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Kryanari
Sep '19

So, I've been experimenting tonight, and I did the colored illustration here earlier today. This evening, I thought I'd give grayscale a shot since a lot of people on here recommended trying it in the other topic I posted .

Instead of changing the color layers to grayscale, I decided to "color"//tone everything in grayscale to see how it would look. I used about 4 different tones of gray, and the results are below.

What are your thoughts on these? Which do you like more? How many varieties of tone do you use in grayscale? Any recommendations/guides for someone experimenting like this?

To me, I really love how the grayscale has that eastern comic (manga) feel to it, which I'd love to keep going. It was much easier overall, and I enjoyed using the tones to render shade. But then again, I've already started my webcomic with color. Which do you like?

I'm also open to any criticism/recommendations!

hydraulica_oldschool_heroes_final.png729x1032 314 KB
hydraulica_oldschool_gray_reduced.png729x1032 73.6 KB

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    Sep '19

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    Sep '19
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ZatchZ
Sep '19

I like the bottom one better.
It's less of a strain on my eyes and the shading adds tension to the scene.

faisalhussein394
Sep '19

For me, I picked the first because I love colors.

Although it is more time consuming than the gray scale, it has the potential to reach better results.

I'm a colorist type of person. If you have seen my comic Mukhtar on Tapas, you get the idea.

nostalgicroxas
Sep '19

I like the grayscale one too. It adds tension and forces your reader's eye to focus on the person on the phone, instead of the person in the foreground.
I do think the lady on the phone should have her slacks a darker shade of gray instead of being in all white with a white background behind her.

This below is a famous ... Renoir? I think..? Painting. It's a painting that tricks your eye into "who are you supposed to focus on?" The lady in white in the "center" of the image? Or the people the foreground?

image.png879x494 667 KB

(if you want to read some facts about the painting that are interesting, mental floss has a list up that i found https://mentalfloss.com/article/75976/15-things-you-didnt-know-about-renoirs-luncheon-boating-party3 )

VibrantFoxRegular
Sep '19

of the two i actually like the grayscale better, even though I'm typically a color person.

As mentioned it brings more focus to the details and adds tension. There's also a bit more clarity(?) if that makes sense and the page feels a bit more readable.

Kryanari
Sep '19

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm glad there's people who like both! Personally I do find myself gravitating towards the grayscale as well.

I may try putting out a couple issues of my webcomic in grayscale... but I hope I don't lose my subscribers in the process.

I've got a lot to learn in this whole process and I appreciate everyone's comments. Keep them coming if you have more to add/more recommendations.

rajillustration
Sep '19

I like the bottom one more because it has a more clear focus. On the color one my eye is wandering a bit because I'm not sure where to go, but the bottom one is a lot more direct. You can also maybe try implementing some gradients or screentone texture to get some depth, if you want to.

Tanako
Sep '19

Someone had asked a similar question to what you are asking now not that there is anything wrong with that. the thing is, they both look good however, I pick the colored one. why? because most people are drawn to color. yes it takes a longer time and I get it, you want to make it easier on your self, however, keep in mind that if you do plan to grow your audience, keeping your comic colored is something to consider because it will be more catchy and people are more likely to give it a chance when deciding to read it. not to say grayscale isn't good, it's just becoming more old fashioned as more artist are diving into colored comics. not only that, colored comics are becoming way more popular. just my personal opinion. :slight_smile:

Rhonder
Sep '19

I prefer the colored one! Besides just being in color (which I generally have a bias towards), it looks like it has additional detail and lighting effects and such that didn't get carried over into the grayscale one (such as the highlights on the drawer handles, the light coming out of the ceiling units casting on the ceiling around them, the light coming in through the windows, etc.)

snopmark
Sep '19
4

You should keep your comic in color.

The colored illustration has better mid-tones that helped unify the whole composition.

When I turned the color illustration into grayscale to compare with with the actual grayscaled one, the colored illustration still wins in terms of grayscale as well.

The bottom grayscaled illustration is flat and had barely contrast except for some weird areas.

Left woman's strangely dark tones behind her left hand and forearm, her pants, the underside of the desk drawer, and the right woman's hair and neck creates an uncomfortable level of very high contrast against it's surroundings. I know that different materials have their own inherent values, but something is definitely off with the "shadows" or occluded areas.

In the colored version, the left woman had some ambient lighting bounce back to light the left side of her shirt, as well as some of her hair. The grayscale illustration made it seem like there's no ambient bounce lighting, and made it seem strangely occluded, like no light can escape.

You want to go for that 1, 2, 3 tone value readings from various angles by using varying tone values to help flesh out the form and shape of an object. The good news is that as a style, you may be able to pull it off with a 1, 2 readings since you're going for that cell-shaded anime look.

You even took away details, like the desk, drawer, and drawer handle different colors and values; the pencil's shaved part, body, and eraser colors and values; the room's darker values, the sides of the ceiling lights values; the women's darker eyes; the right woman's darker pants; the darker window frames. Those all added nice contrast to their surroundings, and they were taken away.

So the colored illustration wins by a long-shot.

My suggestion is that, if you want to go for the grayscale look no matter what, because it saves time an whatnot, first figure out what the base value for each material is and fill those areas in. Then make a new layer, use black and drop the opacity(less opacity or more opaque for dark scenes), and go over all areas where shadows or occlusions may be, to get a uniform looking values, no matter what the material values of existing objects in the illustrations are. Then to do highlights, make a new layer on top of everything else, this time use white and drop its opacity(refrain from pure white highlight unless its super shiny), then highlight all the shiny areas.

In my opinion, pure computer grayscale does not look good at all. It is not the same thing as the tones we see from Manga. The good news is that grayscale can easily be converted into tones if you're using a program like ClipStudio Paint.

As a reading recommendation, may I suggest the following:

How to Render: the fundamentals of light, shadow and reflectivity by Scott Robertson

And if you really want a strong basis for art, read these too:

How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination by Scott Robertson
Framed Perspective Vol. 1: Technical Perspective and Visual Storytelling by Marcos Mateu-Mestre
Framed Perspective Vol. 2: Technical Drawing for Shadows, Volume, and Characters by Marcos Mateu-Mestre

Best of wishes. Keep doing what you're doing. =)

liann
Sep '19

I prefer the coloured one only because it seems to suit your style more. But the greyscale looks more expressive and like the people above me said, it kind of emphasized on the tension (Phone call) while the coloured one just looks like she's simply looking at her. Maybe if you can find a way to apply the same to your coloured work, it's gonna make it 10x better. Like more contrasting shadows or focal points. Eitherway, your art is really cute :heart:

Seaby
Sep '19
Kryanari

It's not so much that the grayscale is /better/, more so your use of shading within the colored version is lacking. If you like the colors, and don't mind the countless hours it takes color them in, play around with the shading a bit more. The drawers for example, aren't shaded in their entirety in the colored version, but are in the grayscale, creating a more atmospheric panel. The character on the left looks more sinister, too (if that's what you were going for).

BlueWorldComics
Sep '19
1

I like the color version better. The only difference between the 2 to me is the eye color of the person on the left changes the intensity of her expression. If that's what you're going for, then okay. Outside of that the gray-scale just looks incomplete in comparison... Good enough, but not as good as is could be.

Kryanari
Sep '19

Thank you all so much for your continued and thoughtful critique! This is super helpful to get everyone's feedback and I appreciate it all so much.

I like the book recommendations and I'll likely be picking a couple of those up soon. I've got so much to learn and it feels like every time I make progress I discover how infinitely more I have to learn, which is unnerving and exciting at the same time.

"The character on the left looks more sinister, too"

Whoops, that's her best friend! I think it shows that I still have a long ways to go in my composition. Haha

Tanako
Sep '19

your art work is good despite all the pointers everyone has given. I will tell you to keep it colored because people are most likely drawn to color and would at least give your story a chance when reading but if its in gray-scale, they might not. i could be wrong but most comics featured here are at least 95% in color so its in your best interest. give your work a chance.
Due to the rigorous work that comes with coloring, i left my work completely "flat color", saves me time.

spicy_sweets
Sep '19

I prefer the greyscale one tbh
It caught my eye quicker than the colored, but that's prolly bc I barely read b&w despite enjoying both

Lyric
Sep '19

I prefer the color.
A lot of detail was lost in the conversion to grayscale. You might want to go back and add more detail if you go with gray.
Nice work!