board77

New Year, new resolution- a submission a day at DeviantArt. I've ditched the old thread because I STILL haven't finished either of those pictures (although the Black Jack one is getting there).

Today's plan is to take this sketch: "But don't forget to grasp tightly that which is dear to you" and colour it in my old, half-dead copy of Corel Photo-Paint 12. All the brushes in CPP apparently died (I got Photoshop 7 as a replacement) but I can still use the ranged replace colour function. Updates as soon as I save a .jpg of the work in progress.

My question is this. Here's the original picture:


I've been colouring it by highlighting areas with the mouse, and replacing the greys with blues, blacks etc. Problem is the hair. You can barely see the hair in the original anyway- it's on the top left, beneath his sleeve. When I colour everything things will stand out really clearly. But his hair is white. I don't really want to do a background, partly because I like it without, partly because I'm lazy and also because I don't want to add anything of digital origin to a sketch I was so pleased with. So, artists, friends, countrymen, what would you do with the hair? (And don't ask me to change the colour for something more sensible! The sketch is meant to be symbolic).

New thought: I guess I *could* paint some sort of low-opacity blue wash over the background? The haori- the overcoat- is white too, and I'm starting to think it'll look very odd if I don't.

*~Pips~*

I can't help you with the hair, since I've never digitally colored a picture in my life. I suppose I would suggest to go very light...just enough to define the fact that there is some hair back there and no more. That is how it is in the original sketch anyway.

By the way that is an AWESOME drawing! The folds in the clothing and the hand are remarkably drawn. I'm horrible at both! You've really come a long way and improved from the first pictures I've seen you post here.

I really want to draw a new picture, but I want it to be so good that I am too paralyzed to start. I think I am finally getting to the point that I could make a pretty good illustration if I tried and luck is on my side. Yet I am too scared to try even though I have a couple of ideas in my head. I'm afraid it won't be as good as I would like.

~Sid

I'm not certain about the conventions of manga art but if the hair and coat are white and there is colour in the background one might expect some reflected colour on them, perhaps on the hand too. Unless you pick a warm grey.

The sketch is of a manga character Tosh, but I'm trying for some sort of realistic effect. Even though I have no idea about things suggested in the original character design, like what happens when that top meets the hakama- whether it tucks in or what. I'm thrown by the fact that the obi seems to thread through or over a tab at the back of the hakama or something. Maybe it does tuck in. Any ideas?

Seeing as to give the background any sort of colouration I'd have to copy it into PS, I guess I'll give it a go at isolating the sketch lines to colour with a low opacity brush. I don't know how to do that in PS yet... but I can find out! ^^

Sid, you totally should! You should see how many complete fuck-ups were sent to the discard pile (I don't let myself throw old work away, so I can see changes over time) before I borrowed an anatomy book and drew this.

Er, I lost my thread because this post has been sitting here half-written for two days. Sorry. ^^'

for white hair, I would suggest use a low opacity of purple and maybe even some grey to accent the shadows of the hair (I would also use a narrow brush size to add some accent strands to make it look more like hair)


btw, it's nice to meet a fellow deviant. ^^

I was going to come in and suggest that very thing that Elfin just did. Not fair.

You on deviantart elfin? What's your account? I'm dawnnamira. You can find me stalking Pips and Sid and any Uryuu fanart.

I'm k3ybl4d3
most of my stuff in anime (though I can draw realistic stuff too, it's all just too big to fit on my scanner) -.-

Thanks for the tips! I added you. ^^
I'm thinking of using the pen tool to make shape blocks on different layers, then using the magic wand selecting that shape, going down to the sketch layer, copying the selection and colouring it in Corel, then copying it back via a .jpg. Suffice to say, it'll be a while before I'm happy with this one. ^^'

*~Pips~*