Luna Coloring Practice

[Veritum 257]

Pulled up a pseudo-drawing I had from a while ago and decided to practice shading and coloring on it. Sorry for quality, it got a little compressed in the process of uploading it here

 

Also her face is a bit too far out, was too lazy to fix since I just wanted to practice coloring.

 

EDIT: Newer version with better(?) shading below the original.

 

EDIT: Third iteration o_O

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've been trying to improve my shading/coloring techniques so... Critiques please :3

Edited September 21, 2015 by qMotus

[Melon Blitz 423]

Looks nice, what program are you using to save out the files?

[DashYoshi 9,565]

Luna looks quite good in this picture you made. I love how you made her mane look here. I also like the shading and lighting on her. Good work.

[Veritum 257]

Looks nice, what program are you using to save out the files?

 

I draw and do basic coloring in sai then bring it into photoshop to do complex shading like this, so it's exported by photoshop. If you're asking because of the compression, that was my bad, may have lowered the jpg quality a bit too much

 

In fact I'll probably redo it quick.

 

Alright, re-uploaded with better quality

Edited September 20, 2015 by qMotus

[Melon Blitz 423]

I draw and do basic coloring in sai then bring it into photoshop to do complex shading like this, so it's exported by photoshop. If you're asking because of the compression, that was my bad, may have lowered the jpg quality a bit too much

 

In fact I'll probably redo it quick.

 

Alright, re-uploaded with better quality

Yeah the quality looks TONS better.

 

For the painting, I think you should focus on your control of values. You can turn the piece black and white to check values and really try to separate light and dark areas. The whole piece is kinda close in value right now, so nothing really stands out. Also, you can flip your canvas horizontally to get "fresh eyes" on it to see mistakes easier.

[Veritum 257]

Yeah the quality looks TONS better.

 

For the painting, I think you should focus on your control of values. You can turn the piece black and white to check values and really try to separate light and dark areas. The whole piece is kinda close in value right now, so nothing really stands out. Also, you can flip your canvas horizontally to get "fresh eyes" on it to see mistakes easier.

 

 

I completely forgot about checking values with grayscale

 

Thanks for the advice!

Yeah the quality looks TONS better.

 

For the painting, I think you should focus on your control of values. You can turn the piece black and white to check values and really try to separate light and dark areas. The whole piece is kinda close in value right now, so nothing really stands out. Also, you can flip your canvas horizontally to get "fresh eyes" on it to see mistakes easier.

 

Sorry to bother you if you're in the middle of anything, but I've tweaked it a bit (under the original). I think I may have gone a little overboard with the contrast, but in your opinion does it seem any better?

[PROJECT: Simon 3,955]

She is incredibly adorable!!    <3 <3  

[Guncakes 80]

This looks amazing, great work by another great artist. 

[Melon Blitz 423]

I completely forgot about checking values with grayscale

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

Sorry to bother you if you're in the middle of anything, but I've tweaked it a bit (under the original). I think I may have gone a little overboard with the contrast, but in your opinion does it seem any better?

 

I feel like it still looks the same as far as values are concerned. It looks like you changed the saturation more than changing the values.

you can see how it looks basically the same as far as values are concered when it's turned black and white^

 

Saturation is how pure or concentrated a color is (like how blue Luna's neck is in the top one vs the second one how her neck looks faded out). Saturation and value are linked. If you change a colors saturation, it doesn't mean you will change its value (and vice versa). It's really tricky balancing saturation and value.

 

also thanks to iris_ for helping with the black and white example

Edited September 21, 2015 by Melon Blitz

[Veritum 257]

I feel like it still looks the same as far as values are concerned. It looks like you changed the saturation more than changing the values.

 

 

 

 

 

 

you can see how it looks basically the same as far as values are concered when it's turned black and white^

 

Saturation is how pure or concentrated a color is (like how blue Luna's neck is in the top one vs the second one how her neck looks faded out). Saturation and value are linked. If you change a colors saturation, it doesn't mean you will change its value (and vice versa). It's really tricky balancing saturation and value.

 

also thanks to iris_ for helping with the black and white example

 

Okay... I have one more attempt

 

Unless there's anything specifically wrong with it I'll probably stop editing this and carry any advice over to whatever I draw next xD

 

 

Also, just to make sure I know what I'm talking about, let's say we're talking about the RGB picker in Photoshop:

 

 

 

 This is an older version, just for example.

 

 

 

Sliding it vertically adjusts value, and sliding it horizontally adjusts saturation, right? In this case I almost entirely moved it vertically, though I did make adjustments to saturation (I think that's generally a good thing to do when working with light?)

Edited September 21, 2015 by qMotus

[Melon Blitz 423]

Okay... I have one more attempt

 

Unless there's anything specifically wrong with it I'll probably stop editing this and carry any advice over to whatever I draw next xD

 

 

Also, just to make sure I know what I'm talking about, let's say we're talking about the RGB picker in Photoshop:

 

 

 

 This is an older version, just for example.

 

 

 

Sliding it vertically adjusts value, and sliding it horizontally adjusts saturation, right? In this case I almost entirely moved it vertically, though I did make adjustments to saturation (I think that's generally a good thing to do when working with light?)

In general yes, moving up and down in the box will adjust value, and moving horizontally will adjust saturation. When you do this though, you tend to lose a lot of the punch that the deeper saturated color had (it makes the color look faded or dead). To counter this you can actually adjust the hue more while moving the saturation and value slightly. Here's an example of fire:

The value change is pretty intense while maintaining saturation. It's because the hue is also changing, from red to orange to yellow without killing the color and saturation from changing values.

 

I'd say you can call this Luna piece done and apply these ideas to newer pieces you make.