Basic CG: Preparation and Intro to Coloring

Written by: Wei-Ling Lorelai Wu
Please do not copy this tutorial without permission.

Part III: Coloring on the Computer

Now the fun begins!!! Let's start by doing some skintone. Create a new layer, underneath 'Outline' but above 'Background' and call it 'Skintone.'

Now you'll see why I recommended that you try to close all your lines while inking. If you did so, you can select the Paint Bucket, check the 'Use all Layers' option box, and fill in the basic parts with a flat color as a base. If you forgot to close some small gaps, fiddling with the 'Tolerance' level (also in the same options panel, upper right corner by default) and inputting a smaller number for less tolerance of line breaks. If the gap is too large, I'd fill in the holes with the same color I want to floodfill the area with, and then rely on the 'Use all Layers' to automatically treat the patched work as part of the borders when filling in large areas. If absolutely nothing works due to special circumstances, it's time to color in by hand...in which I hope you have good mouse control and patience! ^_^;;;

Now let's add some variety! Click the top color box and change the skintone to a slightly darker shade. Using the airbrush tool - choose your opacity and brushsize according to what you need - give volume to your artwork by estimating where the skin would be darker due to shadow and lighting sources. it's usually a good guess that since the human body is very curved, skin will be darker along the outline/edges.

Using this technique, keep progressing to darker shades of skintone (as many times as you think necessary) and also make sure you add some lighter shades and white highlights for the ultimate 'finishing' touch. ^___^ You can switch from darker/lighter and even use the 'Smudge' tool to blend as much as you want. Obviously I'm not teaching you cell-style coloring in this tutorial, but if you want to color cell-style, simply choose the 'Paintbrush' option instead of airbrush, and keep distinctive lines between your varying skintones/highlights.

Continue to Part IV: Shiny Shiny!