How you add colour?

[RyanH]

This is stopping my art. I JUST dont know what to use. I'm getting annoyed jst thinking about it. Do I do the lineart, make a new layer under it and colour in the flats? Do I make the background the same colour then add highlighs and shadow then overlay the colours? Gah :(

[Anid Maro]

You do whatever works for you. There are a whole slew of ways to apply color.

Some examples (presuming you work digitally):

One might create an elaborate line art in black and white, put the layer setting to "Multiply" (which will only apply the black lines to lower layers), and then add several layers of different colors beneath.

One might create elaborate line art as above, delete the white space, and color both the line art and other spaces as above.

One might create a rough sketch and then simply color over the line art in a painterly fashion. Eventually the line art will no longer be visible.

One might not even make line art at all, but instead use a range of grays to make a painting and then use the "Colorize" layer setting to apply color.

One might work the subject first and then the background, or vice versa, or at the same time.

There are several tutorials out there if you just want to find a way to get the job done. I'd check the tutorial section on this site, surely there's something there. However there are as many ways to do this as there are artists in the world and you'll only find your own way if you just dive in and start messing around.

Don't let this stop you, the worst that'll happen is you'll mess up a piece of art. And so what if you do? You could always make another. :)

[RyanH]

+100 karma for you ;P

Thanks. I guess the problem I have is that I hate when things look bad when it's a WIP and I get dis heartened..hmm..

[Anid Maro]

I guess the problem I have is that I hate when things look bad when it's a WIP and I get dis heartened..hmm..

I used to have issues with that too. What got me over that was seeing works in progress by better (in my opinion) artists, or looking at step-by-step tutorials written/filmed by better artists. They all have one thing in common: At some point all their art looks really bad, and then by the end of it all they turned that bad looking art into something awesome.

Nowadays I just assume at some point my art will look terrible and that if I keep plugging away at it I can turn that into something decent (at least).