koko u HAVE to drop a coloring tut sometime please ur art is always so eye candy 😩 how do u choose colors
hehe hi lotus :) so it honestly depends on the piece...if i'm doing a dedicated background i usually start by color-picking from photos with a similar vibe. if its character-centric then i just make up a palette based on vibes.
i also use lots and lots of gradient maps on backgrounds. i mean like a LOT, on different opacities and blending modes and then i even invert them sometimes. usually i'll just color normally and make my own gradient maps per piece based on color palettes, pick from photos, etc and then play with opacities...i honestly just play around with stuff until i like it. i take inspo from a lot of different art w/ similar vibes and usually start from photos (i'll also use photos i've taken as color palette bases)
you can watch my horrendous process below please ignore the math
general coloring process:
set flat background color
base colors with old beach brush/textured brush on everything but skin (use a hard airbrush instead for skin, darker skin tones don't show up well with textured brushes)
add gradients to base colors with soft airbrush, lighter version of base color. mostly on blacks/darks creates good contrast. add blush to cheeks/face makeup and coloring
background cleanup/coloring (hard airbrush)
merge ONLY character art layers, duplicate layer and set to gradient map + subtract mode + lower opacity. experiment with inverting the layer to see if shadows work better. erase areas light hits with lasso tool + soft/hard airbrush. lower opacity of layer
try more gradient maps, either on normal layer mode or other stuff. this usually takes a lot of time
RENDERING !!! i love rendering...hard airbrush clean up lines, use lasso tool to add gradients and define shapes. add texture with rakes lace, halftones. add more highlights....
add soft light layers where light hits, hard light layers for rim/scattered/subsurface lighting, extra stuff on background. i personally don't usually play with values or post editing but you can do that here
