How. Does. She. DO IT? *Amber's Coloring*

[MaskedRetriever]

I mean, here's my best effort at Fa'lina's coloring but it's just NOT up to her standards..  She's good, what can I say?


Also, does fanart go here?

*edited to get a .jpg in instead of 8-bit png, which mangled it pretty bad*

[Zedd]

Dont worry soon Amber will answer that..If she rises from her gwave...

[RJ]

Cel-shading is teh ebil. But then, soft shading can be even worse....

[MaskedRetriever]

That's onna the things that makes Amber's gorgeous style so hard to replicate-- it's a harmonious synnergy between softshading (look at Fa'lina's hair, wings) and harder, cel-like shading techniques.  It's... beautiful.

[Zedd]

Well least moments we can see you tried...But if your gonan try draw myself..Their are only a few hits to rember by

[MaskedRetriever]

Huh?  No, I did the inks, too.  I'm just waaaaaaaaay worse at coloring than Amber is.

[Amber Williams]

Well if it's any consolidation...I been mind-numbingly colouring for a while...and I tend to colour big.

Danger Danger! High voltage!...er...big file I mean...

This is a single frame at 100% size when I'm colouring just before I shrink it down to normal size.

Bask. Bask in the horror. HORROR I say!

[Kasarn]

SAVED
*posts to Fchan*

[Amber Williams]

*waves her cane* stop posting my artz on them chans dangit! If I wanted buttheads reading my comic I'd start attempting advertising or those toplists! 

[Aridas]

big huh? So you cheat, so everything looks nice and fine when it gets shrunk down to postage stamp size but really it was all rough around the edges til then >.>

[Manawolf]

That doesn't explain how well she makes the colors mix and swirl together.

See second panel.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Gaussian Blur FTW!

[Amber Williams]

big huh? So you cheat, so everything looks nice and fine when it gets shrunk down to postage stamp size but really it was all rough around the edges til then >.>

I'm not sure how a standard practice is considered cheating.  Most artists I know of scan at around 300-600 DPI when they are going to digital-colour or do any type of manipulation because that's about the default for proper printing size.

[Aridas]

*points at some random people on the forum* They don't! You have to be like them or it's CHEATING

[xHaZxMaTx]

big huh? So you cheat, so everything looks nice and fine when it gets shrunk down to postage stamp size but really it was all rough around the edges til then >.>

I'm not sure how a standard practice is considered cheating.  Most artists I know of scan at around 300-600 DPI when they are going to digital-colour or do any type of manipulation because that's about the default for proper printing size.

Sure, that's how I colour.  Even if the pic is small to begin with, resizing it to larger dimensions, colouring, then shrinking to the original size has the same effect.  Also, layers are your best friend.

[MaskedRetriever]

It's the geometric *smartness* of the coloring work that impresses me most; there's so much thought in where the individual little blobs of color go...  Just wow.  Although I should've tried coloring this at huge zoom levels...

Amber, are you using Lighten and Darken layers or just coloring in four or five intermediate shades per area?

[Turnsky]

big huh? So you cheat, so everything looks nice and fine when it gets shrunk down to postage stamp size but really it was all rough around the edges til then >.>

I'm not sure how a standard practice is considered cheating.  Most artists I know of scan at around 300-600 DPI when they are going to digital-colour or do any type of manipulation because that's about the default for proper printing size.

she's right, i generally scanned at around 600 dpi... nowadays i just open up at 300 dpi and draw straight into photoshop..

offhand i'd say her shading technique consists of judicious use of the lasso tools.

[RJ]

*points at some random people on the forum* They don't! You have to be like them or it's CHEATING

I'm restricted on what size because of my evil computer. Though, I did Janus' picture at a freaking huge size and it killed me. DX

[Silverfoxr]

*yoinks for referance* i color all my stuffat 300dpi so ya you do need a lot of ram for it work cokies

[Tapewolf]

This is a single frame at 100% size when I'm colouring just before I shrink it down to normal size.
Bask. Bask in the horror. HORROR I say!

[Snaffles the safety master]
Please sir, may I have some more?

[ShiningShadow]

I mean, here's my best effort at Fa'lina's coloring but it's just NOT up to her standards..  She's good, what can I say?


Also, does fanart go here?

*edited to get a .jpg in instead of 8-bit png, which mangled it pretty bad*

I like it it's very good don't go to be like Amber she has a style is different. Try your style is different interpetation of Falina. I like it that my opinion, Amber styles is a lot of work but in the end it's a cool as we all seen so far.

[Azraelle]

I work at large sizes too; though my work is usually digital from the get-go.  I'm still working on the paper-to-digital transfer, since my tablet seems to like acting really strange lately and make my computer freeze up.

Working at large sizes when starting digitally helps to keep the jittery lines to a minimum as well.

[Gabi]

My main question is how she manages to shade like that... Just look at the dress and the wings!

[Amber Williams]

Turnskey got some of it right.  My colouring tends to be mainly a combo of lasso, pencil, and fill tool. (With the occasional filter and airbrush)  I guess the main trick lies in knowing what and where to put the shades and highlights on things...and that is something that generally just takes time, practice, and a bit of know-how.

[Turnsky]

Turnskey got some of it right.  My colouring tends to be mainly a combo of lasso, pencil, and fill tool. (With the occasional filter and airbrush)  I guess the main trick lies in knowing what and where to put the shades and highlights on things...and that is something that generally just takes time, practice, and a bit of know-how.

you beat me to it before i dissected. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

My main question is how she manages to shade like that... Just look at the dress and the wings!

I would guess at lasso, and then lighten the colours inside.

ie, colour in a standard flood, then, as the whim takes you, select areas to lighten. On the wings, I'm not sure if you'd start with plain maroon, and lighten to pink, or put pink patterns on, and just lighten the maroon to show highlights...

'course, there's a lot of artistic capability, and experience, in there. I mean, her style has been something she's been working on for, what, 6-7 years now? (hard-core, I mean, with tri-weekly updates or other art - working most days, sort of thing) You do anything for that length of time, with that amount of concentration, you're going to get good enough to do some stuff effortlessly that people can't figure out, easily, how you do it. *shrug*

Heck, it wouldn't surprise me if Amber herself was unaware of some of the things she does, or at least why. "it just looks better that way" or the like...

Edit: Hey, what do you know... :-)

[Amber Williams]

If I recall, Prof. Bambi took the time to save one of my older tutorials on colouring...

It should be HERE

Though I admit I am not sure if it's up to date.

[ShiningShadow]

Cool I will use it as a refrence point for my drawings and make them a little better*I hope*.

[Jim Halisstrad]

I always thought that Amber used supercharged crayons.
My boyish dreams have been forever shattered. 


Also, notes saved in case I ever try my hand at drawing again.

[Prof B Hunnydew]

As far as I know it is still there... with the picture examples...

But a general rule with Amber/other artists is to work at about twice as large as the final piece and than shrink it after you are finished coloring and shading by about %50... 

Do you also change the DPI of the picture during sizing?

I am working on making my ink drawings larger and the line work thicker and detail.  So that when you shrink it some of lines will not disappear so much.  I also trying to refine my clean-ups steps better after scanning.  So that fills are cleaner and the jpg doesn't end up so noisy...

I do have a question, Amber, when do you add text and speak bubbles?(before or after resizing) and do you have a  special font for the comic?.. I have use default fonts and they seem to get out of focus by the final stages.

PBH