HEY everyone.
I like to draw very much, and I would love to make my doujinshi look better and,
most important, color them. Please guys, I need some good tutorials on CGing in
Photoshop CS2.
Eh...isn't it CGing instead of GGing? O_o Like... CG = Computer
Graphics.
Anyways, from personal experience... first of all, no doubt you would need to
scan your drawing into the computer. Then methods
could vary. Say for the outline, some people might prefer to use a Graphic
Tablet, while others (either they dislike Graphic Tablets or they simply don't
have one) might just use the Pen Tool in Photoshop to outline their
drawings.
After you get a good outline, then comes the coloring. You pretty much fill in
the blanks with a "base color". So for the skin, you would fill all
the skin areas with a skin color. For the hair, you would fill all the hair with
probably a yellow color, and the rest follows the same idea. Finally, you start
on the shading. How you shade and where you start shading really depends on
personal preference. ^^
Well, just a brief outline of the steps. I bought a few books about manga
drawing, and 1 book on CGing, but for online tutorials...I don't really know if
there are any good ones out there. I haven't CGed that much, so I can't really
teach you either. ^^;;
There are tonnes of different ways to colour. You just have to find what you're
most comfortable with and what you prefer. There are lots and lots of tutorials
over at deviantART that can help you started with some ideas.
Personally, since I have a tablet, sometimes I sketch directly on the computer,
or if I draw on paper, I scan it in roughly and trace over the outlines with my
tablet.
If you don't have a tablet, and like to draw and ink by hand, there are various
ways to
clean up the lineart to get it ready to colour (btw most of these tutorials
use photoshop, but it might not be the same version, but the ideas are pretty
much the same).
Once you've got the lineart, then you can start to colour. Usually you'd start
with the base colours, you can do this using the magic wand, the paintbucket,
just a brush, it's up to you. I like to use a brush to put the colour on, but
underneath the lineart layer (and set the lineart layer blend mode to
"multiply"). Also, some people like to put each colour on its own
layer, others just use one layer for everything.
Then comes the shading/highlighting. Again, it's up to you to choose how you
want to do it, and what style you're going for. Do you want sharp shading
(cell-shading like in most anime), or soft airbrushed shading, or a mixture of
both? How you want your picture to be shaded affects how you're gonna shade it.
Some people prefer to shade on different layers (and using "multiply"
as the blend mode for those shadow layers), others prefer to just choose a
darker colour and just shade on the same layer as the base colour. It's up to
you, whatever you're more comfortable with.
I know you said Photoshop, but the program of preference (for me, anyway) is
OpenCanvas. I think it still lacks any masking capabilities, but that's not
really necessary; but that's just personal preference (and the fact that my poor
little computer can't run illustrator and photoshop simultaneously nearly as
well as it can run illustrator and opencanvas; and also because I don't really
need about 90% of the stuff crammed into photoshop).
Step 1. Scan in/draw your art. I normally scan/draw a sketch one one layer, draw
the outlines on the second layer and close the sketch layer.
Step 2. I make a layer to do some very basic shading so I get a good idea what
everything will look like; I may rely on the sketch again a little bit (why I
didn't delete that layer entirely).
Step 3. When I color, I work on one thing at a time (a thing being hair, eyes,
skin) and each thing gets a multiply layer for the basic coloring, a multuply
layer for shading and an overlay layer for highlights, which I may or may not
merge as soon as I'm finished (the more complex the drawing the more likely I am
to _not_ merge the layers) in case i need to go back and touch something
up.
That's basically it. It take a lot of time to really become proficient in these
programs, so don't give up!
well, there's no best way, just the way you're most comfortable with.
and I shall share mine!
I have two methods I'm very fond of, though they are rather new and still need
some refinement.
METHOD ONE:
First is to make a black and white sketch, detailed as possible, with all the
basic shading and highlights, and set that to a multiply layer.
Under it I block in basic colors... pretty simple, I don't worry about being
neat.
And above it, a few layers set to either luminosity or overlay with some pretty
drastic colors that I wouldn't necessarily think to use otherwise. The colors I
use depend on the lighting. For example, if it was indoor fluorescent lighting
I'd use green in the general highlighted areas and blue for the shadows. This
takes care of tints and stuff and makes the picture look less bland than just
using the obvious colors. (sometimes I get a bit excited and end up turning my
pictures slightly rainbow)
Then after that is uh.. forget the photoshop equivalent, but I think it's a
color dodge layer? but yeah, that's where I go highlight happy.
And then, I might make another multiply layer between the block color layers and
the original b/w drawing for more shadows...
ah, you can probably tell my coloring method is a bit... crazy and random and
involves lots of experimenting.
SECOND METHOD:
This one's slightly less spaztic. Basically, paint on one layer and let all the
colors run into each other and blend happy (but not blur happy) If you have
really clean lineart, I guess it could look cool if you put it over all the
happy colors, but usually I don't have lineart because I suck at it.
all the while, keep in mind the setting: what is happening, what time is it
happening, where is it, what is in where it's in...
and most important, the lighting and how it effects the color. Don't forget
about reflections, refractions, shadows...
in short, don't be afraid to use crazy colors,
play with layer blending modes, and always pay attention to the
light!
If you haven't already noticed, I tend to shade/highlight as I'm drawing,
without any lineart, and pretty much rely on lighting to define details... lol.
So maybe for you it's not the best way, but you could try it out, if you
want.
HEY everyone.
I like to draw very much, and I would love to make my doujinshi look better and, most important, color them. Please guys, I need some good tutorials on CGing in Photoshop CS2.
Thanx,
~ FairyLocket~
Eh...isn't it CGing instead of GGing? O_o Like... CG = Computer Graphics.
Anyways, from personal experience... first of all, no doubt you would need to scan your drawing into the computer.
Then methods
could vary. Say for the outline, some people might prefer to use a Graphic
Tablet, while others (either they dislike Graphic Tablets or they simply don't
have one) might just use the Pen Tool in Photoshop to outline their
drawings.
After you get a good outline, then comes the coloring. You pretty much fill in the blanks with a "base color". So for the skin, you would fill all the skin areas with a skin color. For the hair, you would fill all the hair with probably a yellow color, and the rest follows the same idea. Finally, you start on the shading. How you shade and where you start shading really depends on personal preference. ^^
Well, just a brief outline of the steps. I bought a few books about manga drawing, and 1 book on CGing, but for online tutorials...I don't really know if there are any good ones out there. I haven't CGed that much, so I can't really teach you either. ^^;;
Thanx so much! Everything helped alot....thankies thankies
Moved to Art
There are tonnes of different ways to colour. You just have to find what you're most comfortable with and what you prefer. There are lots and lots of tutorials over at deviantART that can help you started with some ideas.
Personally, since I have a tablet, sometimes I sketch directly on the computer, or if I draw on paper, I scan it in roughly and trace over the outlines with my tablet.
If you don't have a tablet, and like to draw and ink by hand, there are various ways to clean up the lineart to get it ready to colour (btw most of these tutorials use photoshop, but it might not be the same version, but the ideas are pretty much the same).
Once you've got the lineart, then you can start to colour. Usually you'd start with the base colours, you can do this using the magic wand, the paintbucket, just a brush, it's up to you. I like to use a brush to put the colour on, but underneath the lineart layer (and set the lineart layer blend mode to "multiply"). Also, some people like to put each colour on its own layer, others just use one layer for everything.
Then comes the shading/highlighting. Again, it's up to you to choose how you want to do it, and what style you're going for. Do you want sharp shading (cell-shading like in most anime), or soft airbrushed shading, or a mixture of both? How you want your picture to be shaded affects how you're gonna shade it. Some people prefer to shade on different layers (and using "multiply" as the blend mode for those shadow layers), others prefer to just choose a darker colour and just shade on the same layer as the base colour. It's up to you, whatever you're more comfortable with.
I know you said Photoshop, but the program of preference (for me, anyway) is OpenCanvas. I think it still lacks any masking capabilities, but that's not really necessary; but that's just personal preference (and the fact that my poor little computer can't run illustrator and photoshop simultaneously nearly as well as it can run illustrator and opencanvas; and also because I don't really need about 90% of the stuff crammed into photoshop).
Step 1. Scan in/draw your art. I normally scan/draw a sketch one one layer, draw the outlines on the second layer and close the sketch layer.
Step 2. I make a layer to do some very basic shading so I get a good idea what everything will look like; I may rely on the sketch again a little bit (why I didn't delete that layer entirely).
Step 3. When I color, I work on one thing at a time (a thing being hair, eyes, skin) and each thing gets a multiply layer for the basic coloring, a multuply layer for shading and an overlay layer for highlights, which I may or may not merge as soon as I'm finished (the more complex the drawing the more likely I am to _not_ merge the layers) in case i need to go back and touch something up.
That's basically it. It take a lot of time to really become proficient in these programs, so don't give up!
well, there's no best way, just the way you're most comfortable with.
and I shall share mine!
I have two methods I'm very fond of, though they are rather new and still need some refinement.
METHOD ONE:
First is to make a black and white sketch, detailed as possible, with all the basic shading and highlights, and set that to a multiply layer.
Under it I block in basic colors... pretty simple, I don't worry about being neat.
And above it, a few layers set to either luminosity or overlay with some pretty drastic colors that I wouldn't necessarily think to use otherwise. The colors I use depend on the lighting. For example, if it was indoor fluorescent lighting I'd use green in the general highlighted areas and blue for the shadows. This takes care of tints and stuff and makes the picture look less bland than just using the obvious colors. (sometimes I get a bit excited and end up turning my pictures slightly rainbow)
Then after that is uh.. forget the photoshop equivalent, but I think it's a color dodge layer? but yeah, that's where I go highlight happy.
And then, I might make another multiply layer between the block color layers and the original b/w drawing for more shadows...
ah, you can probably tell my coloring method is a bit... crazy and random and involves lots of experimenting.
SECOND METHOD:
This one's slightly less spaztic. Basically, paint on one layer and let all the colors run into each other and blend happy (but not blur happy) If you have really clean lineart, I guess it could look cool if you put it over all the happy colors, but usually I don't have lineart because I suck at it.
all the while, keep in mind the setting: what is happening, what time is it happening, where is it, what is in where it's in...
and most important, the lighting and how it effects the color. Don't forget about reflections, refractions, shadows...
in short, don't be afraid to use crazy colors, play with layer blending modes, and always pay attention to the light!
If you haven't already noticed, I tend to shade/highlight as I'm drawing, without any lineart, and pretty much rely on lighting to define details... lol. So maybe for you it's not the best way, but you could try it out, if you want.
this is a spaztic post. lol.