Coloring Tips

[Hermione Granger]

Hello! I just recently started trying to get serious when it comes to digital art, but of course, I am not the best artist haha. I am using Paint Tool SAI to draw and I'm mostly drawing chibis, but I try to draw full bodies too ovo However, I suck at coloring. I find my coloring to be very basic but, hey, I'm trying ^^;

I was hoping for others to share their tips for coloring or their preference in such.
For me, I do the whole "base colors first on layers, then add the shadows, etc." but I blend my shadows with the water tool, which gives it a gradient effect.

How about others? You can share traditional art coloring tips too! :>

 

[Sjokolade]

Personally I like to add my shadow with a soft brush with the opacity turned down. I remember that I loved using the tool called "marker" for shading when I used SAI. And I also like setting the shading layer to "multiply". Also, I would really suggest adding highlights too if you don't already do it. c:

 

[Hermione Granger]

Personally I like to add my shadow with a soft brush with the opacity turned down. I remember that I loved using the tool called "marker" for shading when I used SAI. And I also like setting the shading layer to "multiply". Also, I would really suggest adding highlights too if you don't already do it. c:

I try to add highlights with the "Luminosity" layer style, but it never works for me hahaha
So I just add whites or other bright colors and then turn the opacity down or just blend it (the latter doesn't work as well for me however)
Thank you for sharing! :>

 

[Mega_Cabbage]

Don't be afraid to use completely different colors from the base color for shading since they'll all blend together in the end anyways. It brings a lot of intensity to the drawing.

I don't really like using the water tool for blending because it blends too much. The watercolor brush is nice because it blends as you are adding color.

 

[windfall]

What colours do you use to shade? Personally, I never use black to shade. I find it makes the colours look flat and uninteresting. My go-to colours are red and/or teal for shading (generally, depending on the colour scheme). I also mess around with the layer modes (multiply, subtract, or whatever looks good lol).

this colour theory tutorial changed the way i saw colour. i highly recommend it (even though it's a bit old).

having a gradient for your shadows are alright, but remember that there are different types of shadows too. not everything has a soft shadow :O