Post by ssquiffy on Oct 24, 2016 21:24:35 GMT -5
oKAY so i was gonna do this with a picture of a cat but im lazy and i scanned in a picture of a squid from my sketchbook
(you should already know that "squiffy" and "squiddy" are almost synonymous now)
note that you wont be able to replicate watercolour EXACTLY, because watercolour is a tad uncontrollable at times and will do weird (and cool!) things. however, if youre like me and you don't currently have access to watercolour, you can be make some nice watercolour-esque pictures on your computer c; this is one of my favourite ways to colour digitally! it's a bit tedious, but it looks rather nice.
anyways, heres how my finished picture looked so you can see how yours might look if you follow along
fyi this technique is the result of taking things from a combination of tutorials. it isnt completely original, but it works the best for me, which is why i'm sharing it c:
some things before i start
again, don't need to follow me to a tee here. im using the default pencil tool at varying sizes (2-6 px), if you're curious. i reccomend lining your art in more thinner lines as it'll allow the watercolour effect to be a bit more obvious. also, try not to make your line art layer black. try a dark gray or blue.
slap a layer under your image with a watercolour paper texture on it. do a quick google search and find one (preferably one that's free to use!)
this is important - part of this effect is the texture of the paper!
step 2:
all of your colour layers will be ABOVE the line layer.
there will be ONE layer per colour, unless you have a few minor items that are far apart, in which case you can do all of them on the same layer.
also, you'll need to apply the same settings to EVERY colour layer, so pay attention!
first of all, you'll want to turn on your programs watercolour edge. if you're using sai, this function is called "fringe". play around with it. see what works.
secondly, set your layer mode to multiply
this'll give the appearance of you painting over your lineart.
with that out of the way, let's colour!
use a solid brush to colour. don't worry about being neat. it's okay to go outside the lines or leave spots unfilled! all that matters is that you roughly filled in your lineart
to anyone following along in medibang, im using the flat brush (wet) that you can download if you have a medibang account.
at the moment, it doesn't LOOK like you used watercolour yet. we'll fix that in the next two steps.
softly brush a few areas with the colour white. since your layer should be a multiply layer, the white won't show up! set your brush's opacity down a bit - you want to SOFTEN the colours, not get rid of it completely!
if you're having a hard time deciding where to brush with white, imagine that you actually were working with watercolour. which areas would you apply the least paint to?
make a NEW layer above your current one with the same settings. using a colour close to the one you were previously working with, use your solid brush to fill in the areas you think would be darker
now using the same brush you did in step 3, soften the colours so they'll blend into your previous layer. don't over do it - if you're darkening the edges, you still want this layers watercolour edge/fringe to be visible. sorry if this is a bit hard to understand. here's a picture; notice how im staying away from the edge of the shape.
if you're not darkening near an edge, then you probably won't want the layer's watercolour edge effect to be visible. blend that all away.
slap on an overlay layer with the colours of the rainbow.
(although i do love the overlay layer and how useful it is please don't over do it)
and there you go! it's that simple
like i said, i LOVE colouring like this. i also LOVE talking about things i love.
this is why this tutorial exists.
anyways, if you actually DO feel like trying this out, feel free to do so! heck, i'd love to see how it turns out, so you might as well post it here, eh?
also, please don't ask why i have a reference picture of a squid open.
(you should already know that "squiffy" and "squiddy" are almost synonymous now)
note that you wont be able to replicate watercolour EXACTLY, because watercolour is a tad uncontrollable at times and will do weird (and cool!) things. however, if youre like me and you don't currently have access to watercolour, you can be make some nice watercolour-esque pictures on your computer c; this is one of my favourite ways to colour digitally! it's a bit tedious, but it looks rather nice.
anyways, heres how my finished picture looked so you can see how yours might look if you follow along
HEY THIS IS SORTA FAMILIAR
fyi this technique is the result of taking things from a combination of tutorials. it isnt completely original, but it works the best for me, which is why i'm sharing it c:
step 0:
some things before i start
- i don't usually sketch my stuff out on paper! i do it in program, which allows me to check the proportions easily (which is why they're a bit screwed up in this picture) however, whether or not you sketch digitally or traditionally will have no effect on the final outcome. you don't need to copy me to a tee. experiment!
- the program i'm using here is medibang paint, so it'll be easiest to follow me if you're using medibang or it's sister program, fire alpaca (both free, by the way). this technique will also sorta work in sai. as a rule of thumb, if your program has fringe/watercolour edge as well as layer effects this should work.
- also, it'd probably be a lot easier to do this with an art tablet
- im taking the images from a video, so expect the quality to be sort of meh
- sorry for writing in red here, i was a bit excited. it's a bit hard on the eyes, i know.
anyways, after you have your sketch, you'll probably want to line it, like so
again, don't need to follow me to a tee here. im using the default pencil tool at varying sizes (2-6 px), if you're curious. i reccomend lining your art in more thinner lines as it'll allow the watercolour effect to be a bit more obvious. also, try not to make your line art layer black. try a dark gray or blue.
step 1:
slap a layer under your image with a watercolour paper texture on it. do a quick google search and find one (preferably one that's free to use!)
this is important - part of this effect is the texture of the paper!
step 2:
before we can start colouring, we need to note a few things.
all of your colour layers will be ABOVE the line layer.there will be ONE layer per colour, unless you have a few minor items that are far apart, in which case you can do all of them on the same layer.
also, you'll need to apply the same settings to EVERY colour layer, so pay attention!
first of all, you'll want to turn on your programs watercolour edge. if you're using sai, this function is called "fringe". play around with it. see what works.
secondly, set your layer mode to multiply
this'll give the appearance of you painting over your lineart.
with that out of the way, let's colour!
use a solid brush to colour. don't worry about being neat. it's okay to go outside the lines or leave spots unfilled! all that matters is that you roughly filled in your lineart
to anyone following along in medibang, im using the flat brush (wet) that you can download if you have a medibang account.
at the moment, it doesn't LOOK like you used watercolour yet. we'll fix that in the next two steps.
step 3:
grab a soft brush. i'm using fluffy watercolour, but any brush that has a soft enough edge to avoid the watercolour edge layer effect will dosoftly brush a few areas with the colour white. since your layer should be a multiply layer, the white won't show up! set your brush's opacity down a bit - you want to SOFTEN the colours, not get rid of it completely!
if you're having a hard time deciding where to brush with white, imagine that you actually were working with watercolour. which areas would you apply the least paint to?
step 4:
WE AREN'T DONE HERE YET! next, we're gonna do the opposite of what we did in step 3 - we're gonna darken a few areas you're most likely going to do this near the edges; infact, in the example picture, i only darkened near the edges! however, with bigger patches of colour, you might find a few dark spots towards the middle too!make a NEW layer above your current one with the same settings. using a colour close to the one you were previously working with, use your solid brush to fill in the areas you think would be darker
now using the same brush you did in step 3, soften the colours so they'll blend into your previous layer. don't over do it - if you're darkening the edges, you still want this layers watercolour edge/fringe to be visible. sorry if this is a bit hard to understand. here's a picture; notice how im staying away from the edge of the shape.
if you're not darkening near an edge, then you probably won't want the layer's watercolour edge effect to be visible. blend that all away.
step 5:
repeat for every colour until you have 10 million layersstep 6:
there really isn't anything you need to do after this. make your final adjustments. add your signature.slap on an overlay layer with the colours of the rainbow.
(although i do love the overlay layer and how useful it is please don't over do it)
and there you go! it's that simple
like i said, i LOVE colouring like this. i also LOVE talking about things i love.
this is why this tutorial exists.
anyways, if you actually DO feel like trying this out, feel free to do so! heck, i'd love to see how it turns out, so you might as well post it here, eh?
also, please don't ask why i have a reference picture of a squid open.