How does everyone color their comics?

[abigailkbacilla]

Oh wow, a lot of people on here hand-color their stuff...

@gateofselidor I use photoshop too, and since I publish 5 pages a week, it's hard for me to get detail in. How do you fill in the flat colors? Do you just use the paintbucket tool or do you color it on a layer under the lineart (assuming that you use lineart)?

[Delete]

I thought when I looked at your work it was watercolors! I think watercolors create such a great effect for comics but yeah it is important to adjust the images on photoshop because the light of the scanner really changes how it looks compared to how it looks in person.

[SandraMJ]

With hatred and haste. Now for real, with my 13HD Cintiq and Photoshop, but I don't have a standard way of doing so, other than starting with flats and then shading.

[DeadAccount]

Manga Studio has a better paint bucket tool than PS, so I use that, and then just use a hard brush for details. I also use more painterly brushes for some background/ambient stuff. It's a pain, though :V Maybe one day I'll hire someone to do it. One can dream.

[Diabolo]

I'm glad it shows!
I rarely adjust the colors digitally however. I'm lucky to have a scanner & software that give back great colors with very little need of editing. (a 10-something year old Epson Perfection 2400 Photo that I'd be very sad to lose)

The vast majority of pages in my comic have their colors untouched.

[tarableart]

Lasso tools and paint fill for basic colors first. Then I find a color of a similar value (only slightly darker or lighter) but either to the left or right of the color wheel (so if using yellow, go either orange or green depending upon the type of lighting the panel is using) and then I set a gradient for that object. Subtle gradients I've found make a big difference.

This same technique is good for your shadow layer too (I usually have a multiply layer set to a low opacity)- rather than have flat shadows, set a gradient from a lighter edge to a darker edge (shadows are often darker closer to light sources).

I also tend to have the lineart set to multiply and around 90% in opacity to absorb the color underneath and not look so stark and black against the colors. It definitely softens the lines up.

[gateofselidor]

I highlight areas in the same colour with the magic wand tool, expand it a couple of pixels and then fill on a layer below the lineart. Afterwards I go back and fill in any narrow points that it missed.

I wish I had the time to do five pages a week! I work full time Monday to Friday, so I have to dedicate my whole weekend to inking and colouring, otherwise I struggle to manage one.

[joannekwan]

First I do a line-art layer, then I create layers underneath for color. I select an area I want to color with the polygonal lasso tool and then I fill it in with the bucket or brush. After that's done, I'll color the lines, so nothing (as of yet) is straight black except for the text.

[HVOICE]

Copic markers!
The most digital work I do is enhancing the lighting and coloring, and the occasional stock background pattern.

[HVOICE]

To be more specific, I sketch out the drawing, ink it, then go over it with my markers.
Although I've noticed some artists coloring on top of just pencil work lately. I might try that someday.

[getsuart]

I use Photoshop basic brush tool for inking, then color with multiply and overlay layers. I like those modes.

[jessiepolfliet]

I have a drawing style were I use very thick lines. In painttol sai I select the areas I want to color and use a brush to do that. And then for each color I shade. But at other times I paint the entire thing grey and shade with black and white. Then I put another layer on top of it with color and use blendingmode: overlay.

[eagle1]

Inks, then Sumi ink washes, then I go multi-media, but mostly watercolours.

Eagle
(Traditional painting)

[AkaOkami]

Don't exactly use "colors". Rather, I just use different shades of gray.
Software wise, I favor GIMP mainly cause it's free and I've the most experience in this program.

[scullpanda]

I do but thats just a personal preference

[Zanreo]

I draw in SAI, and just Magic Wand my outlines, increment by one or two and put the color on a layer underneath.

[scythe]

With great love and dedication... and Photoshop.

[hades]

I'm a digital artist so all my coloring is done in Sai with some touch ups in PS
As to how detailed I go depends on the panel itself and how much time I want people to stare at it.

can go from flats w/ some gradients

to more detailed shading

Color is very important to me as a person and artist, so I use it heavily in my work.

[justjezz]

Here's my coloring style o 3ob I put Flats at the bottoml layer, then I put values on top of that in Multiply and Soft Light. Technically, I know I can get away with not adding the Soft Light layer, but I feel that it gives more atmosphere and unifies the color palette.

[AnnaLandin]

You're in luck, because I haaaaave - a step-by-step GIF for a Grassblades-page! (You might have to click on it for it to actually work)

Briefly, in words - after I'm done inking (figures and backgrounds on two different layers), I lay down the flats (also on two different layers - it's easier to correct stuff that way), and then do 90% of my shading on a multiply-layer, and then I adjust the lighting with overlay/glow-dodge. This particular page contains more actual shading on the flats-layer than I usually do, as it has water on it, and water is a complex thing to colour. But that's the basic process.

Multiply, overlay and glow-dodge are my best friends in colouring.