Colouring with Coloured Pencils Part I: The Basics

Tutorial for Colouring with Coloured pencils!

Hello there! Feel like colouring? Or did you kind of give up on coloured pencils..? Well, this is the right tutorial for you!

This tutorial consists of three parts:

A: The Basics
B: Colouring line art
C: Colouring a finished pencil drawing

Part A: The Basics!

A few things you’ll need for coloring:
-the drawing you want to color (for this part an empty sheet of paper though)
-eraser
-drawing pencil
-good coloring pencils

Well.. define good, you say? Don’t worry, I won’t start listing brands here now.
All you have to make sure is:

-how hard do I have to press to see a bit of color on the paper (for good pencils it should be too much)
-If I press hard, does it gets actually darker? (some cheap pencils will still give a quite light tone)
-how well can I color on top of another layer?

I’ve accumulated quite a lot of pencils through the years, so it isn’t all too hard to come up with a little pencil test for me! =)

Grab the empty sheet of paper (Note: I used simple copier paper for the whole tutorial)

If you have more brands/types of colored pencils in the same color, you can check the differences yourself.
Pick a color (I chose purple here). First, color a square form by zigzagging over the paper. Don’t make them too dark/ try making it an even colored square:



If you do have more types, make more squares. Just keep in mind which square was done with which pencil.
Now, pick another colored pencil (I chose a green one) and color over all the squares. You might notice some slight differences.. for me, the third square mixes less with the green than the other three)



Now, repeat this, but make the first squares darker by pressing hard. (You might already see some squares get darker than others by the same amount of pressure.. ) Again, colour on top of this with the other colour.


(Here, the second and fourth square both still mix with the green, while the first and third don’t mix as good.) (it’s harder to see in the scan as it is to see in real life =/) Well, my conclusion; use the pencils from square 2 and 4! (Note: The behavior of the other two pencils might come in handy sometimes, though!)

You can do this with all of your colored pencils of course, but for now, let’s go to the next step. Pick a color again. (Blue for me!) And hold the pencil as close to the tip as possible. You will see that you’re holding the pencil almost vertical. Again color a square. Now, hold the pencil a little higher. Color a square by using the same amount of pressure. Repeat this until you can’t hold it any higher. You will find yourself holding the pencil almost horizontally now.

(Image: left pictures; horizontally, right pictures; vertically)



Also, if you kept on colouring with the same pressure, the squares will be lighter, when holding the pencil more horizontally.



It’s easier to color bigger surfaces more ‘even’ when holding it more horizontal as well. Want to try?

Just draw two bigger squares. Color the first while holding the pencil close to the tip, color the second while holding it more to the end.



Then again, when coloring smaller surfaces, hold a pencil more to the tip; you will have more control over the pencil this way.

But still… the second square isn’t colored as smoothly as we want it, plus it’s too light. So, draw another square. First, color it (holding the pencil quite horizontally) in an up-downwards directed zigzag. Then, color over this layer in a left-right directed zigzag. (or go diagonally) For the edges, hold the pencil more vertically.



On to the next ‘exercise’: Dark-light transitions! The most common way to do this is to make the standard zigzag movement and either start very lightly and then build up pressure, or start by pressing hard and then release pressure.



This can be quite tricky sometimes.. There’s another way of doing this, even though it takes a little longer.
Start with a light layer. Depending which side has to be the darker one, you start coloring a thin layer on top of the first one. Continue to do this, until you reached the same effect as above:



A pro of this method is that it’s easier to control, and when done right it can look smoother than version 1.

The last exercise of the basics: Color transitions!

Pick two colors (I chose orange and blue, because you can see both of them very well, and if you can make a nice transition with these two, it shouldn’t be much of a problem to make a transition between colors that fit together a little better =P ) For the sake of testing, also pick a black coloring pencil and a drawing pencil.

First, draw the dark-light transitions of the single colors. (blue and black 1 time each, drawing pencil 2 times, and the orange 3 times.)

Then, using the orange pencil, color the transition from light to dark on top of the blue, black and two drawing pencil-transitions. (Smudge the second grey one first, though.) Using the other colors, do the same on the orange ones.

It should turn out like this:


I personally prefer to start with the dark color and then put the lighter one on top of it. Especially when you want to use a drawing pencil… (Which I normally wouldn’t use for coloring anyway, but maybe you would. If so, it looks better to smooth the grey first, and then color on top of it.)

We’re almost on the end of part A!
Only a few other tips to go =):

-Never immediately press hard on a color pencil when coloring. Unless you’re 100% sure what you’re doing D=.

-Don’t color shading and lighting very thick either, if you’re not sure were to place them; you can erase a thin layer of color still, a thicker layer already is a tough job to get rid of.

-Color only if you have good light; if you want to color something yellow while having a yellowish light on, you WILL be disappointed when you see it in daylight.

-When smudging, you could use your finger, but it will be hard to erase after (because all the oils etc. that are on the skin). Instead, you can use a piece of cloth or the like (I normally use a piece of toilet paper X3, it works great!) Another way of smoothing is by using a white coloring pencil (this can work out nicely on a rather thick-colored layer).

-I don’t recommend using a drawing pencil for coloring, unless the thing you’re coloring needs to be grey.

-by putting another paper (or more) under the one you’re coloring on, the coloring will look smoother.

Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2010/colouring-with-coloured-pencils-part-i

The Basics of Motion Lines

Motion lines are a crucial part of drawing any type of action within your comic. They vary from the simple one line to the more complex, full background motion lines. To the right is an example of the single line of motion. One could add more lines but one gets the point across just fine.

There are four ways to depict motion, the first being the line showing the path of motion as shown below. The second method is to draw multiple images of the person or thing in action in different intervals of movement along with the standard motion lines (second image below). The next image builts on the previous wherein the multiple images now are less defined and become streaks. The last method is the most widely used in manga’s: the moving background.

 

The streaked background takes the reader and moves along with the depicted subject at motion. This creates a sense of being a part of the action with the subject.

Then there is the other motion line that is part of the object moving as depicted to the right. The motion line should move in the direction to where it is going. The elbow, for example, if moving to the right, the motion line should also move similarly. If the elbow was moving diagonally, the streaks would follow suit. A real life example would be to swing glow sticks around where an after image trails the actual location of the light itself.

Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2007/the-basics-of-motion-lines

Panel Transitions: The Basics

More likely than not, as readers of comics, we generally do not register the transitions that occur from one panel to another. Rather subconsciously we know we’ve encountered them but have never really looked and examined them closely. As creators of comics, though, knowing the transitions is a mandatory knowledge in order to create a seamless story.


The first type of transition is Moment-to-Moment which shows very little passage of time as shown in the example above left. Second is Action-to-Action, clearly showing some type of movement of a subject as shown to the right.





Next is Subject-to-Subject which is a little more reader involved in that the viewer must put the two images together and form an understanding of what is occuring. Generally, the subject in both images are related in scene or idea. In this case, we have an example of a chess match being played out.




Scene-to-Scene is a common transition which requires reader involvement as well. It usually involves a passage of time and space. Examples include changes from one location to another and a huge leap of time such as fast forwarding to a future moment or doing flashbacks. More likely, transitions like this are accompanied by text which joins the two panels together by an idea.



On the other hand, Aspect-to-Aspect goes a different route and sets a wandering eye perspective that creates a sense of mood. This transition type can even act as a guide to what readers see in the environment as opposed to one big panoramic-like panel.




Last, are the panel transitions that have no logical relation to each other at all – the Non-Sequiter. These are like random images thrown to the reader with no bearing to each other or even overall. The only possible use for this is like watching the cursed video in “The Ring” movie. They seem rather non-related at first but is explained, mostly, as the movie progresses.



Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2006/panel-transitions-the-basics

Toning Your Manga: The Basics

Most of you will probably think there is only one type of tones. The one used in manga where it’s ready-made and all you have to do is cut and paste it onto the comic- well, you’re wrong. You can actually make your own “tones”. Let’s get a closer look at them…

Type 1: Ready-Made Tone
These tones are the ones used a lot in Japan but hardly used in American and European comics. These are ready made tones you can buy in packs and use on your comic by cutting and pasting it on. These are called Letratone’s, Zipatone’s, or just plain screen tones which come either cut and paste or transfer version.

Doing this saves time but it’ll cost a pretty penny to buy all those screen tones. There are all types of tone’s out there and they usually come in a pack such as a Basics pack, Shoujo pack, Bishouojo pack, etc. In somes cases, you can even buy them individually. You’ll have more variety if you buy them from Japanese Letraset distributors or an American based company that imports like ComicTones.

So far, ComicTones is the only company that I am aware of that sells Letrasets at the US. As for any others abroad, I don’t know but look around the internet, ask around, and you’ll probbaly get wind of some others.

Type 2: Make Your Own “Tone”
There are two types in this part, one you can draw yourself and the other you make digitalized:

A. This one really has more to do with controlling your work more. This allows you to set your own mood and other effects than the standard ready-made tones.

There are different styles of tones you can make yourself: flat hatching, directional hatching, flatcross-hatching, directional cross-hatching, loose stippling, and tight stippling. There are others you can make yourself but those are the ones with names to them.

This type of toning takes time, patience, and precision. It’ll save you some money from buying the screen tones though.

B. There is also the tone that you can make yourself in the computer. From what I’ve seen, it looks exactly like the Letratone’s except digitalized.

This is a cheaper alternative to buying the tones but it’s preferably more suited for digital comics… unless you have a printer that has a high print rate (dpi and all the other amenities) so you can publish your digitalized work. Nonetheless, try it out and see what you can come up with.

Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2006/toning-your-manga-the-basics

How to Draw Shoes: The Basics

The key to drawing shoes on any foot is to determine the view (eye level, down view, etc.), what position they are, and what shoe the person is wearing. Below is a line of eye level feet in different positions. If you are uncertain how to draw the foot, check out the Feet tutorial.



 The first row shows the most common feet positions from dead-on forward, quarter, and combination of forward & parallel, and quarter & parallel. Notice that the ankle height is high compared to the ground. This is great for drawing feet with heels. If you’re going to draw feet with flat soles, just lower the level of the ankle compared to the ground.
Below it is a row of the same feet with shoes drawn on it. What you basically do is draw the foot outline, draw the shoe over it, and erase the foot outline. A closer example if shown below:



Views of the foot is not limited to eye level and can come from above. Here we have two other views generally drawn from an angle and straight down view.


Once you get the hang of these three factors, drawing any shoe is a cinch!

Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2004/how-to-draw-shoes-the-basics

How to Draw Armor: The Basics

Parts of an Armor
First of all, a run down of parts of the armor starting on the head: (a) helmet, (b) shoulder guards, (c) breast plate, (d) guantlets a.k.a. arm braces, (e) thigh guards, and (f) boots. Note: Technically, each piece of armor has various other more rightful names – shoulder guard is a pauldron for instance – but for this tutorial, I’m keeping the names simple so as it is reconizable instantly.




















How Much Armor Does Your Character Need?
This is the crux of every fantasy character that you make wearing armor. The more armor the character is wearing, the slower he/she becomes (unless the character is superhuman or in the case of Slayers Gorgeous ::spoiler:: – the armor is made of paper!!) ::end spoiler:: and the better fit (think muscular) he/she becomes as well.

Armor Combinations
Here is a rundown of some combinations you may use when putting together an armor:
(1) Full Armor – all parts a to f
(2) Heavy Armor – all parts except a
(3) Moderate Armor – b, c, e, and maybe d too
(4) Light Armor – b, c, and maybe d too
(5) Minimum Armor – d alone, b alone, or c alone
(6) No Armor – no piece from a to f
Of course you can make your own combination of armor but these are the usual combos.

Be Practical
The best advice I can possibly give you is to make sure you draw armor that will actually work! Armor is for protection not for show! There are special armor made fancier for the more important people; gold plated, etc.; for kings and nobles but otherwise – keep it simple for the ordinary folks.

Unlike popular belief that armor was heavy and cumbersome it was not. A well trained knight will wear a full armor and fight in one easily. Also, knights usually know how to use various weapons besides the sword; they can also use bow and arrow, spears, axes, hammers, lances, knives, etc. If your character is not a knight – then show it via less armor, less knowledge of weapons, etc.

Design
Now for the fun part: designs on the armor. OK, I know I said don’t get fancy and that’s what I meant. You may put some decoration on the armor just as long as it does not interfere with the wearers ability to fight! Anything else looks too impractical, and out-of-place don’t you think?

Things to Change or Not
(1) Emblem on breast plate
(2) Grooves on shoulder guards
(3) Jewelry on armor
(4) Fancy color: gold, green, silver, black, red, etc.
(5) Shape of the armor piece
Inspiration
For some inspiration on armor, check out the following links:

Arador Armour Library
Perfect Armor
Armour & Weapons

You may also check out fantasy anime like Magic Knight Rayearth and Lodoss Wars or even films like Lord of the Rings.

Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2005/how-to-draw-armor-the-basics

How to Draw Feet: The Basics

Drawing feet is not a feat at all. We’ll start by going through the different view points of the foot.





















Side views of a feet are pratically triangular shaped with a rectangle on top. The straight lines drawn indicates the ankles and toes where bending occurs.

A quarter view of a foot may look tricky but just follow these steps:
1. Begin with a trapeziod with rectangle on top.
2. Cut the pointy end of the trapeziod so it runs pratically parallel with the top of the foot.
3. Bend the end of the foot where the toes should be. Add toes guideline if it helps you.
4. Finish drawing by curving out the lines a bit, adding ankle, and toes.
Not bad huh?
The drawing just below the side view illustrates two feet. Note that one is slimmer than the other indicating a female foot and a male foot. Feet drawing can differ just by a slight change in width or thickness and even length.

Finally, the front view, is also made up of rectangles and a trapezoid. All you basically need to do is draw in ankles and the toes.

Speaking of toes, lets take a look at how to draw them. On the right is a three step process to draw toes. Starting with just a guide, draw laying L’s for toes. Make sure the inner toe is the biggest with the last being the smallest. From there, draw in the toenails and you’re done!

Moving on to toenails, here are several instances of toes at varying angles. The last toe is of the big toe. It’s shape tends to be wide at the middle and tapers off on either end.




Going back to the whole foot, we have here an example of the two sides of the foot. One side, if turned, has an arch. The other side, if turned, does not.
The side of the foot with an arch faces the inside while the archless side faces outwards. A trivial info but something you have to keep in mind when drawing the foot.

Lets look at another detail you have to remember: the ankle. On the right, we have a quarter and a front view of ankles. At quarter view, the ankle is reminicent of a boomerang while the front views are slight bumps. Nothing to it!







Another aspect of feet is how they bend. Below is a drawing of a foot at rest and a vertical foot resting on the toes. At the ballerina-like stance, note how the top of the foot is pretty much straight and the back of the ankle is now scrunched up. The same scrunch would occur if the toe was bent inwards.



One last detail about the foot you must make note: the foot curves at the toes. Check out the example above with the slippers. The longest point is the big toe and grows less as it reaches the pinky toe. This is why shoes are generally shaped with a rounded end.

Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2007/how-to-draw-feet-the-basics

Drawing Legs: The Basics

Legs are the foundation of all humans – you stand on it every day. ;) Manga legs range from detailed and buff to generic, simplified lines. Simplified legs being the norm. Below is a row of legs in the front view. The first leg is typical, showing the simplified version I mentioned. Notice how the middle is practically straight and has no curves while the outer edge is just the opposite. The second example, on the other hand, has curves at both sides of the leg. Taking a closer look, the legs are shaped like cylinders with one end slightly wider than the other end from hip to knee, from knee to ankle.


At side and back view, the same idea applies. The back view of the leg tends to have dashes | /  \ | indicating the back of the knee. You can also do the same at the front using one or two dashes except reversed | \  / |.



One important aspect about legs that you must keep in mind is when it is against another object whether if it’s a chair or it’s own self, the leg tends to widen out. The muscle gets pushed to the side or upwards depending on the situation. Above and the one below are three of such examples.



Top: Leg pushing up on itself.
Middle: Leg resting on chair.
Bottom: Leg against itself and on the floor.

Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2007/drawing-legs-the-basics

How to Draw Hips: The Basics

Hips are fairly easy but can be difficult at first. Below shows the differences between the female and male hips. The female tends to be curvy and proportionate to the torso while the male hip is rather straight and equal or smaller than the upper body.



Let’s take a closer look at the hip on the side view. Females generally have a rounder posterior with males tending to be less. The crotch area tends to protrude further than the beginning of the leg and the waist differ for each gender. The female waist goes inwards with the stomach curving outward. Males has less of a curve inwards with a flatter stomach. Of course, these are for slim people – this would change if the person was fat or old.



Before we tackle the butt, lets take a quickie look on how to draw the crotch. At the left most image, the female crotch is drawn in a big “V” shape while the male crotch is much wider and drops at the middle. Again, the female is drawn rounded and the male is more angular. The same can be applied to the backside – female butt is rounded, male is more angular. There’s a little trick to draw the posterior. Females tend to have a rounded W shape that defines their butt and males have a more of a stiff W bordering on two U’s beside each other.





Article source : www.mangatutorials.com/2007/how-to-draw-hips-the-basics