General Colouring Discussion

[chilipenguin]

Nice videos but I couldn't follo how he sets up his files. Seems like his flatting technique is a real timesaver but I don't have a clue how he is converting the images to a jag free bitmap. Any ideas?

[mygrimmbrother]

Interesting interview with Dave Stewart (of Hellboy & BPRD fame):

http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/09/28/dave-stewart-interview-coloring/

[Steven Denton]

When I started to take the idea of being a colourist more seriously a few years ago it was taking me 4 days to do each page. I was creating insanely complicated paths, masks and layer blends for every element of every frame. At the moment it probably takes me an average of 6 hours a page, depending on complexity. There isn't a lot of money in colouring so I would probably need to get that down to 3 hours a page for it to be practical for me to start pitching for work, not least because of the expected turnaround time. The work I have taken on so far has been creator owned so the deadlines are generally longer.

[Emperor]

Just thought this might be of interest, I stumbled across Alex Petretich's blog. He is effectively a droid, but not one that gets a credit in the prog - he has done flats for Dave Stewart's Dredd and Dylan Teague too. He has posted examples of the Dredd colouring here:

http://flatened.blogspot.com/2010/08/judge-dredd.html

That last example fits in with this step-by-step posted by the Dylbot:

http://dylansdrawingboard.blogspot.com/2010/06/another-page-step-by-step.html

If you are interested in that angle he has a lot of other examples on his blog.

[CrazyFoxMachine]

I want a flatter!

[mygrimmbrother]

CFM - A flatter what? Tummy? Me too

Steve - just read your last post - I'd say it currently takes me about a couple of days to colour a page, and like you I'm desperate to speed things up. I also find that, sometimes I struggle to recreate the same look and feel from page to page, which I suspect has something to do with the many textures I use and play about with, paint into and alter their opacitu and layer modes to achieve something that interests me. Matt Timson explained to that you've just got to be disciplined, which makes perfect sense, but then my stuff can often feel mechanical and lifeless. Tis a fine balancing act, and no mistake.

[Steven Denton]

I have exactly the same problem with textures and layering, what works on one image creates nothing but a mess on another. Layering and texturing is more Voodoo then science! One of the things that really slows me down is how much thought I put into the colours I use. If I'm doing a few pages using the same colour scheme things tend to speed up as I have normally made most of the big choices on the first page of the sequence.
I think speed tends to come with familiarity; you end up with colours and textures that you can go to without re-inventing the wheel every time.

[antodonnell]

Using images to create texture can be difficult to maintain and keep consistant over many pages. As mentioned by Steve building a familiar library that you can always use helps. I also recommend reading up on all the layer blend modes that are used in 2d programs. This understanding of how the blend modes interact with pixels below them will give you greater control over what you are doing.

[markchilly]

Hello,

Just about to start colouring in PS CS5, got a couple of questions if any one can help.

Is it better to work straight in CMYK, or RGB then convert to CMYK?

Which CMYK profile is best suited for comic book reproduction?  In PS CS5 it gives you loads of options, which one do you use?

Thanks,

Mark.

[radiator]

I work in RGB (Adobe 1998) for all Photoshop stuff I do, then convert to CMYK later on (I use the Iso Coated V2 profile).

You can work in CMYK preview mode (Apple/Ctrl+Y) while in RGB, that should help you to not go massively out of gamut.

[markchilly]

Hey,

Thanks for the reply Radiator!

Cheers

MC

[Bhuna]

Being fairly new to colouring and photoshop malarkey, is it better to colour in RGB then change to CMYK? I generally do everything in CMYK and then change it to RGB if it going up on the tinterweb!

Am I doing anything wrong or is it down to personal preference?

[Steven Denton]

I work in CMYK when it's going to be printed in CMYK, the print profile depends on what print profile the printers use as far as I am aware. I would only colour in RGB if I was working on graphics for the internet as RGB is set up for monitors and not printing. Converting RGB to CMYK can produce unpredictable results.

[Bhuna]

Cheers Steve. 

[flip-r mk2]

I bought myself HiFi Color for Comics at the start of the year , really good book about colouring with photoshop.


filip