How do you color your comics?

[keac]

When digitally, I use the bucket tool. But I think it ruined my drawing, with one pixel showing up. I'm using a raster layer. I was using Clip Studio Paint.

I think I am having problems with coloring, especially when creating some shadows, etc. So I'm asking this. I see comics that are colored neatly.

I can't explain this much. After I ink using a G-pen, I used the bucket tool to color it. Then after that, when I zoom in, I see white spots/pixels like this:

[naemeum]

I use CSP too with the color bucket and raster layer but after I've done using the bucket, I go through the places that I suspect the bucket didn't get and use a marker to fill the spots. Also when I do shading, I put it in the clipped layer so I notice parts that the bucket didn't get by the color difference

[carloswebcomic]

I'm failing to picture what you did wrong here. Can you post a picture so we can see what you did wrong? That way we can give you advise on how to fix it.

[mg78]

i used PS most of the time, but also GIMP and corel draw a lot of time ago...

[AnnaLandin]

I use Manga Studio 5 (i.e: Clip Studio Paint, only with a different name), and I usually organise my files in such a way that I've got my lines on one layer, my colours on another layer (below the lines), and my shadows on a third layer. That way, I can change things and fix mistakes without messing up any of the stuff I've got on other layers.

I don't think we can really help you with your particular problem if we don't get to see a picture of what you're trying to do, though. : )

[niinasalmelin]

Watercolours. It takes a while but I think it's worth it when I see the end result.

[gateofselidor]

To get my flat colours neat, I use the magic wand tool to highlight the area I want to colour, expand it by two pixels (I use a ten pixel brush with medium pressure sensitivity), and then fill on the layer below. Afterwards, I manually paint in all the stray pixels.

[keac]

@carloswebcomic @AnnaLandin I just edited the topic then I uploaded the photo of what I meant.

[R.n.P]

I use photoshop for my webcomic coloring http://tapastic.com/series/THE-LAST-SAMURAI http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-last-samurai/list?title_no=15779 though i only use it for front pages since I'm studying medicine n have to make up a lot of time for reading

[lizm]

For me, the key to neat coloring is resizing. As long as I draw in a (much) higher resolution than what the end result is supposed to be, it's really easy to create an illusion of neat and clean work.

100% zoom on my pages looks terrible. It's all over the place. But when I resize from 3541x5016 px to 706x1000 px most of the issues just magically disappear.

[eschaefges]

I think the issue is that you are using the fill tool to color in the same layer as the inks. This creates ARTIFACTS because the black blends to the white with a series of gray tones that are hard to see to the naked eye.

What most comic colorists do (in the american industry, at least), is this:

1) have a layer with just the inks
2) put a layer underneath with the colors
3) put various layers as needed for special effects.

BUT you may say: does that mean i need to fill in each layer by hand? Not necessarily- there are a few tricks for this. First, there are apps like BPelt which flatten/multifill a layer (basically, it takes this:

and turns it into this:

Then you can overlay a layer of black inks on top of it, and VOILA: no 'artifacts' of gray that are in your coloring.

You can use the paint bucket with ease, and pick your colors, then add extra areas the tool missed (cause they weren't a solid section of space with no gaps). Then add shading, flourishes, etc:

Second, you can use the SELECTOR tool combined with the EXPAND tool (with 2-3 pixels set) to grab a section of an image, and paint underneath it without having those artifacts, cause you are painting SLIGHTLY OVERLAPPING the black areas.

If neither of these help, look around online for How To Get Rid of Artifacts Coloring Comics and you should see some better tutorials.

Good luck!

[Jabbage]

Soooo pleased to hear someone else say this! I always feel like my art is so messy because it looks pretty rough if I zoom in a lot... but then that's why I make my canvas huge to start off with.

[Jabbage]

I have a long guide about how I colour my comic here, but a shortened version is that I paint flat colours and then add details to key areas like fabrics, hair and skintones -

Then I go to my big library of watercolour textures and paste them into new layers, and set them to overlay/multiply/screen/whatever happens to look best in that particular occasion.

I add cell shading in a new multiply layer, in whatever colour is most suitable for the scene. Beige seems to work well for overcast exteriors, but in candlelight or magical lighting I get more adventurous.

I also colour my lineart sometimes as a finishing touch, especially to create a sense of depth.

[winglesscomic]

easy mode

if theres a single spot open then i gotta go fix it!!!!!! then its multiply time mothafucka

[Nizkel_kotzca]

get very experience with "Magic Wand" in your tools in paint program, and it'll lock in the barrel. and you can color within the ink lines.

[joannekwan]

Shit, maybe I should try the magic wand + expand selection thing, I've just been using the polygonal lasso tool this whole time.
-_-

[carloswebcomic]

I can't explain this much. After I ink using a G-pen, I used the bucket tool to color it. Then after that, when I zoom in, I see white spots/pixels like this:

Ok, you have anti-aliasing enabled. Disable it. This causes the the outlines to have fuzzy edges to avoid jagged looks (just like in games).
This causes the colours not to fill in correctly.

What you can do is, once you finished the outline of you comic, covert it to monochrome in the 'Layer Property'.
Remember to press on 'Apply expression of colour of preview to layer'. This will give you clean black lines. Once you've done that, convert your layer back to colour and then start using the bucket to colour in your image.

Here's a tutorial that explains your situation: http://tompreston.deviantart.com/art/Tutorial-Antialias-and-coloring-288432411

[jessiepolfliet]

A neat trick that I recently learned is: select the outside of the lines instead of selecting what area you want to color. Than do inverse and you won't miss a spot. Hope it helps.

[CaptainUfo]

Definetly what @eschaefges says. I don't know how Clip Studio Paints work, but if you can have multiple layers, put the inks on it's own layers. And never use the backsround one for colors, keep it white.

What I do in Photoshop:

• If pencils and inks are on paper and scanned, make sure using the curves and contrast tool that the black is truly black rather than some dark shade of something; then duplicate that layer and call it "inks", fill the background with white or whatever base texture I want to use and set the new ink layer to multiply.
  If you work 100% digital, then of course put the inks on their separate layer from the get go. In this case you can avoid setting the ink layer to multiply. Someone likes to unlock the background level, but that's not required unless you need a transparent background for some reason.

• Put the flat colors on it's own layer. Use the magic wand and expand the selection of a couple of pixels so that the colors go under the antialias, otherwise you'll get this weird grey artifacts between the ink and the colors due to the antialiasing. Most likely you'll still need to go back and fix some tiny corners that ended up not selected because of the antialiasing on the inks, it's quite normal. Do fix them, though, because they'll stick out badly one the image is done.

• It might be wise to put different levels of the pictures on different layers (closeups, foreground, background, etc). It'll help if you're going to make a quick shading because then you can easily select each part via shortcut.

• Put shades, light and effects each on it's onw layer. For shading, if you're ok with anime-style tone-sur-tone shading and want something that's not exactly super high quality but still effective, you can use pure gray (any percentage of K in the color mixer without anything else) on a level set to multiply. In the end the values of the shades won't be 100% right and the atmosphere might be somewhat lacking (though the color of the lights and the semitones - if that's how they are called in English - have a greater impact on that), but it might be good enough depending on what you're aiming for.

[Shanny8]

there is an option on using the lasso/magic wand to expand the selection field- I use that often when digitall inking pieces, so that it inks EVERYTHING right up to the line art; that way there are no "spots" where the ink(or color in your case) was applied with the paint bucket...and in case that doesnt work, I always come back and "double tap" with a brush- just to make sure.