How do I color when I hate coloring?

elyss 2020-01-25 19:02:00 UTC #1

I just finished inking my first chapter, and now I have to color it... right? The thing is, I hate coloring with a passion, and while I've managed to do some monochromatic colors for a short thing here:

I can't fathom doing that much for the actual story. Especially considering how the first chapter is 33 pages. Here's an example page of what it looks like bare:

Do you guys have any recommendations/examples of how I can add just enough color to make my story readable?

Rhonder 2020-01-25 19:08:34 UTC #2

I'm sure you've probably considered this already but- you could always just... not color? Grayscale and even pure Black and white are always options too! That said, if you were to go with either of those (especially B&W) you would want to still make sure to add some dark areas to panels for contrast, and potentially shade or hatch a little (but not necessarily) but it's a way to avoid coloring if you aren't a fan of the process or look

Alexandritea 2020-01-25 19:08:44 UTC #3

I honestly like the monochromatic look and i think it suits the drawn style !
If you want something else but flat colours I can recommend photo textures. Some might concider that cheating, but I concider it smart when used right. Of course you don't have to add a full picture as a texture. But for example just a textile picture of the desired cloth texture you want to add to clothes could increase the quality of the frames a lot.

It could honestly also be abstract, or some noise in the background to obscure it to help the characters pop out more.

If you're not a fan of either method, please disregard my comment

unknown_user 2020-01-25 19:13:08 UTC #4

I think that monochromatic look is nice, too ✿ڿڰۣ—

Birbmagadon 2020-01-25 19:15:10 UTC #5

You could try crosshatching or "dot shading" as well, if you'd like to experiment something different. It would probably require some changes in your style to fit in the new stuff but it can be a nice experiment.

Here is some introduction to this if you wish : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIIpEuLxsiI

I know it's not a "color" suggestion but hey, sometimes it's worth suggesting new stuff I guess

IndigoShirtProd 2020-01-25 19:15:19 UTC #6

You can always pay someone else to do it .

But seriously, like @Rhonder said black and white is a good option or even no color at all. But if you insist on color, the monochromatic example looks great, though a few darker shades wouldn't hurt.

elyss 2020-01-25 19:22:14 UTC #7

I plan on paying someone in the future, my color it now is more a place holder until I have the funds.

elyss 2020-01-25 19:32:46 UTC #8

I'm all about exploits I'll give the texture thing a try @Alexandritea

@Rhonder and @BirbandDragon I'll revisit the idea. I did it in high school a lot with ink and dry brush.

Tanako 2020-01-25 19:51:51 UTC #9

honestly i feel you but thats just want comes with being a independent artist really. just like you said before, i think it's a great idea to pay someone. just look around to see if anyone will do it for how ever much you can afford. I am not into coloring as well and right now i have a decent amount of work sitting in line art form lol.
realistically, you could just post only line art however, you run the risk of not getting as much viewers as you'd hope. thats all.

gempompadour 2020-01-25 19:54:43 UTC #10

I really like the monochromatic look. How much time did it take to color that page? Is it a time issue or do you hate coloring itself even if you could finish a page in 5 minutes? Coloring is surprisingly hard (gotta select good color combos, values etc.) and time consuming so I understand anyone who doesn't like it.

rajillustration 2020-01-25 22:24:01 UTC #11

I do grayscale so I feel you. Grayscale is an artform in itself though, and while it's way less time consuming than coloring the whole thing, quite a bit of work has to go into designing it so it still flows without relying on color to guide your eye. I've been using digital screen tone and that's been a fun thing to learn and looks really neat when it's right (though there aren't too many tutorials on design rules with screen tone so for me it's been a learning experience of trial and error). And personally most of the comics I tend to like have few to no colors at all.

But, I do think that if you don't want to do color, you have to really think a lot more about dynamic layouts and really expressive characters. When the color isn't there to light a scene, your linework has to do all of the heavy lifting. Coloring and rendering hides a lot of linework flaws. Can't hide anywhere when it's linework.

There are some things you might want to check out if you want to go into color, though. Like there's the plug in "MultiFill" plugin for Photoshop (I can't use it because I hate closing lines, but I think it would work for you) and Clip Studio Paint has autofill abilities that work pretty OK.

Here's the link to the plug-in because a lot of Photoshop people don't know about it, and it's pretty good. Multifill is free, and FlattenPro (which is REALLY useful for comics) does cost money. But Multifill is free.

https://peltmade.com/psplugins-flatting.html

Only issue with Multifill is that it does require a line without any gray but most comic people draw like that anyway.

JerrodStorm 2020-01-26 00:27:24 UTC #12

I purposely keep my comics extremely simple for that reason. I like coloring, but it's definitely the most time-consuming part if the background is even remotely complex.

I also set up a "color palette layer" that has the color for the most common characters/objects that I can just drop into my procreate painting from comic to comic. Saves time and effort.

Color's something I do when I am looking for abnegation. Pop in headphones, turn on your favorite let's play channel, and zone out.

LovelyOtter 2020-01-26 00:40:47 UTC #13

Maybe choose a cool color palette? That could make it more fun.

elyss 2020-01-26 01:09:20 UTC #14

It takes me about half an hour a page, which isn't that long I know, but yeah I just hate the act of coloring.

joannekwan 2020-01-26 07:31:22 UTC #15

One of my comics only uses 4 shades of grey (not counting the black linework). And I apply them to add a bit of depth, contrast, or to show something is distinctly dark.

And with only four shades to choose from, I don't have to do much mental acrobatics to pick amongst them, only to keep clothes and such consistent from page to page in a scene.

Hodge 2020-01-26 23:14:16 UTC #16

Texture + soft edges + layer mixing + gradient maps (+ automated coloring)

There's this concept where as long as your values work, the colors could even be arbitrary and still work. Its a bit difficult at first cause we tend to immediately think "tree is green, sky is blue, etc." but you can really push things like the mood or light. I recommend just experimenting with all sorts of techniques and looking at what other artists do until you find something you like.

Eightfish 2020-01-27 03:29:21 UTC #17

It's possible to make shading with only one color/hue look nice. You'd probably have to use thicker lines and way more black shadows though for it to look finished and balanced.

If you really hate shading this is probably much easier than what other people have suggested.

Examples of comics I know of that have done this:

elyss 2020-01-27 03:37:14 UTC #18

Funnily enough I was looking into Flowr Eater and Puppeteer as well

Tulmut 2020-01-27 09:02:54 UTC #19

Monochrome with 8 bit layers, and use tone to create depth and contrast

Cavechan 2020-01-27 12:22:36 UTC #20

I like the monochromatic one. I also hate coloring but my comic is manga-style which is thankfully black and white (no gray). You'd be surprised about how much you can do with just two colors.