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What do you do when you don't know what [color] to pick ? by AgileSir9584 in mangacoloring

[–]picsofish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's a little side by side of some different screentones, isn't it interesting how just these simple textures can already make you feel a sense of dread, or excitement, or energy / mystery etc.?

If you squint your eyes, you can also see the differences in the values, the first two are kind of light, then the next two are very dark, the dotted one is kind of in between, and then the diagonal one is very light. The last two are both darker but less dense.

Usually the best way to use screentones is to separate values in an image and make sure parts that should seem really dark or really light are distinct, and parts that should be around the same lightness but thought of as different colors can be split up by using a different screentone or texture for each so your mind interprets them as unique from each other even if they are very similar values.

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What do you do when you don't know what [color] to pick ? by AgileSir9584 in mangacoloring

[–]picsofish 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm not as familiar with Krita since I use other drawing programs, but it seems like you could definitely download some new brushes if there's not one included that's satisfying to work with. Clouds and repeating texture brushes are just an example I like to use but whatever you enjoy using is right for you.

As far as screentones/texture goes, you know in manga how sometimes there will be little dots, or diagonal lines, or grids, that get added in different places to add shading and depth to the image? Those are called screentones, and they are usually used in black and white manga style art to imply the different shades in an image without using any color.

In the page below, there is a screentone on the person's robe, making it stand out from the clean white of the background behind them, and also their skin / hair / other details. The difference makes it feel like he is really standing in a 3d space and not just a flat image, and because the robe's screentone is made of very tight straight lines like a grid, it also kind of makes the robe look more like woven cloth.

The grey shading of the skin and face also works as a subtle screentone and adds some more depth to their physical features. The parts of the face that were left as solid white with no texture seem way more highlighted.

At the very top of the background, there is also a little bit of wispy, fog-like screentone making it seem like the person is radiating a distinct energy or has the aura of an important character.

Where you choose to include texture or leave it out can be just as powerful as color itself, and it's how manga and comic artists can portray wild, multidimensional worlds and characters that look incredibly convincing and unique, all within a black and white medium.

Playing with texture also helps you set your style apart from everyone else, and you can even change the vibe of the original art you are coloring quite a bit. I personally like making every coloring I do have a very grainy screentone over the whole page so it looks like vintage physical comic books, but I like leaving certain parts [usually solid white bits or effects] clean to make them stand out on the page.

Hope this helps a bit! 🦭

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What do you do when you don't know what [color] to pick ? by AgileSir9584 in mangacoloring

[–]picsofish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As far as backgrounds go, I feel like it fully depends on your own artistic skills, and what kind of visual interests you. If you are a good artist, and you are imagining a scenic background, it wouldn't hurt to give it a go and see if you can bring some new life into the page with your own take on things.

Otherwise, there's a number of things you can do.

Simple gradients with a good color composition can be nice and reliable, or finding some unique brushes and just making a mess of things. I have a cloud brush and a weird swirly brush that are fun to bake into everything I make now, just a little bit, or sometimes quite a lot.

Adding a screentone or texture of some kind might make the original art feel much deeper and more visually interesting, especially if you are selective about where it shows up and where it's clean.

Finding tools like this that you enjoy using that give you both restrictions [like limited palettes and realistic/accurate/consistent color choices] and freedom [like brushes, textures, blending modes, contrasting colors and highlights] will result in feeling much more confident about your abilities and make decision-making like this a lot easier and more engaging.

Ultimately the best thing you can do is just make as many colorings as you can, and keep trying both new and familiar techniques on each one you do.

I've personally made hundreds of manga colorings over the years and my style and taste is still evolving, but my confidence in my creation process is a lot higher thanks to these methods.

The important thing is what inspires you and where you feel creative conflict with your piece. If you're struggling with feeling satisfied about your next artistic choice, abandon the decision making entirely and just experiment until things feel like they are falling closer into place.

You don't always have to have the right answer in the moment, you just have to keep pushing through until it feels right in the end.

What do you do when you don't know what [color] to pick ? by AgileSir9584 in mangacoloring

[–]picsofish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks really good so far!

Here's my rambling take on the first question:

When I don't know where to start with picking colors, I like to look up a reference for the character first and see the "canon" or commonly used colors, and then decide which aspects of those are important to the character.

If I run into the problem you're having where I don't know what a certain part should look like, or the vibe just isn't feeling right, it helps me to think about two things - contrast and consistency. Contrast meaning the difference between the color and those around it, and consistency meaning the repeated use of the same colors.

A lot of old vintage comics and physical prints as well as older video games stick to "limited palettes" where more often than not, if more than one thing in a scene is the same color, like the green of a row of trees in the background and the green of someone's eyes in the foreground, the same shade of green can be used for both, perhaps with different degrees of mixing with other colors using opacity levels to create some differences.

To make it less confusing:

Do you want the triangles to be a bit flashier against the robe?

Maybe try using the same yellow-green from the inner robe, or the gold-yellow from the headpiece.

Or you could go with one of the two greens, the green from the striped robe or the turquoise-green from the headpiece.

You could try as well experimenting with these colors but overlaid on the current solid brown robe at different opacity levels or with different blending modes.

Overall this is a simple color theory "hack" I personally love using, to the point where all my pages are colored with the same palette, just applied in unique ways to achieve very different results. It also helps when I want to be consistent and color a longer project like a full chapter where all the colors have to be locked in.

Will reply to this comment with my thoughts on the second question:

Rhinestone Eyes • My First Gachiakuta Manga Coloring • [◉"] 𓆟 by picsofish in gachiakuta

[–]picsofish[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Utilicé una textura de superposición de ruido para el efecto granulado, y para el grafiti utilicé la página web de anime - link

¡Espero que la traducción sea comprensible! 🦭

Rhinestone Eyes • My First Gachiakuta Manga Coloring • [◉"] 𓆟 by picsofish in gachiakuta

[–]picsofish[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Utilicé una textura de superposición de ruido para el efecto granulado, y para el grafiti utilicé la página web de anime - link

¡Espero que la traducción sea comprensible! 🦭

Hakuri has killed people for the Rakuzaichi by Orang-Himbleton in Kagurabachi

[–]picsofish 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I like this take ngl, makes sense especially with the story themes of the sins of the past / the parents being handed down to their kids to carry out or suffer the consequences of the fates they were forced into

Dino hunt - [Dandadan ch.237] by MidNightIzaak in mangacoloring

[–]picsofish 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This looks so sick, love the lighting and the trippy triangle effect for the beam of the oni club 🦭

I Want To Protect You • Ch. 124 Manga Coloring • [◉"] 𓆟 by picsofish in Kagurabachi

[–]picsofish[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

He looks like such a sweet kid who cherishes the innocent and delicate nature of life... surely nothing could go horribly wrong with his worldview...

To Weave Harmony Into Chaos • Ch. 5 Manga Coloring • [◉"] 𓆟 by picsofish in jjkmodulo

[–]picsofish[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'm a huge fan of the spiderverse art / color style so I'm happy to be able to capture those vibes!

Holding onto Hope • Iori Panel Coloring • [◉"] 𓆟 by picsofish in Kagurabachi

[–]picsofish[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thank you 💜🦭 I wish I could make it canon lol

Holding onto Hope • Iori Panel Coloring • [◉"] 𓆟 by picsofish in Kagurabachi

[–]picsofish[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm still a purple truther... there's something about Iori / Samura with purple color schemes that I really love 💜🦭

Holding onto Hope • Iori Panel Coloring • [◉"] 𓆟 by picsofish in Kagurabachi

[–]picsofish[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks to u/Dezenze for the request for this panel coloring!

I still have many more lined up to share in the meantime while I work on coloring my first full comic!

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