I am experimenting on color in my comic/manga

[kritsu60]

• Color?
• Or Black and White?

Show results

I know it may look sloppy at first, but it is an experiment.

[RiidDisBuk1]

Your Black and White is WAAAAAAAAAY better than your colors.

[TooningGaming]

I would also agree with RiidDisBuk1. Your black and white is way better.

[DualDragons]

I agree with @RiidDisBuk1, i can't put my finger on it but the black 'n white version gives off a more serious vibe, and i think that fits this scene better than the color version so far.

[kritsu60]

Thank you very much! I agree, I will continue working with black and white!

[RiidDisBuk1]

Indeed. The vibe is set so much so that you can tell the mood of the scene.

[Rhonder]

One thing I'm wondering is: it looks like you omitted a lot of the linework detail in the colored version (like there's texture missing out of the hair, the wings are just flat instead of the cool hatching you have going on in the B&W version, etc.)

Did you redo the linework for the colored version? Have you tried coloring over the same dynamic lines/hatching you used in B&W? I agree with the others that currently the black and white is a lot better, but part of it (to me at least) seems to be the missing detail in the colored version

[DualDragons]

True, i agree with you. The details (crosshatching etc.) might be a important part of the vibe the b&w-example is giving off. @kritsu60 perhaps if you'd post the color version with those details and then start the poll it might get you better results.

[AbelDraws]

You b&w looks really cool <3 the thing is, you put way less details in the colored version.

In the black and white we see many details and textures in the bg that show the mood in the scene. Meanwhile in the colored version there's only one or a couple solid colors. You also add more details to the characters themselves in the shaded version.

I'm sure if you gave the colored version the same treatment you give the b&w one you'd get better results. If I were you I'd keep on with b&w for now and practice coloring when you get spare time from doing pages. Color gives another whole layer of depth to art, so I think it's worth it to try if it works with you (it's more time consuming tho, and it's obvious you can do wonders with b&w, so it's not a necessity, it's just an option)

I'm a newbie with comic making but I'll give you a couple examples from my comic

Here the character is scared. There's a lot of tension in the air. I chose to go with yellowish colors for this kind of situations, it's a sharp color (magic on my comic is related to a golden tone so it fits as well)

Here things are calmer now, he's with his mom and no one's in danger. I used two shades of green (his favourite color, and a peaceful one) to show the change of mood as well- In the first panel there's a gradient from light green to white with some white circles floating around, he's processing what just happened, he's confused but he knows he's safe because his mom is there so he feels calm. In the next one he remembers what he just went through so the bg becomes darker. I should've adjusted the character's colors to fit the mood as well, but welp x'D

In these panels, after some not so nice events (in which everything was colored with kinda dull colors) Arckan (the boy) is happy again, he has great friends who love him and take care about him so he's as happy as he could be. I used bright colors in the rest of the page as well and adjusted the character's so they matched the bg's.

The point is, colors can help convey feelings really nicely and make your pages pop up a lot, keep on with the great job and good luck

((I hope it helped a bit and that it's all understandable, English is not my first language and I tend to mess up lmao))

[kritsu60]

Right! Definitely! I would have! Yes, indeed I am missing some details! And.. well I haven’t really made a comic/manga in color. Most of my artistic life started with drawing with graphite, on traditional paper, therefore made artwork mostly in black and white. Which made me more comfortable drawing in detail in black and white. If I tried harder in color, then I might have done more than what I did. Absolutely!

[kritsu60]

Right! Absolutely! Thank you for showing me! Should have made more details on the colored version before I made this poll, but, I felt that maybe a quick example would do. But next time, I will do better with my coloring. maybe I should practice some color because I thought about publishing a comic in color. Maybe not the ones I am drawing now, but others in the future.

[simplykit]

whoa! nice work!

i picked no color! looks way more intense!

[kritsu60]

Thank you very much!

[faisalhussein394]

I may favor color but the black and white is absolutely gorgeous! Way detailed than the colored ones.

I can see the insanity of that monster while the other's glare fierce and intense.

Great job!

[kritsu60]

Thank you very much !

[gempompadour]

Definitely b & w! It just looks so much better and detailed.

[Tanako]

The black and white is way better however given the fact that we are in a phase where everyone is hoping into the webtoon style and most of it is in color i suggest you get with the program.

Personally color is catchy and It will being in more audience compared to B/W. I’ve seen a lot more comics with crappy art being read in colored compared to well drawn comics in B/W.
Just my own personal opinion anyway.

[spadesart]

When you're using color for storytelling, it's especially important to manipulate lighting and shading to capture the mood of the scene. The use of texture in the black and white one definitely fits the mood of the scene better than flat colors, but if you mixed texture with the colors you placed on the first one, or used more intense/dynamic shading and lighting, the general opinion may actually change.

Something I recommend studying is color scripts for animated movies if you want to experiment with color for storytelling. These are specifically made to capture the mood of the scenes with little context. Kung Fu Panda is ESPECIALLY good at stylizing color to capture mood.

[kritsu60]

Yes, definitely! Thank you very much! I will keep on studying how to color better!

[kritsu60]

I have been practicing my coloring. I will explore other techniques as well!

Now, introducing the Manga Cast:
Bottom left: Gary: Doesn’t use harsh words. Also, Not really the type to feed sticks to the fire.
Bottom right: Jiang: an Eagle, who wields the Mark of an Eagle. Can panic in some situations. Afraid of large enemies.
Middle left: John: calm, loves to read. Loves his sister Shiarah.
Middle: Shiarah: Strong woman, also calm and direct. Not afraid to address something,
Middle left: Kiana: dreamer. And is shy... overthinks things.
Upper left: Sherry: hot-head. Nothing more.
Upper middle: Rudy: kinda a jerk... doesn’t have much hobbies.
Right: ???