Lesson 2 - CG coloring

[kraken]

Well,looks like I finally got time to finish lesson 2.I have a couple days off,so I thought I would use the time to get it done.And without further ado,here it is.

[kraken]

Alrighty,to start with,select your linework layer and hit the 'lock all' icon at the top of the layer pallete to make sure no accidents happen to it.Next we need to make a new set for every major element in our piece,this keeps things nice and organized,as there are going to be a lot of layers by the time we are done.Just click the 'new set' button at the bottom of the layer pallete to create them,in this CG I made one for hair,skin and clothing.

Depending on how complex your piece is,you may need more sets if there are different colored elements,such as if you have pants that are a different color to the shirt,etc.

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Label each of the new sets so you can keep track of them by double-clicking on the text,then you can rename them and hit enter to apply.Then in each set make 3 layers (click 'new layer' button at the bottom of the layers pallete),one for the basic color,one for shadows and one for highlights.The order has to be like in the screenshot,color on the bottom,then shadow and then highlights at the top.This makes tone look more even in the end.

[kraken]

Now we can start coloring.We need to color each base layer with a shade that is not to light or dark,as we will be adding high and low values via our other layers.The color you choose should be vibrant,but fairly neutral in terms of brightness.One thing to remember about CG coloring is that you do need to color outside the lines on some layers in order to get things completely filled.Since the skin tone layer is beneath the clothes and hair layers,you need to make sure the color goes under the clothes and just beyond the hair line.

Also,these base layers are your matte,so spend some time getting them nice and neat and make sure they are sharp,to define their areas well.Only one color per base layer is used,this allows us,along with them being defined,to keep our shading in the other layers perfect,apply filters and generally not care where our brush goes while we do the tones.How ?Read on.

[kraken]

Now,select your shadows layer and set the blending mode to 'Multiply' using the drop down box at the top of the layer pallete,and set the highlights layer to 'Screen' for later.Don't worry about the opacity settings for now,we will adjust them later on.

[kraken]

First we do the shadows layer.With the same color as the base layer in the set you are working on set as the active color,select a relatively medium-large brush,make sure it's a soft dithered brush,too,it helps blending alot.Set the brush opacity (up the top) to between 30-50% to make shading more even.Also,click on the airbrush icon for constant color.

Now for the key point.To keep everything bound to our defined area,like I mentioned above,keep the shadows layer selected,then hold down CTRL and left-click your base color layer,then release CTRL.That will select the layers transparency and keep everything bound within the area you colored on the base layer,which is why it's important that it's sharply filled in.Now,you can go crazy with your shading keeping constant pressure all throughout the stroke,without stopping and picking up.It will look rather dark and patchy at this stage,this is normal,we are just building levels of tone at this point,we will take care of dithering later on.

[kraken]

Repeat the process for your highlights layer,same brush settings as the shadows layer,and with the transparency of the base still selected.We don't need to change them,because we set the layer blending mode earlier.That is why our base color is automatically transformed to a perfect highlight/shadow shade when we paint to the respective layer.

The only other thing to remember for good shading is some basic anatomy.The idea is to add light where the area you are painting is closer to the imagined light source,that is to say on the higher areas.For instance,an arm is roughly round,so at the highest point of that roundness,I put a broad highlight.Then on the shadows layer,at the lowest points of the circumference,that is to say the 'edges' of the arm,I put the shadows.Then,for areas further away from the light source,like the far arm under the hair,I add even more shadow to convey depth.Finally,I add reflex shading on places like the tip of the elbow,shin bone and the hands if they are visible.

The hardest area is the face,because you need to create the illusion of bone structure with your shading.The easiest way to get good looking tone is to keep your brush settings low,and don't over cook anything.Because your highs and lows are on seperate layers,you can easily delete one and start over,without effecting anything else.Not bad,eh ?

[kraken]

By now,you should have a nice level of contrast between the three layers in your set.Time to get rid of the patchy,brush-work look and make things pretty.You should still have your base layers *transparency* selected,to keep what we are doing constrained.Now,if we were working in pencil,you could dither the shading with smuding or a similar technique,and we can do the same here.

All we need is one filter,so go to Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur (if you loaded the action set in the other thread,it greatly simplifies the use of this filter,as it binds Gaussian Blur to F5-F8 function keys,at 1,3,6, and 9 pixels).How much filter to use is completely up to you,and differs greatly from piece to piece,but for general tones,I start with a 6 pixel blur twice,then go back and touch up,usually highlights,then another 3 pixel blur to round off.You need to do this blurring procedure for both the highlights and shadows layers.

It will still look a little too strong,contrast-wise,and all you have to do to remedy that is change the highlight and shadow layers opacity (at the top of the layers pallete) until you get things looking the way you like.I find around 40-60% opacity is usually the ballpark,but again,it's really depends on how things look,and of course how you want them to look.

[kraken]

As a final touch,I made a layer above my linework for the eyes,set it to Overlay blending and colored over the eyes in true white.Then made another layer above that for the reflex highlight.A reflex highlight adds specularity and depth,and are easy to do.

I selected a brush about one sixth the circumference of the eye area,set the brush opacity to about 30%,then selected a dark,desaturated "sunset" color,such as pink orange or purple,and put a spot of color at the apex of the eye,then with a smaller brush and the same color but a lighter shade,I put a spot at the apex of the first one,then finally with a very small brush I put a spot of true white at the apex of the second one.This gives the effect of depth,and against the eye outline,the effect of reflection.

[kraken]

And here my finished product.I spent another couple of mins adding a cloud filter backdrop and some text with a basic bump map,and did a reflex highlight on the hair using a pen tool cut and layer blend.And thats the end of this lesson,next time I will cover bump and displacement maps,texture work and mettalic effects.And hopefully it won't take as long this time -__-....

www.2and2.net/Uploads/Images/love_hina_final.jpg

Have fun !

[Sephiroth Kaizen]

*sighs* Too bad I don't have the patience for that. XD