Coloring Walkthrough

1. Line art. Always on a separate layer. If you are coloring
someone's line art from the web and do not have the PSD file, set the line art layer to MULTIPLY. This layer is ALWAYS ON TOP. (NOTICE: IF YOU ARE COLORING SOMEONE'S LINES, BE SURE TO HAVE THE ARTIST'S PERMISSION TO DO SO. IF YOU DO NOT, YOU ARE STEALING, EVEN IF YOU GIVE CREDIT.)

2. Flat colors UNDER the line art layer. Each new color should be put on its OWN LAYER WHILE YOU PAINT IT IN. It
will save you headaches down the line. Promise.

3. After the flats are down, I merge the basic colors into
one layer just to keep things organized (I know some people tend to use groups or sets for each step, but I, personally, find it unnecessary). NEW LAYER. I pick my SHADOWS and HIGHLIGHTS. I have two of each here, one darker/brighter than the other. Right now, I'm working with the lighter shade of the two shadows. The brush is the 9 Airbrush Hard Round at about 45% Opacity. Once the color is down, I take the smudge brush at 55% Opacity and smudge the color to make it smooth.

4-8. Same step as 3, just with the darker shade and then the highlights for the skin. The wings were done the exact same way, but with different shadows and highlights per different base color. NEW LAYER FOR EACH.

9. I set the opacity back to 100% and Using a texture brush (thumb below), I add texture to Goliath's skin to make it look more stoney (even though he isn't asleep).

10. Time to erase some of those marks I just added. Select the eraser, and using a large (around 65) soft round brush with 41% opacity, I randomly begin to fade some of the markings on Goliath's skin. I believe the markings wouldn't be as noticeable in the middle of the face or on the
hands, so they are nearly erased completely from these two areas.

11. (-FiN-) I add noise to the Goliath's wings for more texture.
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This is how I (basically) color. Not all techniques are used on every picture I paint, but the principal is still the same. Any questions or comments feel free to comment here or drop me a note.

Hope this helps if you're struggling with anything. =3

The texture brush I used for the marks on Goliath's skin are from my own stock. On the thumbnail, it is the black brush in the middle.




Finished Piece: