Basic computer coloring lessons with vrm1979

[vrm1979]

Hello!

I'm Verónica Rosado, a comicbook colorist from Spain. I'm going to be a mentor of basic computer coloring lessons, mostly comicbook oriented, but the knowledge can be applied to illustrations and pinups too. I'm not a friend of theory so, the lessons will be more oriented to the observational and intuitive side of the craft. I've never done this as a teacher but I will do my best to make the classes funny and eficient for the pupils learning process.

Now what I ask all the mentees to do is to introduce themselves and tell what do they expect from these lessons.

The mentees are:
ElementalMist
immortalindigo
jdsantiagojr
Pantro
serum
corky13
enrigo
Xeom
thek

Here you have a link to the first assignment. I want you to get this picture and color it digitally, with your current knowledge, just do your best and post the results when you have finished it:
http://nachomon.deviantart.com/art/Rockers-Design-for-Avi-52728281

Once all of you have uploaded the result I will do a criticism round for all of you and we'll start lessons from there. I have to check what knowledge you have first. No restrictions, just do it the best way you know currently and post it when finished. I will get back to all of you as soon as I can with suggestions and critics (Monday next week at the latest). Monday next week I will post next assignment with first lesson. Good luck and enjoy the journey! ;)

[corky13]

Hi , I am Seth Nemo / David Satzinger from Austria and currently studiing graphic Design and Illustration in Berlin , Germany. I am 20 years old and I do concept art and illustrations. Everything without colors. I am kind of afraid to use them and I am not very patient also. =(

I hope to shrug some of the fear of and gain some patience with colors. Also I wouldl ike to learn all the basics and how to apply believable textures to my paintings (as I want to go more into the illustration-sector in the end.) And i want to find some joy in using colors so i will get back to them even without having to do.

I will post the paintid girl later this evening =)

So , I did the best i could with my very sparce knwoledge of colors and painting. took me about an hour. Was kind of a pleasure to do somehting comic-style for once.

[jdsantiagojr]

Hi! My name is John from New York. I currently live in Phoenix, AZ. I stopped drawing for a long time and just started up again, I really want to do fantasy art (illustration & concept artwork.) Unfortunately I do not know how to ink or color my images using computer, that is what i am hoping to learn.

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[thek]

Hi all!

First, thankyou Veronica for giving up your time to share you knowledge and talent, it's very much appreciated :)

I'm a multimedia/web designer working for a design consultancy near London. I've always loved art and design and so I've decided to take the plunge and seriously attempt to improve my drawing and digital painting skills. I've always been of the mind that there's no greater skill than being able to capture in some kind of tangible form, the images you see in your mind, to be able to record your surroundings and to output your memories. I've always had a problem colouring, it's like I don't know where to start so I start splashing down fills, and then using different tones of that colour for shadows and highlights with the round brush which ends up being a very boring, and messy image. With these lessons I hope to be able to colour my sketches to give them more life, and to use this gorgeous wacom intuous3 that I spent my hard earned money on to it's full potential!

[thek]

I think that looks really good corky, especially the way you made the stockings look. Here's my attempt - when I started I had an idea of the way I wanted it to go but couldn't really pull it off:

[enrigo]

Hi, my name is Thien Warder, I'm 19 years old. Currently I'm living in Nova Scotia Canada, and I'm trying to get into art school next year. I'm very interested in illustration and concept art, the type of sci-fi, fantasy and basically all the cool stuff :rocker:.

I'm very limited with digital painting skills, although I feel that I can do an exceptional job in traditional painting.

I would like to learn the many aspects and basics of digital painting especially the more loose painting way, I like comic art too but I want to learn how to do both the style.


This is my attempt in coloring.

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[enrigo]

Very nice color for the golden part there Thek, it really stands out.

[ElementalMist]

Hello everyone!

I live in SLC, UT with my husband of just over a year. I am currently going to school for Game Art and Design but I feel I need a lot of help in many artistic aspects. I am determined to one day be able to finally take all the random things floating around in my head and get them to look correct on the paper. I pretty much only do things in b&w because I am horrific with shading and cannot really figure out how to get the color to work. I am also hoping to be able to do Sci-Fi, Fantasy etc art and want to be able to become a concept artist.

It is cool to see others here all trying to learn. Good luck to all of you in your various goals. =^_^= Last of all Thank you to our Mentor, Veronica, for taking time out to help us.
(I'll post the pic later, I have been sick and the net was down until just about 5 min ago.)

[Xeom]

Well I'm 20 and live in south Florida. Currently doing community college and hoping to attend a atelier school later on. I draw everyday(nowadays =P) and am always looking to improve.

Heres the first assignment!

EDIT: And of course thanks to veronica For taking the time to help us improve.

[Pantro]

Hi everybody, first of all, I want to thank you Veronica, for taking the time to teach us.

Well, my name is Irving N. Méndez, I am 18 years old and live in Mexico. I enjoy drawing a lot, and I want to make a living of this, so I want to learn how to paint in photoshop.
I expect to learn better and maybe faster ways of painting and I want to improve my knowledge of photoshop, something like brushes. I also want to learn how to prepare my line art to paint it in the computer.

Here is the first assignment. :lounge:

[serum]

Hello all, I'm Kevin, originally from San Diego, now living in Japan, interested in digital painting, and this class looks like a lot of fun. Thank you, Veronica, for taking the time to teach us.

[vrm1979]

wow! I'm amazed how fast have you done this! You really have interest in learning :)

Well, I'm going to start saying what I like from each piece and after that I will give a general critic for all of you. Are you ready? ;)

jdsantiagojr: good flats, you espect the lineart limits. You are very perfectionist and you are afraid to fail, go wild with contrast, and don't color the lineart, leave it pure black. I will tell you when and how to do color holds later :)

Xeom: You like homogeneous colors, you'll see that this can be a good point when setting mood to a page or illustration but you need to achieve a good use of contrast to make the whole piece look interesting. Don't be afraid to use contrast.

Pantro: The same as Xeom about the color choice ;)

Serum: You are coherent, all clothes have been rendered with its lights and shadows and all flesh remains unrendered, you haven't mixed parts of the flesh rendered with other parts unrendered, you have maintained coherence with the diferent surfaces. You'll see that it can be useful when you are working under a very tight deadline, you sometimes have to choose what is more important to render with more detail and what's not so important. Keep in mind that rendering the flesh use to be more important then the clothes, usually. If you have time is better to render the whole piece, of course :)

Corky13: You are confident with the use of light, I have noticed that you have enrisked yourself and have used a secondary light, that usually helps to give volume to the piece. It's good to experiment and enrisk, I like that :)

enrigo: Good use of contrast in the whole piece, you are not afraid of contrast at all :)

Thek: You feel confident using contrast when rendering clothes, very good :)

Well, here come the general crits:
The most important thing is that you don't see the character as a whole block, you render the clothes and the flesh separately and usually the shadows don't follow the same path, you have to see the whole figure as a block. If you look a photo or yourself in the mirror, or other people, you'll see that we are a block with volumes and shadows and lights adapt to the shapes we have, they don't go in one direction for clothes and another for flesh, the light treats an entire object in the same way. I'll be working on a couple of paintovers later. After that you'll repeat this exercise again :)

Another crit I have is the color choice mostly for the flesh, but I prefer to focus on volume first. The color choice is just a matter of observation. We'll get into this when you understand the volumes :)

Well, I have to receive the colored piece from ElementelMist and immortalindigo, remember that you have until Monday next week to upload it, ok? :)

You are doing great! Thanks for your hard work, this is going to be a great experience for all of us indeed!

[vrm1979]

I'll be working on a couple of paintovers later. After that you'll repeat this exercise again :)

well, rather than doing a paintover I will block the lights and shadows in a quick paint for you to see how do the shadows and lights act. I'll post it soon :)

[vrm1979]

Hey, here you have the sketch to show how light acts over a surface as a block. Observe this skecth and observe what you've done. Now I want you to repeat again the exercise after the observation, but without looking at the sketch I have done while you do the exercise. If you need reference you can use yourself, look yourself in a mirror or look whoever is at home with you at that moment and observe what happens with light and shadows following the whole shape of the figure :)

Don't rush this one, try to make the ilumination look good. Don't do secondary lights now. I want you to focus on the main light source :)

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a1/vrm1979/Avi_blockiluminationsketch.jpg

[immortalindigo]

Hi!

I'm Indigo. I'm a beginning artist. I'm new to both drawing and digital coloring. I'm interested in eventually doing Concept Art, drawing and writing comic books/graphic novels, illustrating, animation, and graphic design. I've got a long way to go, but I'm excited to start on a path of something that I really want to do.

My assignment is posted below. It's also my first time doing any type of computer coloring! It's done in Photoshop 5. (I know that's a REALLY OLD version.) I can see now why Veronica said I needed a graphic tablet. Trying to color this thing with a mouse was a total %^%$&#!!!
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2133/2087048402_b630d43b52.jpg

I'm really excited to learn computer coloring.

[Sepulverture]

Sorry to but in on other peoples threads, but I've been looking at this the past couple days and the question is just burning my skull out: what's up with her legs and boobs? Seems to me that a base drawing used to teach fundamental skills should have correct proportions and whatnot.

Sorry if i'm out of line butting in here like this, if I am, then feel free to delete this post mods.

[vrm1979]

hey Indigo, nice to see what you've done. It's nice to see this absolutely bright and risky color choice, you are not afraid of coloring, which is good.

As soon as you have the tablet do the assignment again with shadows and lights, and try a less saturated color scheme for the finished piece. Ah, do the coloring in a different layer than the lineart and respect the black lines, don't color the black inks. We'll do this later, not now. We have to focus on volumes and shapes.

THIS GOES TO ALL MENTEES: When you do next assignment don't color the background, leave it white

[vrm1979]

Sorry to but in on other peoples threads, but I've been looking at this the past couple days and the question is just burning my skull out: what's up with her legs and boobs? Seems to me that a base drawing used to teach fundamental skills should have correct proportions and whatnot.

Sorry if i'm out of line butting in here like this, if I am, then feel free to delete this post mods.

Sepulverture: I must say from my professional experience that a computer colorist have to color a wide variety of artwork style, not always academic proportions. Colorists have to deal with lots of styles, not only realistic style. I chose this picture to start because it doesn't have too much detail in it and is easy to start with and I like the style of this artist too. This is a coloring class, not a class of proportion and drawing fundamentals. Colorist MUST be used to different drawing styles and be able to color a wide variety of things in different ways. I talk from my experience as a comicbook colorist worker. If anyone doesn't want to continue with lessons just feel free to go out, that's not a problem. I repeat, this is a basic computer coloring thread, not a basic realistic drawing thread. Colorists need to be versatile.

Hope you are not offended with what I've said, no ofense intended. If you feel as I have attacked you in some way I'm sorry, it may be because of the language barriers, I'm not English native speaker. Thanks for your comprehension :)

[corky13]

will we do some more "naturalistic" lessons later on ? or something that involves textures/working weith references/using photoshop/painter ? It is more or less what I am looking for. But this stuff here is nice to brake the ice between me and "color" xD

[vrm1979]

corky13: of course, we'll be touching different styles of artwork and coloring, as well as textures, but later. Little by little :)

[corky13]

okey ^^ *opens new canvas in photoshop* hehehe

[Pantro]

Here is my second attempt. I made the shadows as a whole now. I also added some volume in the shadows.

I tried to use more contrasting colors, but I didn't liked it at the end because they seemed too saturated, so I just added 2 or 3 new colors. It is very hard for me to choose colors.

I am really enjoying this exercises. :mod:

[S!R]

Greetings guys n gals! Veronica has been nice enough to let me squeak into your class. Thank you V.

I am Sean, live in Seattle (yesss, workshop here i come!)36 year old avid art practioner and lover.
I am looking to bolster my comfortability with using color in general, as well as have some much needed input from a professional such as Veronica.

Here is my assignment:
Critiques welcome

[thek]

Enrigo, thanks! I thought the way you did the skin was very cool - I just kind of guessed mine.

I've enjoyed looking at everybody's attempts and it's been really educational reading the feedback. Seeing the whole figure as one form should be obvious but it's never crossed my mind! I'm looking forward to my next attempt :)

[vrm1979]

Pantro: Better color choice for the skin and the figure itself looks more interesting now, in the previous version it was too monotone, which can be good to set mood but we are not going for mood now. You have focused better in the forms but I still miss some contrast in the clothes, and mostly in the face. Overall is better :)

S!R: Hey, clever use of textures, you have used it with coherence and in places where it could look good, I like your experimentation spirit! Same thing about contrast. Try to do harder shadows and lights. Do this again after reading the feedback and looking to the sketch for ilumination I've done in posts 12 and 14 in this same thread. Don't do the textures, just focus on contrast, lumination and color choice (try to observe the skin). Yours is a good start too :)

Yu all are doing very well. Thanks for your efforts!

[vrm1979]

next week we'll start with a different drawing. Each week we'll have a different drawing to do the exercise/s with it during the week. Next week will be about contrast only. We'll be using only one color to do the shadows and light for a figure with the light coming from a certain point (we'll do this exercise several times, each time with a diferent light source) and then we'll include 2 tones instead of one. Next week will be quite a bit more challenging.

I understand that most of you are eagerly waiting for the moment to do textures, butt before using textures is important the use of ilumination and understand the forms, because with this knowledge you'll be able to apply the textures better. Be patient and we'll arrive to that point. After the ilumination is understood in its primitive form I'll explain a bit about color choices and after that we'll go with basic rendering technics and the use of brushes. Once all of this is understood the textures are easier to apply, so, please, one step at a time, it will pay off :)

[vrm1979]

Hey, I have done a quick paintover with the 2nd attempt that Pantro have done. It is a quicky, but will help form reference regarding the contrast thing. Hope this helps :)

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a1/vrm1979/paintoverPantro2ndtryout.jpg

[corky13]

here is my second attempt...without any secondary lightning et cetera...

Edit= I need mor tasks ! ^^

[vrm1979]

corky13: Very good contrast and volume...work a bit more the contrast on the panties, make the shadows a bit darker ;)

Next assignment will be posted on Monday next week. New week, new exercises, new drawing to work on.

Next week the exercises will be done over a realistic drawing. Let's see what I can find :)

[corky13]

hmmm...can you give me a small assigment till mondey ? would be very nice =)

[vrm1979]

corky13: fix the contrast in the panties first and I'll give you another siignment for you tomorrow if you've done it. You are doing good, don't worry ;)

[corky13]

okey , here we go :)

[enrigo]

Corky, maybe you can try this tutorial :http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=470911

It still pretty much relate to form and shadow we are doing right now. I'm thinking of trying to do it again 'cause I did it once and messed up the shadow completely.

(I have a quick peek at your sketchbook and I can see why you're eager to be equip with digital skills, there's so much awesome stuff waiting to be colored there !)

[jdsantiagojr]

hey V I understand doing shading as block, my question is how to do it with color, do you color solid first and then shade with black or darker colors. I know how to do it with paint, but having trouble doing it with PS

[ElementalMist]

Well here is my first attempt finally, sorry it took a while, I was a tad under the weather. I also looked at the shading quickie you posted.

[thek]

Here's my second attempt:

[Pantro]

Here is my third attempt.

Thank you for the clarification about contrasts vrm1979, I hope that this one is better.

:mod:

[S!R]

Pantro- I rreally like the shading/coloring on the legs of this one, probably my favorite part.

But the (viewers) left leg looks odd to me. The right looks dead sexy, but the left seems to have a pointed kneecap...

Overall i dig yours.

Now since I've come in late and only have my first rendition posted im off to work on mine..

Cheers

[Idiot Apathy]

*pokes head in*
Make sure your colors follow the general "warm light cool shadow" or conversely the "Cool light warm shadow" guidelines. I believe this doesn't necessarily refer to hue but rather to saturation (though generally I recommend some hue shifting as well). Warm being highly saturated and cool being low saturation. Speculars and other purer reflections can be an exception at times as they take on the properties of your lightsource.
*runs away*

[vrm1979]

jdsantiagojr: well, in photoshop is the same than traditional painting, just block the basic color for the surface, and then you can lay down basic shadows making sure that they have enough contrast, it's not a good idea using pure black for shadows. Hope it helps, althought I'm not sure if I have understood the question properly, let me know. Sorry for the language barriers.

ElemetalMist: Well done with the panties, the contrast looks good, try to achieve the same result through the whole piece. Very good :)

Thek: The base color choice for the skin is better now, but don't do shadows with black, it make it look dirty. Go with a darker color than the base, but not black, nor grey (grey can be used but it's a color that may be used when we have a certain knowledge. Avoid black and grey for the colors that are not grey). Better contrast indeed through the whole piece but be careful with the color choices for the shadows, avoid black and grey. Golden details were better in previous version, just need to go darker with the shadows, again, no black. Ah, before I forget, no white for lights, choose a lighter color, but not pure white.

Pantro: You've understood the exercise quite well, very good. Be careful with the shadow that goes through the leg, the flesh is not following the panties shadow. The shadows must move smoothly through the whole piece, as a whole.

S!R: you are right, but this is a matter of practice, with the parctice you can see at first glance how the forms are placed in a drawing (althought sometimes is difficult even with practice. I sometimes have to deal with drawings that I don't know where to start, sometimes happen hehe). Good observation though, very good :)

Idiot Apathy: Thanks, a great tip, will be useful for future assignments, when we start with the color choice thing. Many many thanks! It's dificult for me to be a teacher, I have no experience and this is very helpful for me. I'm that kind of person that know how to do something but have no teaching knowledge. Thanks :)

corky13: Now the panties are better, go ahead with next assignment! Yeah, enrigo is right. You could try that tutorial, focus mostly in the contrast. Try it with different references you can find, always choose photos with a lot of contrast and in b/w grayscale, no colors. Do this exercise during the weekend and post all that you do along with the references :)

TO ALL MENTEES: Those who want to do the same exercise as corky13 feel free to do it, is a good idea indeed. Those who are not used to draw just trace the silouette of the reference and do the exercise. Those who prefer to do another tryout with the same exercise feel free to do it. A third alternative would be to do the same exercise but just with one color and block the shadow through all the figure, like the shadow sketch I did, but without looking at it while doing it, just study it before starting if you wish . A 4th alternative would be to do all 3 things.

You can have a busy weekend with all this to do. I'll go out during the weekend and will come back on Sunday or Monday :)

Have a great time you all! :^^:

[S!R]

Thanks Veronica! I plan to do the 2nd pass (sans texture, focusing on the contrast) and perhaps 1 or 2 of the new tasks you've listed as well for Monday's 'turn in'.

Thank you.

[vrm1979]

sounds great, S!R.

I just want all of you to take advantage of what I know, I'm doing my best to make all of you learn while having fun. I'm glad that nobody has stopped coming to my lessons after the first week, looks like I'm doing quite well too. You (all of you) are not the only ones that are learning, I'm learning too, I'm learning to explain things, I could never imagine that I would be teaching someone about what I know. I have to thank all of you because you are teaching me too. Thanks! Hope that we can enjoy a long journey! :)

[jdsantiagojr]

hey whats up every1. this is my second try. I went pretty fast, not sure if I got the idea.

254317

[jdsantiagojr]

thanks for the input V. Im gonna mess with PS more, a lot different from painting on a canvas

[enrigo]

I'll try to get my second attempt finish later today, everybody here is going fast !

[corky13]

nah , we are not going that fast ;) It just seems so because of the different timezone. (or maybe because i have drunke about a litre of mead)

anyways xD , I don`t want to learn to use colors because i want to color any of my pencil stuff. It is fine as it is i guess. I want to learn colors because i only can learn to get more precise with the the technique of drawing...but I dont learn anything artistic wise. Colors are something so entirely different and i think i can really grwo as an artist with using them. Also there is almost no future for an penciling artist this time. It is a necessary choice in the end. (and i have to admit...I love colors...tho` they are very difficult sometimes =/ But it all comes with time ey ?)

[enrigo]

Here's my second one, I try to use the "warm light cool shadow" but I think I don't really get how to do it so it looks pretty muddy.

[Pantro]

Hi again, thanks for the observation S!R, you were right, i think that I have fixed this issue.

I have also also checked the shadows of the legs and skin vrm1979. I will post the image later.

Finally, I tried to make the exercises of the link, here is my first tryout.

Jejejeje, I didn't thought that this exercises would be THAT HARD. I´ll keep trying.

:mod:

Here is the link to the original image

http://chenderson.deviantart.com/art/Pear-12808154

[ElementalMist]

This is fun, I'll be trying to work on all the options you gave us... Granted I can get all my homework done. Thanks Veronica! =^_^=

enrigo- I like the thought, it is almost like candlelight on the skin, pretty cool.

[S!R]

My second pass (sans textures).
Critiques welcome.
Thanks guys/gals

[thek]

Thanks for the feedback Veronica, I've tried to take what you said on board for this third attempt. I struggled with this, I've been trying really hard to visualise and see in my mind the forms on the arms and legs - this took me 2 hours! I do feel like I'm learning though :)

Oh and good work everybody, Pantro, I really love what you've done with yours.

[Pantro]

Thek, I am glad that you liked mine, I liked how you rendered her face and also that you used blue for the shadows, it seems that she is in a cave.

SiR, I like the lights of the clothing, it looks very cool. Maybe you could change the color of the shadows of the skin, I feel it a bit saturated, but maybe she is a disco with neon lights :rocker:

Finally, here is my second attempt to the "homework". I like more this one than the pear one. At the end I added the background because I felt that the flower was alone.

:mod:

Link to the photo http://haifa-m.deviantart.com/art/B-W-40419309

[thek]

Pantro, that's amazing - it's so close it's scary. How long did it take to do that? I think you must have a great eye for colour with the tones in that last exercise being as close as they are and the fact you were able to spot my "shadow cooling agent"!

Here's my go at the tone exercise, this was tough. I used a grid to help with the drawing and with placement of the tones. I've attached my first attempt, and then I spent half an hour darkening the shadows. I used the original photo as ref.

[Pantro]

Thek, The whole drawing took maybe 1 hour and 45 minutes, I think, because thats what it took for my songs playlist to end. For the colors I just took the darkest color from the photo and from there, the color choice was mine.

Here is the 3rd part of the "homework", Now she looks like the bride of hulk or a sexy alien :P

:mod:

EDIT: Fixed some issues of the image that bothered me

[enrigo]

Wow, you did gave the picture a lot of volume in it Pantro, it looks like an uncolored plastic model or something.

[enrigo]

Here's my value painting from the link.

I have a problem drawing lines with the pen, i get very shaky lines because the drawing surface is very slippery. Is it a normal thing or is it because my tablet is not of good quality ? (It's a cheap ass no-name brand) Anyway it works pretty well for painting though.
:painting:

[javvie-pl]

Hi :D Thanks for help us :)!
My name is Klaudia, I'm 15, and I live in Poland... I love drawing and cartoons :D. But I have problems with choice of colors, and I dunno where-shadows-should-be. I put here full view of picture, but otherwise I always make it smaller, because of my sketchy lines ^^'
I also want to make her looks like nurse :sungod: hope that isn't bad ^^.


http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q144/jav_side/koo.png

[thek]

Pantro, great results again! I really like that. When I looked at it I at last 'understood' that far knee. To my eye the whole thing looks spot on.

Enrigo, it could be the tablet - cheaper tablets aren't as accurate in their position readings so they can jitter - maybe try running your stylus along a ruler to see if you still get jittery lines? Really nice results on the apple exercise regardless!

Klaudia, I think that's a nice attempt, you seem to understand the forms much better than I did at my first try! I think you need to add some shadows to the nose area and near the hair.

S!r, I think you've got the shading right, but because of the brushes you used sometimes my eye misinterprets the shape? (sometimes there are hard edges - other times it's blended). I think consistent brush types could help, but overall I think it's well done!

[enrigo]

I try using a ruler on the tablet and it looks pretty jittery to me, but if I don't have to do much line art with it, I think it will be fine until I got the money and the skill for a Wacom tablet.:rocker: .

I think it's a combination of slippery surface and inaccurate pen position but gotta live with it.

[vrm1979]

Hello everybody! I'm back and I'm seeing a lot of effort and hard work from you, which is awesome. I have a bad new for all of you...I'm ill andd I don't feel capable of giving criticism and direction, I have a flu and I can't concentrate properly to give you accurate critics and tips as I usually try to do. As soon as I feel better I will come back to do that, it may take a couple of days or maybe a bit more, don't know. As soon as I get better I will get back to you. Sorry for the inconvenience! You are doing it better, you are in the right path, I will get back to you as soon as I can to help you all :)

You can keep on doing the exercises I proposed for the weekend or you can take some free days until I come back, your choice. Sorry again for the inconvenience.

Thanks for your patience and comprehension.

[S!R]

Veronica- Absolutely not a problem/issue! Rest up dear and get healthy. We have enough to keep us occupied until that happens.

Cheers to your speedy recovery,
S!R

[ElementalMist]

Poor Veronica!

I really feel for you, I had the same issue last week (all week) and am still feeling the last of it. The flu is really not too conducive to getting anything done is it? Either way, rest up, and join us again, I hope I will be able to get all your home work exercises to a good standard. :traced: :cheerleader:

=^_^=

[serum]

Veronica,

Rest easy and get well soon.

[thek]

No worries Veronica, hope you get well soon!

[Pantro]

It is very sad to hear (read) that, I hope you get better. I was also sick last week, it is horrible, it doesnt let you concentrate on what you are doing.

Meanwhile, I´ll be coloring more drawings :lounge:

Here is another practice, this time I picked something a bit harder, tell me what you think. :mittenbop:

:mod:

Here is the link to the creator's lineart.

http://jadeedge.deviantart.com/art/Audiophile-lineart-53102011

[S!R]

Nice work Pantro!

[vrm1979]

Hi!

I've been looking around every now and then, I see that you start to understand how this goes. I suggest all of you to do the exercise with b/w pictures to understand the contrast better and next week we'll start with next subject.

KLAUDIA: welcome to the coloring class! Good contrast in your exercise and the color choices are quite good too. I'll tell you more when I come back :)

I can see a big progress on what you have done. Now is matter of refining the contrast thing and go ahead with next assignment after this week.

I'm not fully recovered, but nearly, so...expect me to give you some accurate feedback during the weekend at the latest.

Thanks so much for your support. I miss you all too :)

[javvie-pl]

Thank you so much Veronica and thek for your comments :)

I will practice some b&w :D

--
I know I can't critique or something, cause I am not good at this, but, Petro, I don't like that white lights you use on her body :0 I like shadows on her top btw 8D.

[enrigo]

Pantro, did you know that you are doing wayyyy better than the other devaintart fans coloring on this piece ;)

[S!R]

I agree Pantro. the best of them.

One thing that doesnt jive for me though is the highlights are too hot with the base white you've used (most notably on her belly)..even with the brightest light source it wouldnt reach a pure white, maybe a slight shift in those highlights to include a faint skin tone would make it more believable....

[thek]

Great work as always Pantro, you've got such great understanding/intuition when it comes to form.

[vrm1979]

Hey guys and gals, here I am, your worst nightmare! hehe

Well, seriously... too many things you've done so far, too many feedback to give, or maybe not too much... let's see what you have here... You all are great!:hugsmile:

Pantro: I like how you solved the last picture about the girl listening to music. Be careful with the shadows in the skin, too dull, would look better a bit more saturated color, it loos too greyish, and the highlights don't look right in pure white. Where are the shadows and lights in the hair, you've thrown some colors here and there with no sense of lightsource. The hair must have its light and shadows too, it is part of the block, but other than that is very good. The green colored nurse has a good sense of volume, you are understanding how the volume goes, very good here. The flower and the pear look good to me, you are understanding the contrast thing. The thing where you have problems is sometimes with the light source and color choices. Very good :)

jdsantiagojr: be careful with using too much blackish tones for the shadows when not doing grayscale exercise, the image cool look dirty, althought you are catching the sense of form and volume. Just be careful with shadow tones and think about the character as an unique block. Good job :)

enrigo: good sense of form and contrast, very good. Don't do so many shadow in the chest, where the clothes end, just do it as if it was part of the skin, the clothes don't have too much volume to create those shadows, only the chest itself, between chest and chest is believable. Be careful with color choices, too much yellow-orange for the skin, a bit more of red and a bit brighter would look good for a base skin tone, and shadows shouldn't be that black, saturate the shadows a bit more, it looks unbelievable like this. Good use of form and contrast though. I like very much the apple, very well executed indeed, the only thing I see is that would look more interesting if you do it with a harder brush, but don't worry about this now, we'll learn how to use different brushes, the purpose of the exercise is achieved! Well done :)

S!R: you got the concept of the whole thing as a block and the contrast, very good, you've messed up a bit the form in the face of the nurse, that's all). Color choice for base skin color, same problem as enrigo, but the shadows are too bright and saturated in your case.

Thek: about the nurse... I like your color choice for the base skin color, as well as the shadows, althought you may have used too much blue, instead of pure blue would be interesting to try a darker color like the base skin and then tint it with a bit of blue, like you've done in the face, I like the color of the shadows in the face, althought I would go a bit darker, just a bit, nt too much. Be careful with the skin in the legs ;) I like what you've done here. I would go draker in the left pantie. Other than that very good! Good sense of form and contrast. The apple is very good, the only problem I can see is the use of brushes, the strokes look too hard here, but this is not the purpose of the exercise, so...it is well done because we are talking about contrast. We'll see how to use brushes later. Very good work :)

KLAUDIA: Good contrast in your exercise and the color choices are quite good too, I like your skin base tone very much, the shadows in the skin are maybe too purple and saturated, low a bit the amount of blue and desaturate the color a bit. Good sense of form, you understand how to do the whole thing as a block and you have a good use of contrast too.

To all mentees: The problem you all have is the use of brushes. We'll go into that later. Don't worry about it now :)

I'm glad to be back :)

[vrm1979]

Hi!

A new exercise here, it is about contrast, form and lightsource. Lightsource...a new challenge ;)

take this picture and color the lower left figure. I want you to use only a flat color, no base tones, no lights, nothing, only hard shadow, as a block. I want you to do the shading as if the light comes from the right of the character. Only one color, remember, no midtones, no smooth transitions from tone to tone, just focus on form and lightsource.
http://ironhenry.deviantart.com/art/young-Henry-of-the-Iron-Hills-71270003

Hope you enjoy it! When all of you have finished this one I will give you another lightsource to do with the same figure. We'll be doing some lightsource exercise with this picture ;)

[Xeom]

Sorry for being so late!

I tried to put in more contrast and fixed the lighting like you requested.

[enrigo]

Good to have you back VRM :drinkup:

can you explain more about the new exercise ? I don't quite understand about how it should looks like with one flat color.:(

[ironhenry]

Hello fellow colorists. :)

This is my first post on ConceptArt, and I’m definitely late to the party. I’ve lurked here for quite some time. The place takes a while to get used to. I’m quite impressed by the talent, and CA offers a lot of things that deviantART (my second home) does not.

I live in the northwestern corner of the USA; Washington State. I’m good at penciling primarily. Coloring is something that I have stayed far away from in prior years. This year, I took the plunge and tried to get a handle on it. I’m hoping this workshop, with the ever friendly Verónica, will propel me further down this multi-colored road-less-traveled.

EDIT: Fixed hair shadow.

http://www.ironhenry.com/ca/avi.jpg

[corky13]

@vrm

Hope you`re well again =/

Sorry that i don? t kick in so often. I have many things going on and also I will be away until january the third. =( I will do all the practices when i get back of course. Hope you don`t mind.

[vrm1979]

Well, some feedback coming:

Xeom: Quite good the contrast on the clothes but... how are the shapes going on the right (right in the paper) leg? In the upper part is not following the shape, doesn't have any kind of shadow there, the problem is mostly in the flesh part, there should be a shadow following the path of the shadow in the pantie, it is the same block, remember. Be careful with the color choice for the flesh, unless you wanted to do someone with tanned skin, you need to have more contrast in the face, like in the clothes. I like contrast on clothes, very good. Keep on the good work ;)

Ironhenry: Hey! Welcome to the thread, master! Hope you enjoy the classes. Well, let's see... You indeed have a good sense of shape and contrast, as well as color choice. I guess that you have done a purple color for flesh on purpose, if not...be careful with the flesh color. You have experience in coloring so... I will be picky as hell... The thin shadow from the bangs that crosses her cheek is too curved, doesn't follow the natural shape that a face have (doesn't matter the style of the drawing), it shoudln't be connected with the other piece of hair in the right (sorry for my bad english, hope you understand what I'm trying to say...). Other than that it is very well executed. I like it very much. Great work! :)

enrigo: it should look like the sketch I did in the first page of the thread with one quick shade of red, do you remember? Instead of red you can choose the color you wish to use, just be sure that it can be seen easily and doesn't hide the lineart... that means, not too light, not too dark. Hope this helps. If you don't know what color to use just go ahead with red, like my example :)

corky13: Don't worry at all, I understand, it is usual in these days. I will be out some days too, from 29 of december to 3 of January, so, don't worry at all, ok? :)

TO ALL MENTEES: well, go ahead and do the assignment. BTW: the drawing we'll be using for this assignment is done by Ironhenry ;)

[thek]

Great to have you back! And thanks for all the great feedback - I've learnt a lot from it. I'll be having a go at the new exercise tonight!

[vrm1979]

Thek: Thanks so much! I'm glad to be back too. I'm happy to see that you all are learning from me, that's a huge success for me. Thanks :)

[javvie-pl]

Thank you for your advices Veronica :D!
I hope I've understanded you well, and I colored ironhenry's sketch with only one color. And even I "cmmd+level"ed it myself XD *yay for me*

[ironhenry]

Thank you for the critique Verónica, nit-pick away! I just know you’re going to drop some golden nuggets of truth my way. I’m very excited to have a “hands-on” professional-colorist/teacher helping me along.

In regards to the last lesson, Avi is some kind of vampire’s-helper. At least that’s how I understood it. Hence the bloody clothes and cold purple flesh. ;)

Javvie, I love how sharp and stylish your shadow lines are! They are really fresh and spontaneous looking.

PS. Verónica, I don’t think you need to worry about your English that much. It’s very good and I think I understand you perfectly!

EDIT: I did the lesson again with light coming from the character's right side.

http://www.ironhenry.com/ca/henry_ls.jpg http://www.ironhenry.com/ca/henry_rs.jpg http://www.ironhenry.com/ca/henry_drs.jpg

[immortalindigo]

Hi Guys,

I've just finished a bunch of papers for school, and I only have two exams left so I finally have some time.

I've installed my graphic tablet and that went fine.

I'm having a little bit of trouble with Photoshop. I apologize if my questions seem idiotic, but this now my second time using Photoshop and I'm starting to get frustrated because I don't know what I'm doing. So here are the questions:

1) Even though I create a duplicate layer, when I color I still go over the lines. I can't get it so that the black lines are on top but the hue is still pure and not faded.

2) How do you do the masking? When I hit the mask, then choose a brush I can't get it to have color. Even though I do pick color and I pick a color when I close the window my color choices are still only versions of gray.

If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it. I've just spent two hours trying to play with this thing and nothing is working. I want to pull my hair out.

Thank you in advance.

Indigo

[ironhenry]

I hope this helps immortalindigo. Here you go, and don't be afraid to ask more. PS is a very complex piece of software, but the basics can be mastered with ease (and a bit of help) ;)

1. Open your image. Open your LAYERS window. Create a new layer. Set the top (new) layer of the two to MULTIPLY, instead of NORMAL. Color on the new layer.

2. Masking is difficult to get your head around. A layer mask is just that; a mask. when you put down black in the mask section (the second rectangle on the layer, in the layers window), it blocks the image on that layer from sight. Grey will partially block the image, and white will reveal the image fully.

[vrm1979]

immortalindigo: yeah, ironhenry is right :)

ironhenry: the light must come from the right of the character ;)

TO ALL MENTEES: come on, do the assignment and I'll give feedback when there are more of you with the assignment done :)

It's time to sleep for me, see you tomorrow :)

[ironhenry]

Sorry, I guess language is a barrier. :nohope: When I read, "...light comes from the right of the character" it meant to me, the right side of the character, as I am looking at it on the paper. "From the character's right side" would be a better description I think. I'll fix it. ;)

[immortalindigo]

Ironhenry thank you soooo much for your help.

I still need a lot of work and practice with Photoshop and digital coloring, but that's why I'm hear in the first place.

Here is my second product using Photoshop.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2070/2113341757_2b458a3c80.jpg

I've discovered that I have to tone down my color choice. Whatever it looks like in Photoshop, it's going to look brighter when I post it.

Well, even though it's only 8:44pm, I think I'm off to get some sleep. I was up early finishing a paper and I'm going to have to spend some time tomorrow studying for exams.

I'm glad that I stuck with it, and I'm looking forward to learning even more. I'm going to peek at what the next assignment is before I go to sleep.

-Indigo

[Pantro]

First of all, I am glad that you are feeling better now vrm, and sorry for the delay, I have been coloring with real colors (the first time I am using acrylics on a big painting) and I got carried away jejejje.

I´ll be checking the forums more often.

Thanks to all the people who have commented about my picture, I will take the suggestions into account and upload a fixed image, thanks a lot.

Finally, here is the exercise, I will try to be more punctual in the future, sorry :p

:mod:

[S!R]

Wow, thought we were doing one assignment per week ;)


Here's my second assignment.

[vrm1979]

Pantro: light from the character's right side, not from the front ;)

[enrigo]

My second assignment.

Ironhenry's drawings are really cool, very solid drawing skills :rocker: !


Edit: whoa, so it suppose to be from the character's right not our right ? :geekg:
260577

[vrm1979]

yeah, character's right, not ours. It is my fault, my english is sometimes not very clear, sorry for the inconvenience...:S

[thek]

Here we go, my first attempt. It's a great drawing ironhenry! It's a pleasure to work on it :)

[S!R]

For clarification purposes, is this what you are looking for Veronica? Of course this isnt my assignment, but just want to get this sorted as soon as possible so we can all do the correct assignment..:) (myself included)

Might help on future ones to give a super basic rough illustration of whats expected, since a few of us English is the second language...

No worries, Cheers!

[enrigo]

So here's the assignment with character's right. no worry VRM, these sort of mistakes happen all the time in Jackie Chan movies. :tihi:

260600

[thek]

It's not Veronica's fault - the way the English language is, it can be misinterpreted by anybody! The character's right could mean:

A) to the right of the character using the composition as reference

or

B) to the character's right (more obvious) using the character as reference.

I think Veronica made it as clear as possible and think her doing a rough version would spoil the point of the exercise! At the most, I think a little arrow showing the direction of the light would do :)

[javvie-pl]

I don't think that's Veronicas fault too - f.e. me - I didn't read it clear ^^;. I put my assignment with light source from characters little "right back", but I hope that's good too ^^; (anyways thanks ironhenry for commenting :D!)

thek -> hard colors rulez : D
*I don't know what to tell more, sorry D:*

[S!R]

I'm not placing any blame per se, just showing how, without doing the exercise FOR us, the assignment could have saved a few peoples posts clarifying it.

No blame, just sayin since everyone seems keen to do the assignments in a quick fasion :):):) and not wait the entire week, would expedite that..

[enrigo]

Does anyone know what's the PREVIEW.pix file is for ? I think it might be a part of Painter or Photoshop, but I can't open it with anything.

[Pantro]

I think that I misunderstood the instruction jejeje, sorry.


:mod:

[S!R]

assignment 2.5

[vrm1979]

*****TO ALL MENTEES*****

I think that doing what ironhenry has done is a good idea, try those 3 possibilities, and after that I will give you a new lightsources to try.

Sorry for the inconvenience, at first I thought that it was clear enough, sometimes happens to me, I have something clear but I don't realize that it's not clear enough, just clear in my head, sorry for this situation.

Just do what ironhenry has done with the lightsources, 3 different posibilities regarding "right". It is a good idea :)

[ironhenry]

This is what I did.

http://www.ironhenry.com/ca/henry_ls.jpg http://www.ironhenry.com/ca/henry_rs.jpg http://www.ironhenry.com/ca/henry_drs.jpg

[vrm1979]

that's it! When most of you have done them I will give critics to all of you together :)

[ElementalMist]

I like your work ironhenry, thank you for letting us use it.

Here is my first run. I should be more diligent with lessons now, I just finished my finals and am on break until jan. =^_^= :rocker: :party: :heart: :star:

Sorry, pics are a tad big, that last one was really a pain, I just was having issues with it, I am going to redo it later. (Housecleaning now.)

[Xeom]

heres my lighting study

[enrigo]

I have a feeling that the lighting in the last one is somehow way off, but I can't really tell. This looks like a very good assignment, I feel like I can approach digital painting with ease by leaving the shading and color choice out for now.

Here's three of them together. :anime:

[S!R]

Here are my 3.

[Pantro]

Here are my three exercises. If 2 of them are too similar, just tell me and I´ll change them.

:mod:

[qbertp]

Veronica was nice enough to let me join the thread. I'm just here to learn. I use painter IX almost exclusively and am still learning both the program and the underlying techniques needed to make interesting imagery. Below are my first two assignments and I look forward to be a part of the thread.


http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/qbertp/Rockers_Design.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/qbertp/basiccoloring21.jpg

[ironhenry]

Welcome to coloring class qbertp! I just joined last week, and I think you'll find the group quite friendly.

Painter is a cool program. I've yet to get familiar with it. Come to think of it. I should try the next assignment with it. I think I just need to get in there and start mucking around ;) I've used PS for all my digital coloring so far.

[thek]

great attempts everybody :)

I tried not to look at anybody's attempts when I did the next two - as a result I think my definition of the 3rd right is a bit different to everyone elses!

[enrigo]

Thek, your second one looks great, I like how the drop shadow on the face makes it look so believable.

Seems like this is growing more into a sort of classroom, would be a lot more work for Veronica giving crits to all of these ! :lounge:

:batgirl:

[qbertp]

Ironhenry Thanks for the welcome and thanks for the line art. I find painter so much more intuitive than PS(which i've only dabbled in). That said, the shear number of brush options can be a little confusing.

[ElementalMist]

I need to get painter and try it out. I dabble in PS, cannot say I am good with it. Yay for large, complex programs, lol.

[vrm1979]

Hi everybody

I didn't got back to all of you during these days because I was really busy with some jobs and preparing xmas, now that I have nearly finished with all that stuff...I'm ill again, I woke up this morning with a terrible cold, with fever and headache. I think that is better to have a vacation until after xmas. I have to recover for the 26, I have a coloring demonstration here in the village and then I'll be out from the 29th to the 3rd of January.

I think that the best thing I can do is to start again with lessons the 8th of January (the 7th is the day of the three kings here in Spain). I'm so sorry for you all. Hope that you can understand this.

Thanks for your comprehension and infinite patience

[enrigo]

That's fine with me, Veronica, everything is kind of going slow during the holidays to come. ;)

Hope you get well soon and have a great time !

[Pantro]

Dont worry Veronica, I think that most of us will be going somewhere this Christmas, new year and three kings jejejej.

And for everybody I wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year.

:mod:

[ElementalMist]

Veronica, you seem to be sick same as me, strange since we are really far apart, lol. Get well soon and have a good holiday! We will all be here on your return.

Happy Holidays to all other mentorees as well!:hugsmile: :painting: :heart: :star:

[ironhenry]

Happy Holidays Vero! I hope you feel better soon!

[vrm1979]

merry xmas to all of you!

I'm going to spend xmas eve at home with my boyfriend taking care of me, at least we'll see a couple of special chapters from The Simpsons tonight, we won't be bored at all :)

Have a great xmas you all!

[thek]

Enrigo, thanks! Not sure how accurate it is, but it seemed like the right thing to do!

Just recovered from a bout of sickness myself today - t'wasn't pleas'nt 't all. Hope you all had a great christmas, and looking forward to some cool colouring in the new year. Vero, hope you get better soon :)

[vrm1979]

hey everybody. I'm fully recovered and xmas time has finished.

TO ALL MENTEES: I'm going to propose you something, it is about the starting date:
-We can start right tomorrow.
-We can start on Monday next week.
You choose! :)

[ironhenry]

I'm excited to get going! I vote for tomorrow.

Veronika, I'm glad you are getting back on top of life. It's a good feeling, isn't it.

[thek]

Welcome back! I'm excited about the restart too - I too vote for tomorrow .o/

[vrm1979]

ok, by the moment looks like we'll start tomorrow!

I'm glad with your enthusyasm, thanks. It makes me feel that I'm doing good with the mentorship :)

[Pantro]

Hello to everybody, hope that you had an excellent christmas, a happy new year and Reyes Magos ( three Kings).

I also think that we should start tomorrow :p .

:mod:

[ElementalMist]

I'm also good with starting again soon... I do not know if it is tomorrow or today, I am having time zone issues, happens when flying. :sungod: I have my lappy, tablet and cell modem so I am good anywhere. I hope everyone had a good time durring the holidays and that we are all over the various illnesses of the season. :steph:

[S!R]

I am fresh and full of inspiration from the workshop here in Seattle!! Let's do this!

ie Im ready to start today.. :)

[vrm1979]

hey everybody, we are back on track!

I have revised all the exercises and looks like you all have a good sense regarding light source, the problem comes mostly when you have to color the whole piece with all the color choices and all that, is then when you mess a bit.

qbertp: in the nurse exercise you should be careful with the skin tone, it is way too dark, unless you wanted to give her that certain color and overall color pallete is too saturated. I like how you handled the contrast in the legs. Take a look at the previous pages for reference about the form and keep in mind the color palette thing as well as the contrast. Give it another try and then move forward to the last exercise that has been done (be careful with the character's left side when doing it, I mean left side anatomically talking). Good work :)

enrigo: I love the naturality and sense of flow that has the shadow projected in the ground in the third picture, it looks so natural, but the problem is that it doesn't reflect the pose of the guy, he's standing a bit more straight, hope it makes sense.

TO ALL MENTEES: Do the same picture but this time the light comes from his left side and another one where the light comes from in front of him(anatomically talking). Ask me if you find this confusing.

That's all for now. Hope everything I have said makes sense. Thanks everybody for your enthusyasm.

[Vyliss]

Hey everyone, I'm Katie and vrm was nice enough to take me on as a mentee. I'm really bad at colouring and this thread seemed to be made for me :)

I've done all the exercises in about 2 days, give feedback if you could.


This was my first attempt at the first exercise (very bad btw)

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/1641/exp18108yk4.jpg

2nd attempt after reading Vrm's advice:

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/8590/exp28108oz9.jpg

The Next one

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/6243/exp19108uy8.jpg

:) can't wait to do more exercises

[qbertp]

Here's my second attempt at the nurse.
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/qbertp/Rockers_Design3.jpg

Light studies
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t203/qbertp/lightstudy2.jpg

[enrigo]

:lounge: Glad to come back to some more digital work, here's 2 more of the shadow exercise.

[ElementalMist]

Sorry I completely disappeared, the whole vacation thing was a whirwind and then I hit ice and smushed the front side of my car yesterday. I am back though! Thank you for all you are doing for us Veronica! I'll get my Front and left side pics in soon.
=^_^=

[Pantro]

Hi again, everybody, first of all i want to apologize for the dellay of this 2 exercises, I had to leave very fast and I had no opportunity to tell you. I promise I will try to avoid this in the future

Well, here I am again, with the exercises.

:mod:

[thek]

I'm a bit late with this one - things have been so hectic this week - I haven't even been able to draw!

This should be the last remaining angle I had left:

[ironhenry]

I'm just popping in to say that I'm swamped with work right now. I'll be absent for a while. Have fun everyone!

[vrm1979]

hi everybody. I'm sorry to be absent during so long time. I have to go to a comic festival in France (Angouleme) and I'm busy preparing material to show, that's why I haven't been around. Sorry for this, but I was too busy that my head was focused only in the material and the craft of the mascot to give us luck in the journey, check her out here:
http://vrm1979crafts.deviantart.com/art/first-ladybug-ready-74977792

I'm going to be out during a week more. I'll get in touch with you all after this. Sorry for this inconvenient. I'll be in touch with you when I'm back and recovered from the long travel.

Thanks so much for your patience.

[immortalindigo]

Have fun at the festival!

I just started taking a Digital Applications course (requirement for degrees), but it's perfect for me because we'll go over the basics of Photoshop, Illustrator, and QuarkXpress. (I took Intro to Desktop Publishing last semester and that went over Indesign).

I'm hoping I'll be able to do the assignments better once I have some of the basics under my belt.

I'll be practicing while you're gone.

-Indigo

[ElementalMist]

That ladybug you made was adorable! Have fun at the festival.

btw, has anyone been having serious issues with this site for the past week or so? This has been the first time it has worked since I last posted...

[thek]

Lovely bugs! Hope the festival went well, let us know how it went :)

ElementalMist, I had quite a few problems the last time I posted, but I've been away for a week since then. Attachments seem to be working again though, which is nice!

[ElementalMist]

It is great everything is working with the site again. =^_^= Now for life and school to calm down so I can do something that takes longer than 35sec... =^_~=

[ElementalMist]

Yay, back from GDC. Wow... Has anyone been on at all this month?

[Pantro]

Ok, first of all i would thank to vrm1979 for helping me to get into coloring. I can understand that it may be hard to give feedback to all of us who were in this thread, giving the assignments and suggestions on how to improve. Thanks a lot.

For the other ones, here are some very cool tutorials, and things that you may find useful. I hope you like them. :P

http://www.posemaniacs.com/pose/thirtysecond.html (this one is not coloring but drawing, it has helped me a lot)

http://www.imaginefx.com/-2287754330326480692/Workshops.html (Maybe some of you may already know this page, so this is for the people who dont. There are tutorials mainly for concept art, but there are some tutorials about comics, paneling and coloring)

Finaly this is a very cool e-book with outstanding drawings. Enjoy it. http://www.spotbit.com/main/magazine.php?&prod=3723

[enrigo]

That's awesome Pantro, Thanks for sharing.

[vrm1979]

hello everybody! I know that I've been a long time out.... and I'm sure you are waiting for an explanation, and that's what I'm going to do...

First of all, I'm sorry for being dissapeared so long time. I have had difficult times in my career as a colorist. I went to Angouleme Comic Festival in France at the end of January and lots of people were criticising my coloring. I came back to Spain ashamed of my coloring skills and I was ashamed of entering here and teach you. How could I teach you something that I don't do well enough? ANd I prefered to stay away and not annoy you with my lessons. The only thing I took with me from France was the sensation of being a bad colorist and only one posibility of working as a colorist for an independent French publisher (the only ones who shown some interest on my colors). They told me to send them an email when I was back to Spain and they sent me 3 test pages on March. I promised myself that if I got the job I would be able to come back and teach you being proud of my labour as a mentor and here I am. I have received an email from them saying that I got the job. Hope you are glad to have me around again. We'll start lessons on the second week of May. I'm glad to be back.

I would like to show you the pages I did for the test and that way you'll be able to decide if you still want me to be your mentor or not, I will understand if you are angry and don't want me to be here because I've been a long time dissapeared with no explanation and that's not good, I know. Sorry :(

Here you have the test pages I colored, they are the reason of my return here :)
http://vrm1979colors.deviantart.com/art/French-test-page-1-of-3-80581264
http://vrm1979colors.deviantart.com/art/French-test-page-2-of-3-80581395
http://vrm1979colors.deviantart.com/art/French-test-page-3-of-3-80728995

[Pantro]

Hi vrm1979, welcome back. I am glad that you got the job :D.

Don´t worry about the things that people say in the conventions, most of them are geeks (myself included jejeje), and most of them don't now the complexity of coloring. Most of them may not be able even to use photoshop, so don´t take their comments too serious.

I am ready and set to start the lessons on May.

:steph:

[ElementalMist]

Yay for getting the job and welcome back! The test pages looked good to me, although I was annoyed I can't read it. I cannot remember any french even though I took it all 4 years of high school. lol, ;) :mittenbop:

Ready to work with you again in May! :lineart:

[enrigo]

That's ok, Veronica. I'm still ready to be taught !
I recently just heard that my portfolio had failed me for college application. I got the evaluation sheet back with the criticism and poor score; now I know how it feels to be certified for my suckage.:android:

[ElementalMist]

Yay it is now May! (ooh, it rhymed, lol)

[vrm1979]

Hey everybody! We'll get started by the 16th of May (Friday next week). We'll get started again with new lessons.

Pantro: Thanks for your support! :)
ElementalMist: Thanks, I'm glad you like the test pages! I'm sorry you can't read them, me neither, at least not properly hehe
Enrigo: Don't worry, that means nothing at all, you can succeed anyway, is a matter of practice, dedication and time. No need to go to a huge university to study arts, you can take art lessons some hours a week at a local art school and then practice a lot at home. Know what? The great Adam Huges started practicing and learning by himself how to draw while he was working 8 hours per day at a factory and see how well considered he is now. Is just a matter of effort and practice, don't worry if they reject you in great universities, you still can achieve your goal. Go for it, my friend ;)

See you all later! :)

[Pantro]

YAY!! :mod:

Out of school finally. I am ready to start the new lessons.

NO MORE CALCULUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rocker:

[Deathgoddess]

=3 Alrighty, so vrm1979 has graciously allowed me to join this coloring class, so here I am.
First of all, my online alias is Zee, and I'm a 13 year old girl in Canada attempting to become a better artist. I've discovered the tablet and digital art last autumn and have drawn items and pets for pet sites. Now that I've found conceptart, I want to develope a more realistic coloring style and such...However, I'm still a beginner, which is why I'm here. =D

I've finished coloring that girl, which is going to be a thumbnail...=3 Yes, my favorite color is purple. ;3 I've resized the image smaller...

[ElementalMist]

16th, good choice of start times, I finish my finals that weekend then i will actually have time for a whole week until classes start again, lol! :mittenbop:

[vrm1979]

Deathgoddess: Hey, I couldn't decline, you are really talented and you must continue and become the ultimate art beast when you are an adult, I bet you can succeed, you definitely have the skills! I like your first attempt. The flesh tones are very good, just try not to use pur white for highlights, other than that the flesh tones are quite good! You should try to use darker brush to block the lights and the shadows better (in clothes). Be careful and try to use a lighter color for dark zones, that way the lineart won't be hidden in the darkness. I like it very much. Just avoid using white for flesh, be careful when using dark colors (you must be able to view the lineart easily while maintaining certain sensation of darkness (very good in the dark shirt, take it as a reference, maybe going a bit darker, not a lot more, just a bit, try it and see what happens) and use harder brushes to block and define shapes of light and shadows. Very good! :)

Hey, Pantro and Elementalmist, I'm glad with your enthusyasm! Let's get started! :)

[vrm1979]

hey, BTW... today we'll take a decision together. I was thinking of doing a mailing list for all the assignments and critics. I propose this because I have constnat access to the email account and I would read your emails earlier than your posts here. Or we can continue here. Hey, mentees! Let me know what you think! :)

[Asatira]

Hi, all! My name's Asatira, and Veronica has been kind enough to let me join the class. I'll post the first exercise as soon as I can.

As for the mailing list, I'm more for the thread because it's up for more critique and comments. That said, I'd say a hybrid might work. The assignments and posts could be posted up on the thread for others to see and critique, but WIP/final images could be emailed to you, and you can respond in email if that works best for you. That's my two cents, I'm open to other suggestions.

[ElementalMist]

Hey Vrm, I am good with email. Sorry for taking a few days to reply, finished finals this last weekend, wewt!

[Pantro]

I like the mail idea.
Sorry I didnt replied before but I had no internet near my house, but now I do, so I´m ready. :D

[Asatira]

Before we switch over to email (maybe), thought I'd go ahead and post the first exercises. The first is a flat coloring, the second is shaded following your guideline, using red painted on layers set to multiply.
373466 373467

[vrm1979]

Asatira: You've caught very well the shapes and contrast thing. Very good exercise here! :)

Hey, to all mentees: I've been waiting for more mentees to talk about the decision of switching or not switching to email list, as I haven't got many replies I think I must ask who of you are going to follow the class and start from there. I will allow until wednesday the 28th to get replies from you and all those who reply until that date will be my mentees, if anyone arrives late just send me a pm.

Thanks everybody :)

[Pantro]

I am in. :mittenbop:

[vrm1979]

I am in. :mittenbop:


ok, thanks! :D

[Deathgoddess]

I'm still in. =3 I'm fine with the email idea too. =)

[ElementalMist]

Reporting in and still cool with email. :pump: :traced:

[Asatira]

Cool with email as well.

[vrm1979]

ok, I will need your email addresses to add you to the mail list. I'm going to create one :)

[akasha2683]

Hi to all, im new in photoshop so.. can i join in in your class?
this is my first try to paint my squetches with photoshop cs:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb100/akasha2683/dibujolisto.jpg

[Pantro]

Can you send me the email again vrm1979 because i havent received the mail.

Thanks

[akasha2683]

this is my try:
Este es el ejercicio que mandaste..puedo entrar en tu clase?? mi email es akasha2683@yahoo.com
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb100/akasha2683/ejerciciojuli.jpg