Digitally coloring B&W Images.

Some older ones:

X-Men vs Juggernaut - http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/2009-08-02_161354_102.jpg

Ka-Zar progression:
http://sierrahelp.com/forums/download/file.php?id=6127&mode=view
http://sierrahelp.com/forums/download/file.php?id=6128&mode=view
http://sierrahelp.com/forums/download/file.php?id=6129&mode=view
http://sierrahelp.com/forums/download/file.php?id=6176&mode=view

Uncanny X-Men:
http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/UXM137_Color_01.png

A (lazy) coloring of Magik #3 -
http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Magik_Cover-1.png

Nightcrawler that I experimented with (and like how it came out) -
http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Nightcrawler_teleport_color.png

Spider-Man coloring vs Jack O' Lantern:
http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/tumblr_nx3w4o3mve1qzoglfo1_1280_colored-701x1024.png

You tube of coloring Spidey -




Youtube of coloring that Nightcrawler -




Punisher: http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/tumblr_o3qxz07hIc1rwyqmxo1_1280_color-667x1024.png

Nomad: http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Nomad_Num01_Coloring-662x1024.png

Beta Ray Bill (enjoyed how this came out) -
http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Color_The-Mighty-Thor-337-A-by-Walt-Simonson-659x1024.png

Guardian of Alpha Flight: http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/color_vindicator.png

Fantastic Four - http://comicreliefpodcast.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/2007-07-30_105408_FamilyOuting_Color.png

Darkhawk - http://sierrahelp.com/forums/download/file.php?id=6799&mode=view

Another Darkhawk: http://sierrahelp.com/forums/download/file.php?id=6801&mode=view

X-Men in the Savage Land:
http://sierrahelp.com/forums/download/file.php?id=7105&mode=view

Not too much of a marvel fan but the video helped me immensely to understand how you're doing things! Glad to see you utilize layers but you could be using them better. As Sun Girl said, setting a layer to multiply will allow the under layers to show through without transparency. You'll get better shading from the comic page itself without color replacing tool. Also i greatly applaud you for using the smudge tool! It's a very useful tool.

Also admittedly the jagged lines bugged me to no end!! Lol are you saving the files png or jpeg? Jpeg tends to lead to a rougher quality. Also check your DPI(dots per inch) the higher it is, the smoother the image. Also you may want to play with your brush settings and use something with soft edges. It'll remove the rough jagged edges you see when you color.

Do you have a tablet or use the mouse? If you use the mouse, you may want to buy a cheap simple tablet. It will give you greater control and it makes it feel a lot more like drawing.^^

One critique i have is you are essentially doing base coloring. While you do readd the shading from the comic, it still looks flat. There is light so you could add more lighting to the hair and clothing which will add more dimension.

Perhaps to show, here's a video i made for one of my colorings. Very sped up but i can answer any questions about the video you may have.



And i don't know if you have actions in your program but photoshop..someone created an action process that seperates white from the black into seperate layers. Then you literally can color like a coloring page. You may want to do some digging on google.

Hope this helps! Your colorings are nice and the Storm one is my favorite.

Vaeri wrote:

Not too much of a marvel fan but the video helped me immensely to understand how you're doing things! Glad to see you utilize layers but you could be using them better. As Sun Girl said, setting a layer to multiply will allow the under layers to show through without transparency. You'll get better shading from the comic page itself without color replacing tool. Also i greatly applaud you for using the smudge tool! It's a very useful tool.

There's probably so much I could do with layers, as you guys have said. I've never looked at it.
When I first started using Jasc when they introduced layers - I'd literally color one section as a layer. Lighten as needed, flatten. Do another layer, have to retrace it all. Rinse repeat. I only (a few years ago) thought, "Why not just do it all on one layer?"
So I clearly need to learn more about using layers.

Vaeri wrote:

Also admittedly the jagged lines bugged me to no end!! Lol are you saving the files png or jpeg? Jpeg tends to lead to a rougher quality. Also check your DPI(dots per inch) the higher it is, the smoother the image. Also you may want to play with your brush settings and use something with soft edges. It'll remove the rough jagged edges you see when you color.

PNG and they're at 300DPI (I believe). However, these images aren't always high quality B&W images, so they can be jagged, because they're just images I am finding online.

Vaeri wrote:

Do you have a tablet or use the mouse? If you use the mouse, you may want to buy a cheap simple tablet. It will give you greater control and it makes it feel a lot more like drawing.^^

Mouse/desktop. I'd love a tablet to do this. If I was even remotely serious about coloring as something to do in life - I'd invest in a tablet. But for me, this is sort of like LEGO... I just like coloring brainlessly and taking B&W to color. Just helps my brain relax.

Vaeri wrote:

One critique i have is you are essentially doing base coloring. While you do readd the shading from the comic, it still looks flat. There is light so you could add more lighting to the hair and clothing which will add more dimension.
Perhaps to show, here's a video i made for one of my colorings. Very sped up but i can answer any questions about the video you may have. Hope this helps! Your colorings are nice and the Storm one is my favorite.

See you have a great, great, great, great gift which I lack. You have an eye to see "shading" prospects. Like the way you colored the eyes in the video (speaking of a great eye) - you did it so there was two hues of the same color. I don't have that eye - the way you also did the ripples of hair to give it a very 3D effect, rather than a flat color. That stuff amazes me. The only time I ever messed with "color" depth - was once for Beta Ray Bill where I tried to show a lighter shade behind the striking blow. But that doesn't compare to do what you have the eye to do.

Definitely do not be afraid to play with layers and blend effects! Sometimes i find it just fun to use my arrow key and run through how an effect would make a layer look. Sometimes i accidentally stumble onto an effect i think "wow this would be great for the final product!" A wonderful shortcut! And maybe try looking into user made custom brushes for your program. I use a lot of brush effects like i just posted a new picture today and used a brush for water surface lighting.

Hmmm your DPI is perfect. I usually stick around the same. Alas poor quality but nothing to be done when that's how the picture is!

Very well, tablet was just a suggestion! Glad you are doing what makes you happy coloring is relaxing indeed.

Shading and lighting are really easy when you just remember the basics: light, medium and dark. Medium is your base color while light is just a visibly lighter version and dark is a much darker version. Believe me, i'm still not to the level some people are with some of their shading and lighting, but having just these three variables helps improve any picture.

Believe me, i hate shading without guidelines! I've never been good at shadow placement, even in art class. I never know which direction to make the light source and i generally defect to upper right light placement...^^0

Vaeri wrote:

Shading and lighting are really easy when you just remember the basics: light, medium and dark. Medium is your base color while light is just a visibly lighter version and dark is a much darker version. Believe me, i'm still not to the level some people are with some of their shading and lighting, but having just these three variables helps improve any picture. Believe me, i hate shading without guidelines! I've never been good at shadow placement, even in art class. I never know which direction to make the light source and i generally defect to upper right light placement...^^0

Well, I am floored by what you're able to do (I also saw your stain glass work image that you did, which also looked incredible). You have an utterly amazing talent at coloring and making an image vibrant and come to life, which comes with both a natural born talent, but also a honed skill.

You flatter me again^^ thank you! Well to be fair, as i said I've been tracing and coloring for...maybe 20 years? Didn't really get into shading and lighting until like 10 years ago?

Vaeri wrote:

You flatter me again^^ thank you! Well to be fair, as i said I've been tracing and coloring for...maybe 20 years? Didn't really get into shading and lighting until like 10 years ago?

Flattery, to me, is when you're fluffing. This is honest to God's - or High Ones - whatever you deity may be, if any - truth.

I just saw your water one... and the water effect alone is freaking incredible.

I wish I could draw, just to see you color. lol

" You have an utterly amazing talent at coloring and making an image vibrant and come to life, which comes with both a natural born talent, but also a honed skill."
Yes, Tymber ! Vaeri,I am so happy, that you colour my pics, I always print them out to have them safe in case my computer or this forum breaks down.
The pictures are so very different with your colours than before, they look like a part of a comic, YAY! so happy!

Enjoying pictures ... watching "coloring magic" ... trying to learn!

I like it when you use the smudge effect for your colorings, Tymber - it adds some depth and life. I love the Nightcrawler one. It really gives the illusion of him "stepping out" of the dust and the rests ot the yellow background add a mysterios red-golden shine.
Beta Ray Bill is perfect with the layer effect - supports the movement.
Second Darkhawk is another favorite of mine - bright light vs. melting with the dark. The light reflection is the icing on the cake.

Well thank you very much, to both you and Tymber*bows* you may not be able to draw but still, if you ever want me to color something for you, please feel free to ask!

As i was saying before, brush effects when used correctly achieve great things. Think of the things you could do with your colorings if you can find some custom brushes! They are quite useful for backgrounds.

I was digging through - and found some I don't think I'd posted...

Ah ha, I had posted it - over when I mentioned the ElfQuest Coloring Book.

Heh - grabbed the Bearclaw vs Madcoil and did some silly overly lensflare!

Then just did the lensflare just on Bearclaw's New Moon (and removed the "drawn" lens flare)

Reminded me of the ElfQuest coloring book, so I did this during lunch.

Still nowhere near as powerful as Vaeri could whip up (I may revisit to touch up hair and stuff and try that 3D look later), but my lunch was almost over.

B&W images that are meant to be B&W (not colored like the comic images I typically do), tend to have MUCH clearner lines, making it much easier.

these looks really nice! i don't think i'm ever going to get used to black haired Leetah...XD i really like the lens flare effects with Bearclaw and Madcoil...hard to decide which i like better!

hmm small tip though with Leetah...her lips being pale like that give her kind of a "i'm freezing to death, my lips are turning blue!" effect XD perhaps you should try layering them with some kind of red or dark pink for life? like you did for Oddbit, she looks nice and alive. Dewshine's lips are a bit harder to see but a spot of pink for her lighter skintone wouldn't go amiss i think.

hmmm i never did color any of the color book pages...a lot of them frustrated me because they were scenes already seen, had way too much black for proper coloring....but perhaps i should give it a try!*peeks in folder* perhaps that zwoot scene....

ahh i'm a horrible person! as much as i love your praise and respect your relaxing colorings, it makes me competitive for some reason and makes me want to see exactly what i can do vs what you can do! it's very silly of me, i'm sorry...XD

Vaeri wrote:

hmm small tip though with Leetah...her lips being pale like that give her kind of a "i'm freezing to death, my lips are turning blue!" effect XD perhaps you should try layering them with some kind of red or dark pink for life? like you did for Oddbit, she looks nice and alive. Dewshine's lips are a bit harder to see but a spot of pink for her lighter skintone wouldn't go amiss i think.

I see what you're saying! With Leetah's lips, I was trying to go for more of a lipstick/sexy look. (Which is silly there was no lipstick back then). But that's clearly an intimate moment between her and Cutter. So my mind went with like a pink lipstick! But I can definitely see what you mean!

Vaeri wrote:

hmmm i never did color any of the color book pages...a lot of them frustrated me because they were scenes already seen, had way too much black for proper coloring....but perhaps i should give it a try!*peeks in folder* perhaps that zwoot scene....
ahh i'm a horrible person! as much as i love your praise and respect your relaxing colorings, it makes me competitive for some reason and makes me want to see exactly what i can do vs what you can do! it's very silly of me, i'm sorry...XD

Rest assured, you'd do better. You take more time and give it a way more professional look. And if I was worried about someone "coloring better than me" - I wouldn't have posted the link originally on these forums (since this forum has some very, very, very talented people!) So by all means, color that Zwoot photo - or any of them on there - and I'd love to see it. If anything, it could even help me - because I could see what I did and see what you did to make it look better when you do your version - since I'd be looking at the same photo side by side. What tricks and things you did to make yours shine. (And I say that, because I know yours would come out infinitely better and I am VERY, VERY, VERY OK with that!)

I have a fragile ego in some areas - coloring is not one of them. I enjoy doing it. It's a fun hobby that helps me relax. But I know it's not my wheelhouse where my talent is - so if someone comes riding in on a white horse doing it better - I love seeing others shine.

Tymber wrote:

With Leetah's lips, I was trying to go for more of a lipstick/sexy look. (Which is silly there was no lipstick back then)

That could be a topic for "All the Many Colors."

Aside from times of drought or invasion, the Sunfolk had plenty of leisure time and natural resources. They dressed for appearance, not just for function, and they decorated their homes. I imagine they would use natural cosmetics made from minerals, flowers, oil, fat and wax. They might have even colored their hair and fingernails.

Trollbabe wrote:

Tymber wrote:

With Leetah's lips, I was trying to go for more of a lipstick/sexy look. (Which is silly there was no lipstick back then)

That could be a topic for "All the Many Colors."

Aside from times of drought or invasion, the Sunfolk had plenty of leisure time and natural resources.  They dressed for appearance, not just for function, and they decorated their homes.  I imagine they would use natural cosmetics made from minerals, flowers, oil, fat and wax.  They might have even colored their hair and fingernails.

That's actually a good point - since we know Leetah's clothing was very vibrant in color, with red, blues, and gold/yellow colors and she clearly has eye shadow (greenish in color)

But as Vaeri said, even here, you can see her lips are deliciously red.

Went back and just recolored the hair to the proper color (I always liked the idea of her black hair, mostly because I love women who have that clash of appearance where they might have dark hair color, yet really light, piercing colored eyes to contrast it). So that's why I originally did it with black hair, just to see how it'd look. But recolored her hair (using the same black haired image and swapping that color pallet), and then made her lips red - both on the main picture, and the smaller Leetah and Dewshine also.

Gotta admit the red hair look (you know how she should look) with the pouty, sexy red lips... it works too.



Some examples of that look - of dark hair, or dark complexion and yet stunningly bright and beautiful colored eyes that I absolutely love:


and

Wow! Love the pictures.

Messed around with some shading (no idea what I am doing, just suggestion by V so it's less flat)... and I think it helps give it more depth and life... even if I don't know what I am doing yet...

Still no idea what I am doing with the lighting/darkening - but had fun doing it.