Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Fineus on January 18, 2004, 05:27:39 pm

Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 18, 2004, 05:27:39 pm
Evening all, thought I'd show off my latest / first real attempt at Photoshop coloring:

(http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/naku.jpg)

Ink by "Hawk" of AppleGeeks, coloring by me. Open invite to be as critical as you all can be - I loved doing this but I'll never improve without outside opinion.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: an0n on January 18, 2004, 05:31:51 pm
You've been watching Donnie Darko, haven't you?
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Nico on January 18, 2004, 05:32:55 pm
hey, very cool :)
for the skin shading: don't use brown, use an orangish. Shhhhh, trust me :p
Oh, and drop the lense flare, it's really in the way and looks off. If the lil bunny as some reason to have a "shining" eye, find something else, coz it doesn't fit with the rest of the pic at all.
Also, I'm not a big fan of the "ink the eye along with the face". I know it's being done often, but I don't like, I prefer white eyes :p
There's a couple white spots left on the shirt that should be blue ;)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Sheepy on January 18, 2004, 05:36:59 pm
i dunno i like the dirty skin look, and the shiney eyes is the refrenceto donnie darko an0n mentioned, but yeah could loose that.

Some of the creases arnt shadowed properly if you know what i mean, but other than that it looks good to me.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Nico on January 18, 2004, 05:38:41 pm
well, I like the dirty skin look too, but I doubt that's what thunder was aiming for, so...
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 18, 2004, 05:53:12 pm
Thanks for the fast response, keep it coming! To answer the points:

Yep, Donnie Darko was the concept behind the rabbits eye (and that is the only feature of the image that has anything to do with Donnie Darko - if you find other references, I didn't deliberately put them in there). I guess the lens flare is a "some like it, some hate it" thing. I can see how it's entirely unnecessary outside of the Donnie Darko context - but the rabbit just needed something ;)

I rather liked the skins original color (which you can see under the dirt... perhaps she doesn't wash much, bless her). I didn't want to use a red/orange skin since every time I've ever done that it looks to vibrantly pink and somehow wrong. I'm happy with the skin - but can see where there's room for improvement.

They eyes turned out that way out of sheer luck - I was using the original for a reference (to colors and so on, since I didn't ink it and wasn't sure what belonged where). I rather like the doe-eyed look but again I could experiment with "proper" eyes.

I certainly know that parts of the shirt, skin and hair didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped - far to much/little highlight in places - also I need to work out "normal" looking skin since as you've already noticed - it looks like she's not had a shower for some time... which was not really the idea at all.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Nico on January 18, 2004, 06:08:32 pm
The orange is meant for shading, it should work well with that skin colour tone. Brown will always look like dirt, whatever you do, while orange will make it look like skin. The skin basic colour does not need to be changed, you know, I don't like pink skin either ;)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: icespeed on January 18, 2004, 08:04:24 pm
the colours look a bit abrupt in some places to me... maybe you could 'smudge' them more, blend them? like under her right eye, there's a line of light just above the shadow... that might be deliberate or not, but it looks a bit strange. and the shadow under her arm on her shirt doesn't seem to follow the creases. that looks kinda weird too... same applies to her pants...

that rabbit looks evil. it's probably the lens flare.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 19, 2004, 06:27:33 am
Yeah, overall the effect turned a bit "comicy" with its boldness. I know a good worker doesn't blame his tools but I think the time has come that I buy a Wacom drawing pad.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Nico on January 19, 2004, 06:34:30 am
Well, you CAN blame the tool when you're drawing with a mouse. It's horrible, isn't it? :D
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 19, 2004, 06:37:50 am
Yeah - I've never used a Wacom pad though - but there seems to be a consistency that all the good webcomic artists are using one. I think it'd be worth getting one, I'm sure I'm interested in this kind of thing and while a mouse is "ok".. it's not ever going to compare.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Turnsky on January 19, 2004, 06:54:00 am
That's a /nice/ color job Kal... kudos.. :yes:
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Gloriano on January 19, 2004, 08:37:06 am
Keep it Up! Kal:) :yes:
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Turnsky on January 19, 2004, 08:45:54 am
actually.. you'd get better results with shading the skin if you used an "overlay" or a "Multiply" layer in photoshop.. then you can tweak the opacity..:)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Gortef on January 20, 2004, 02:19:15 pm
Great work K. But I'm with Nico that the skin color could use more orange. The lenseflare doesn't bother that much in the end.

(the only thing is that... ... Naku=Naked in finnish :p )
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 20, 2004, 04:47:26 pm
Cheers for the feedback guys, I took the liberty of starting from scratch using different colors, again opinions would be welcome. Tried to go for a slightly more orange tint to the skin but I'm a tad worried that she came out.. well, black. Nothing wrong with this - but what color would I want to try if I wanted her white? That'd be nice to know :)
(http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/naku_2.jpg)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Sheepy on January 20, 2004, 04:54:29 pm
I have to say thats bloody good you know. The shading is much cleaner on this one and follows creases etc alot better.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Taristin on January 20, 2004, 05:22:46 pm
Really sunburned white... but not yet black. :p

I can actually make out something that didn't look like the arm on the other pic... so :yes:
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Drew on January 20, 2004, 09:49:55 pm
nah man she just looks like she has a really nice tan. But the pink hair? and the tear dosnt fit with the facial expression.


oh, and did you go and start you own clothing line? ;P
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Nico on January 21, 2004, 11:13:18 am
the tear coming from the middle of the eye looks very wrong. beware when you use mask, also: there's a line along her left arm w/o any shading. Always double-check your masks :)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Gloriano on January 21, 2004, 01:07:50 pm
:) :yes:  Keep it UP!:)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Gortef on January 22, 2004, 08:05:55 am
the second work is just great. The skin color is not black IMHO... it's just well tanned :)

if you'd like to have a "white" skin color then try starting from dark orange and then lighten it up... and you should see a good skin color
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 22, 2004, 10:30:01 am
Thanks guys, it's really encouraging that people like it :) If anyone has any similar ink work or whatever for me to try my hand at - I'm in the "lets get some experience going" stage, so any critisism, stuff I could color, whatever) would be welcome. Tah!
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Martinus on January 22, 2004, 12:43:36 pm
[color=66ff00]Kudos dude, only getting around to seeing this stuff now. :nod:
[/color]
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Taristin on January 22, 2004, 01:52:43 pm
...well, if you could do scalies, I'd probably try to donate something.

Actually, it just occurred to me, I haven't drawn anything very well i na little while...


*grumbles something about vasudan fighters for TVWP*
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Flipside on January 22, 2004, 02:33:45 pm
That second one is much much better in my opinion K, the first one looked a tiny bit like she had a beer belly ;) It's a pity that the head isn't tilted downwards a couple more degree (not your drawing, I know), since the absence of a mouth makes her look a bit 'odd' to me, but then, I don't watch much anime, so this may very well be the intended outcome ;)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Setekh on January 23, 2004, 10:35:46 pm
I love that, the second a little more than the second. I do like the tear there, though I can understand the criticisms of it - I still think it's a nice touch to her emotion. I noticed the system mechanic logo on her belt in the second one too, nice one. :D
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Nico on January 24, 2004, 07:18:17 am
I have nothing against the tear in itself, but it comes from the middle of the eye, it should come from an edge, or even better, a corner ( I guess you'd call it a corner too? ) of the eye. Plus it's gotta be white, not blue :)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 24, 2004, 08:59:05 am
It is coming from a corner - trouble is the eye itself is that same funky "straight into pupil" style. I was having some trouble with the whites so I left them out in this one untill I can nail the technique. Glad you like it though (and yeah, white... blue just seemed right ;))

I'll keep on trying though, thanks for the encouragement!
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Nico on January 24, 2004, 10:44:21 am
heh, why not posting the original, then we can do a little contest, everybody tries and colorize it? :)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: icespeed on January 26, 2004, 03:16:31 am
the point isn't for a competition, its for kalfireththunder to show off...

yeah, the pinkhaired girl looks cleaner. as in, colours. hmm... my skin's darker than hers and im not black, so there you go. i quite liked the tear, though it seems very- thick? like cream, i mean.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Fineus on January 26, 2004, 05:18:38 am
Mmm, the tear was from scratch so I wasn't really sure where it would go, I agree that it looks rather dodgy but I'm happy with it for a first attempt.

Anyway, here's where the plot thickens - a link to the original file, along with other attempts from the AppleGeeks community:

http://www.applegeeks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Turnsky on January 26, 2004, 05:22:30 am
bah, i'll give it a go meself ;)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Turnsky on January 26, 2004, 07:17:06 am
(http://nodewar.penguinbomb.com/aotd/Turnsky/Sketches/naku.jpg)
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Rictor on January 27, 2004, 05:10:40 pm
Amazing, all of it. teh roxxor. Wish I could colour like that.

As for the stuff on Applegeeks, my favourites are the very first one, and then the one right before Turnsky's post.
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: icespeed on January 28, 2004, 05:15:06 am
Hey Turnsky, the skin's really nice, but her hair's a bit blotchy...
Title: Coloring Work: Naku
Post by: Turnsky on January 28, 2004, 05:23:55 am
Quote
Originally posted by icespeed
Hey Turnsky, the skin's really nice, but her hair's a bit blotchy...


meh.. it was meant to be like that..:p