Comment 88560

Parent Comment

Jan 16, 2014, 9:28:37 PM UTC
"It's been a hard road for me since I've spent most of my artistic live avoiding colour all together"

I always avoided colour with any non-digital work. It always seemed like the moment I started using coloured pencils, all the nice b&w work I did would just be annihilated. I have to admit part of the draw of digital for me was just that--since I can hit "save" as much as I want, it is tough to destroy anything by experimenting on it.

"With the Christmas lights thing, you CAN get colour pickers that take an average colour of an area of pixels, but I'm nto sure what version of Photoshop does that. It'd be an option under the eye dropper if you have it"

I still agree with you that it's a crutch; I'll start eyeballing it and see if that helps me. Plus, I use Paintshop. Easier to use, but fewer capabilities.

"It was big surprise to me just how blue it was."

I notice I've started to reframe my thinking about what colour "is." I mean, technically skin for example really is blue under blue light. It's only fleshtone under neutral light. The tone brings warmth into the blue when it mixes with the light, but it's still ... blue. I am not sure why that is hard for me to wrap my head around.

The David Tennant episodes accounted for a lot of my favourites. Season 4 with Catherine Tate is still my very favourite season. I wish I could watch the classic episodes, but I can't seem to find a good deal on them anywhere. The BBC seems to insist on releasing them one at a time instead of in nice packaged sets.

Previously the woman in my picture wasn't merged into shadow like that, but it looked unnatural to me. I'm thinking though that maybe it would look more correct if I used a warm colour and did a very fine/faint backlight like you are suggesting to imply a light from somewhere behind her. That also might bring a tad more warmth into the picture (otherwise, I was going for sterile/stark/cold). Problem before was probably that the backlight was the moonlight again, which didn't make sense to me. She is also a rather rigid/expressionless person, but I'm still wondering if you could give me more tips on your idea of "giving her face more shape"? Because it's not something I excel at, and I need to know it for other characters. I've been reading more comics lately in part for that reason. Comic artists seem soooo much better at that than most artists.

" or make it more serene and give it a more natural look by doing a slightly blue light (cold light) on just the peaks of her, and blend it out gradually and have na equally intence warm shadow to compliment it." Also probably not what I'd want on this image, but an awesome idea which I will keep in mind for future moonlight images! I've been paying more attention to how TV directors handle nighttime lighting, and I notice they have to make all these decisions too. Scenes which are colder/more depressing they leave in all blue, but scenes with more warmth in them they do exactly what you suggested.

Anyway, another cool thing about digital is that there's no reason I can't save a second copy of this image, switch to to greyscale, and re-colour it in a different way to practice/experiment.

Comment ID 88560

[Art] Tron Legacy- Sam Flynn WIP
Jan 17, 2014, 2:32:38 AM UTC on [Art] Tron Legacy- Sam Flynn WIP
Don't force yourself to learn colour in a medium you aren't comfortable with. I'm VERY comfortable using pencil,s but not digital. I started learning digitally and found myself forcing myself to continue. That's not how you learn with art. The learning experience CAN be challenging, but if you can't relax and switch into instinct mode then you'll second guess and not look at your art with a creative view of things. You'll know if you're in the right mindset if you suddenly don't notice anythign around you and eyes stop looking like eyes, and look like a bunch of curves. That's a GOOD thing, and it's your right side of your brain taking the ropes. That's the side that does creative aesthetic. Let it go wild and see what it does. If digital is your preference, start colouring on 1 layer and force yourself to deal with mistakes as they come up. Mistakes can be beautiful. It's a technique a professional concept artist teaches for digital painting so that the creative process remains organic and non sterile. It's so hard with layers as a safety net to do.

The flesh tone blue thing... it's a lot to take in. That's why it's hard. it's why it sometimes has to come down to trial and error- see what works. I could tell you stuff if I knew, but it wont mesh till you try it. I suggest attacking one problem at a time, and making a doable check list of things to learn that are important to you, then isolating that one thing down. Linearts are hard? Find a pro artist's pencils, print it off and practice on that. Nice finishing techniques a problem? Copy an artist you like and credit them. Dont' like the effect of your medium? Find a new one and try it out on something you're comfortable drawing. The whole picture doesn't need to be a change if you're learning.

Giving her face shape... Urgh- I dont' know how to explain that all, sorry. I don't know what your light source is meant to be like, and what her bone structure is. I can say the generic planes of the face, but I think perhaps you'd get more out of it if you did some grey scale studies of faces in different angles or lighting conditions. It's *really* hard for me to give you confident advice on this cause the colour is a major part of this, as well as the face its self. I could only give areas I'd expect a shadow based on what you have here, and the face shape you're portraying may be in accurate to what you want to portray.

A suggestion I CAN give is for expression however Big Smile I LOVE EXPRESSION! You don't have to be a comic artist to learn it though cause comics come in all forms and flavours. I own digitally painted comics done by Alex Ross which are very comic worthy and realistic, and some that are total toony. Knowing what the face does when it feels something is powerful. My expression bible is <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Expression-published-Watson-Guptill-Hardcover/dp/B008V0XN3M/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389925447&sr=1-13&keywords=The+Artist%27s+Complete+Guide+to+Facial+Expression">The Artist complete guide to Facial expression by Gary Faigan</a> I CAN NOT SWEAR BY THIS BOOK ENOUGH. (I hope that html works here, otherwise the link is http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Expression-published-Watson-Guptill-Hardcover/dp/B008V0XN3M/ref=sr_sp-atf_title_1_13?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389925447&sr=1-13&keywords=The+Artist%27s+Complete+Guide+to+Facial+Expression

My advice though? Leave this picture for now and move on for a while. A big thing people have when learning is perfectionism and sometimes driving in the deep end first is not a good idea if you don't have a deadline. I often ditch a partial sketch, doodle, lineart, or coloured image half way or in the process somewhere if it gets too hard, and often I'll go back to it a fresh. Move on for a month or two and swat face shapes/ colour or what ever, and go back to the picture knowing for yourself and *understanding* what needs to be done. That's my advice. Keep all your art in a clear folder, revisit it often, and don't be affraid to abandon art you're not ready to draw. You gave it a really good effort, and you should be proud of it- there's no shame in leaving it for a while at all Smile

Replies

  • Jan 21, 2014, 10:54:09 PM UTC
    "You'll know if you're in the right mindset if you suddenly don't notice anythign around you and eyes stop looking like eyes, and look like a bunch of curves."

    lol. I have a problem with my brain doing that all the time, even when I'm not doing something creative. I never thought to chalk that up to runaway artistry as opposed to some problem with my brain not functioning right.

    "Mistakes can be beautiful."

    That is so true. When I make jewelry, I have a rule that I never discard anything. If I don't like it, I just keep working on it until I do like it. I have literally never discarded a piece in progress. And even discarded elements usually get used later in something else. People ask me my techniques, and I am like "Accidents!"

    Thank you for another great looking reference on facial expressions. While you are at it, I have a request. I am only just getting into comics. I would love to see a list of your favorites. =D

    Thank you again for all of your help and support!