Photoshop painting and creating a color scheme.

[feathyr]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking for some advice. One thing that i know i must work on for my illustration/comic art is color schemes. The problem i'm having, however, is that it's hard to create something that looks uniform when sampling colors from several different reference photos. i really want to begin using colors that create mood. any input on how to mix colors in PS to do this would be great.

i'm also uploading an image of something i'm working on now. still very much WIP. so critique on it's coloring would be great, as well as on any other aspects.

thanks ! and i apologize if some of my words seem incoherent, very tired after working late.

http://i954.photobucket.com/albums/ae25/feathyrcomplex/BNWLighthouse.jpg

[Myllys]

When working with references, I don't think it's a good idea to pick colors straight from the reference. You should learn to eyeball them out. I'm not sure if this is what you meant by sampling from ref's though.

Also if you use several ref's and want to create a color scheme, one option is to start with monochromatic (for example black and white) and later use a separate layer to try out which colors are suitable. Maybe try out a coulple of different combinations and choose the best and continue from there on.

I like the color scheme on the picture you posted. I don't know where the lighting on the ground on foreground is coming from. But if it's the same sun that is making the horizon orange, I think it should be more saturated orange.

Overall, I like it.

[feathyr]

hey thanks for your help ! : )

that's a good plan.. i usually color underneath my linework, so it's very easy to experiment without having to worry about sacrificing hours of work. i'll play around and start learning to mix the colors. ill see if that orange hue will help too.

thanks again !

[iscariot83]

One thing to keep in mind is that colors are always relative - Since you're pulling from multiple references, be sure to look at what's around the color you want...If you can't get things to look as bright as they are in your reference, just make things darker around them, and vice versa...the same rules apply for hues as well, if you're trying to make colors look warmer, more saturated, more green, anything.

A trick I'll use for finessing color choices in photoshop is also to change the color picker mode. By default, the big square color field shows you only one color at a time, and mostly lets you see brightness and saturation within that hue. The radio buttons beside the big color areas will rearrange that though and assign different color properties to each axis of the color picker - the R, G, & B ones are especially helpful, because they'll give you a big area that shows a much broader and more subtle range of hues. It can help break you of the habit to think in terms of the 'Roy G Biv' colors, and give you some bigger and better ideas of what to do with color in a drawing.

[rslhenry]

First we need to make a bunch of layers.Make sure that the image line is upstairs and is on Multiply.It really helps to name the layers so you can monitor things.When eye is open,it means that the layers can be used and visible.When you click it, the eye disappears and the layer is the layer is hidden hidden.