually your friend :].
-----------------------------------
Thats it for now guys, I'm sure I'll add a little more later when I have time. Feel free to ask questions or just yell at me for exploiting the photoshop color system.
(1)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/1.jpg
(2)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/2.jpg
(3)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/3.jpg
(4)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/4.jpg
(5)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/5.jpg
(6)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/6.jpg
(7)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/7.jpg
(8)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/8.jpg
(9)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/9.jpg
(10)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/10.jpg
(11)http://comp.uark.edu/~smbarne/tutorial/11.jpg
---------------------------------------------
Alright guys, here goes kind of a brief overview of my work flow currently, with an emphasis on color. **WARNING** my work is chok full of bad habits and non-traditional techniques... if you want good habits study craig mullins or natural media :]. I still have several different styles when coloring, so I tried to show a little of all of them.
---------------------------------------------
(1) Black and White - Painter7
I usually start off in painter to do any sketching which doesn't involve straight lines. When it involves straight lines photohop has that handy feature of holding down shift and drawing and the line stays at a 90 degree angle.
I've noted a few areas with arrows, the first being the tool that I mainly use to draw with. Under pens, I use the scratchboard tool. Instead of using the eraser tool I just switch back and forth between drawing with white and black, because it gives a cleaner/crisper result than the eraser tool.
The next arrow ( on the left ) points out the line of motion that i based this off of.
(2)Painter 7 still
I continued to fill out the drawing with mainly the scratchboard tool. The other tool I mainly use is the dry ink brush, under the brush section.
(3) Brushes for Photoshop
One of the most common questions I get is brushes that I use. Frankly, it involves a lot of collecting them as I go. Google, or artists websites, deviantart. They all have brush packs. Search for grunge brushes especially. Also, I make some of my own, but those are typically techy type brushes that are repeating straight lines or structure like objects.
Links:
brush creation tutorial:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/7791449/
brushes:
http://www.angryblue.com/downloads.shtml
http://www.pensnpixels.com/downloads.html
(4) Photoshop 7 - Color
K first thing I do is copy the background layer with the lines on it and make it a multiply layer. I then make 3 more layers, one on top, and two below. I then fill of of the ones below a base color to paint off of. On the other layer below, I start putting some general large brush figures down. Also, I start putting down some texture. On this, I used a photoshop general brush that comes with photoshop. Also, sometimes I will use large 200-300 px soft brushes with dynamics on opacity.
(5) Photoshop 7 - Color
Here is another example of priming a picture for coloring. Same steps with the line art and layers. However, this time I'm going to go crazy with textures. I grab tons of my favorite large texture brushes (typically 700px+) and increase the brightness or decrease the brightness of my background color and throw some down on a 60%+ opacity. You can do this manually on another layer, or make a few layers with color dodge and overlay etc if you want.
(6) Photoshop 7 - Rendering
My current style of rendering is based off of detail levels. First start with a low opacity, large, soft brush with the pen dynamics set to opacity. Gradually build up the values in an area. Next, I switch to a hard brush with dynamics set to opacity. Also, make sure you set the spacing to a lower value, such as 5%. I gradually build up an area more, if I want more attention to that area then it is a fast buildup with harder edges. Lastly, I select a hard brush with dynamics set to size. Opacity usually is set around 60% or so. I use this brush to put details in and draw the eye's attention. I also use the 60% opacity size dynamic hard brush for general rendering a lot also, such as on the chest this time... I like the hard edges it gives.
links:
rendering advice from Prometheus ANJ
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/main.php?id=ps55paint
http://www.itchstudios.com/psg/art_tut.htm
(7) Photoshop 7 - Dynamics
The next step will def. offend any digital art purists who shun blending modes. I create a couple of layers with color dodge mode or overlay mode (play around with the modes, I like these two the best myself). Use the large fuzzy brush with opacity dynamics to create a sense of unity of color. Arrows are pointing to the main areas I used this on. Use white or black on overlay modes for a value increase, but it is more interesting to use different colors. For example, I use red at first ont he cape, then a little orange, then even less yellow. Use these effects to draw the viewer's eye such as to the head area where I used the bright blue to be the focal point.
(8) Photoshop 7 - Final editing
Here is an example between before editing and after.
I usually save the image around this time and then flatten it. I then Dodge some of the hightlights (JUST A LITTLE BIT) and burn the shadows if needed. I apply Image->Adjustments->Auto Contrast usually also. I use the sharpen tool to bring out areas I want the user to be drawn too. If there is no lineart, you can usually get away with using the sharpen filter also... but if there is lineart then it will oversharpen the black and leave artifacts and jaggies. Sometimes I use the sponge tool to take away saturation from backgrounds or areas that should not be focal areas, but not much. Next I adjust the Levels and Curves. You don't have to modify every single aspect of them, but it is good to mess around with them and see what you can get. I typically modify 2/3 of the channels in levels and 50% of the time I modify 1 channel in curves. Decide which colors you want to be prominent before adjusting levels or else you will get a conflicting color theme. Image 9 has the settings I used for this image.
(9) Photoshop 7 - Levels and Curves
Self explanitory, if there are any questions feel free to ask in the replies.
(10) Photoshop 7 - Texturing
Sometimes I like to put textures on the final image to give it a certain mood. You can find these textures by just going Google->Wood textures or Concrete textures. Deviantart and other artists websites also have textures to download. Open these textures, select all, and go to Edit->Define pattern. Then whenever you want to add a texture, create a new layer and go to Edit->Fill. From pattern, and select your texture. If there are hard edges where the pattern repeats, use the healing brush the smooth them out a bit. Put your texture layer on overlay or color burn, etc and reduce the opacity a bit (the color blending modes are optional, but usually look best). Erase out where you don't want the texture, or leave it in tact if you want it as a texture over the entire image.
(11) - Photoshop 7 - Non-Lineart Images
Most of the things I have talked about don't matter if you have line art or not. However, there are some techniques that are more benificiant if there isn't a ton of black all over your image. In this image I put a layer on Overlay and used a large soft brush to add extra color saturation. Also, it is usually a really cool effect to use custom made brushes that have a nifty repeating pattern, I'm still trying to get the hang of it. M@ from sijun has very good example of this:
http://mv.cgcommunity.com/ . When there is no lineart there is nothing to hide your brush strokes behind. So be very concious of your level of detail and brush edges. Start out large and soft and build on it. Whenever you have a hard brush the undo button is usually your friend :].
-----------------------------------
Thats it for now guys, I'm sure I'll add a little more later when I have time. Feel free to ask questions or just yell at me for exploiting the photoshop color system.