Problem with Coloring Comic

Meljen · Post by **Meljen** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 8:22 pm

Hello again everyone...

Alright. I've been toying around with Flash and stuff, and I LOVE how the 'inked' lines look for my comic. My biggest problem is selecting colors.

I'm not talking about color for the characters or the background (which will almost always be shades of blue). My strip is about Arctic animals, so of course they'll all be white, and they'll be standing on white snow. You can imagine how 'washed out' the finished product looks...the characters look kind of 'blah' when placed on white snow.

Anyway, does anyone have any ideas for coloring a strip that deals with so much white so that it won't LOOK so white? Any ideas on working with snow, etc.?

Thanks...

meljen

PS--due to character design, I really don't want to alter the characters to have their fur be any other color than white. So my main issue is how to separate the characters from the snow, other than just shadows beneath them. I hope this makes sense. I want the focus to be on the characters, in other words. The big patch of white under them tends to shift the focus.

Poinko · Post by **Poinko** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 8:56 pm

You can color the landscape around them some really light colors. Usually when I need to put some color in where it's white, yet needs some 'filling in', I usually use a color that matches the mood I'm reaching for.

If it's a late afternoon/evening scene, you can use a really light orange or purple for shading, if it's midday, you can use a light blue, or a dark blue/grey for nighttime scenes. Don't use primary colors for this, though, light pastels will work okay, as long as the color isn't too dark or too light as to not be able to tell the difference.

You can also make use of the aurora borealis!

Meljen · Post by **Meljen** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 9:03 pm

Thanks! That's actually a REALLY good idea...I think I'll try that. If I try to incorporate times of day, then I might go ahead and use colors other than just blue.

By the way...your avatar...the coloring on it really gave me an idea. I think I might use blue shading for my characters...that might help them to not look so 'blah'...along with the tones in the snow.

Thank you so much for your help!

Poinko · Post by **Poinko** » Sun Jan 09, 2005 11:55 pm

Not a problem at all.

If you decide other colors don't really work, you can just use different shades of blue for different backgrounds/characters, making your strip look a bit more monotone. Still I suggest trying out a couple of different coloring themes and styles before starting the strip, so you can see what works and what doesn't.

Try looking at different pictures of snowy-type places during different times of the day to get a better idea of what kind of color schemes you might want to use.

Glad I was able to help you out some!

Chibiartstudios · Post by **Chibiartstudios** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 12:01 am

Like he said, experiment with light blue highlights and that should go a long ways.

But why stop there? One thing you will notice about white things if you look closely is that they absorb color. So light blue works well for outside. When inside consider the color of the light sourse. Is it harsh white or soft yellow? Rosy red? Yake your pick. Just do some highlights and shading in te lighting's color (remember to factor in how harsh the light is!) and it makes the characters stand out from the background and you won't have to change character designs.

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:54 am

in another tangent but on the same topic, I find my color theory is really off. That is I think I make my palette of colurs way to extended and makes lighting look a little silly. I don't know what I'm asking here. maybe a good tutorial basic concept of colour theory or what people do to match colors or a general rule of thumb.

I have some color theory books from college art but they don't seem to really help me in terms of limiting my pallette its mostly about accenting and opposing color sets.

Dutch! · Post by **Dutch!** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:45 am

Just don't colour the snow yellow...

Fiore42 · Post by **Fiore42** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:16 am

phactorri wrote:in another tangent but on the same topic, I find my color theory is really off. That is I think I make my palette of colurs way to extended and makes lighting look a little silly. I don't know what I'm asking here. maybe a good tutorial basic concept of colour theory or what people do to match colors or a general rule of thumb.

Based on my personal opinions about digital art and its pitfalls, I have one word: Desaturate! The amount of highly saturated color in the world is really quite low, but it's so /easy/ to pick neons in Photoshop.

I'd blather on, but this might be worth it's own thread?

War · Post by **War** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:09 am

Give one of the characters a big red scarf.

Meljen · Post by **Meljen** » Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:31 am

Yeah, hehe, I thought of the problems of the 'yellow snow' thing.

You know, one of my favorite strips was Calvin and Hobbes, and I remembered that there weren't usually horizon lines in the cells when there was snow...just blueish shadows. I tried that by eliminating my horizon lines, and it already looks so much better.

That, and YES...some of my characters have clothing items. One has a skull cap (don't ask), and the two main characters have striped scarves. So that helps for variety.

I've thought really hard about doing blueish tones...if any of you have ever read 'Count Your Sheep' over at Keenspot you would know what I'm thinking about. But part of the story line is that one of the main characters got 'cursed' by the artist for being a trouble-maker, and he's doomed to forever be colorless. So I wonder if a colorless character among a world of blueish tones would work...

Like all of you said, I'll just have to experiment!!!

Might I add that Flash is REALLY fun to do lines in...hehe....great for someone (like me) who hates inking....

TTYL
meljen