I’m still learning how to color. My coloring is atrocious and it was only within this month and a half or so did I manage to do anything with color and make it look remotely “complete.” Disclaimer aside: here’s what I do and use.
UtDa Wips - Here are some progress shots I did. The Jojo one has captions (ignore the Kingsman one, that’s super old lmao otl).
My blog has a ton of references. Check out the Jojo WIP then read this. This is the break down how I try to color:
Refine Lineart (sometimes I redraw whole images over my lineart)
Use new layer. ALL layers should be under Lineart for coloring.
New Layer - tone (i.e. grey - you can adjust opacity)
New Layers over the tone -- the flat base colors go on top.
Then you add as many layers are you want for shadowing/lighting.
I didn’t use tone for these pictures:
My Other Colored Pic I’m Super Proud Of (soft colors)
Obito and Kakashi - BW practice is good too
Me learning to use colors wif Kakashi
Don’t forget to label your Layers. When you do more than one character, it’s a good idea to keep everything for them separate. It helps when you need to adjust opacity and make edits. It sucks a ton when you mess up lineart and you need to edit thing after you color over stuff. It’s always best to try and finalize your lineart.
Also, lineart + the grey tones - it’s best if your lineart has no gaps but the grey tones help if ever you use bucketfill.
FireAlpaca makes me happy because I can “copy image” and “paste” it onto the canvas. This way, I can use the same colors to achieve certain stylistic goals/it’s the best way to get the actual character’s colors.
Aka how I figured out how to do this botched attempt at drawing Naruto fanart
I can draw Kakashi perfectly fine
The Naruto Squad pic - my first attempt at trying to draw Naru peeps
mokutondude It’s not much to go off of since I have no idea what I’m doing, but here’s hoping my experience helps.
Just keep practicing! I really picked all of this up within 1 month of summer. Look for tutorials and use references. They really do help. I look at other artists and see how they do things. Sometimes, I just work with flats or BW/grey scale. Experiment!