Set up working area

Make sure you get used to with this interface.

If not, please take a look on my previous article/ video for add color palette, tools..

Previous article

https://tips.clip-studio.com/en-us/articles/9662

Sketch

My artstyle doesn't have clean line art.

So after having a rough sketch, I will color directly on it.

Pre - color

On the previous video/ article, I showed you the way to color with any palette you like without knowing about color theory.

Today with this palette, they are quite saturated so there is almost no depth if I use them right away.

 

 

First, I use the darkest one to make a solid base.

Then, I define light source by brightest level.

I will choose 4 levels for defining value on my art.

It is not too much too handle but still create layers inside my work.

 

 

Based on their natural properties, I fill them by suitable value.

Example:

Water must be brighter than other objects but not more than light source.

Skin tone is not dark as leaf or cloth.

…

After you finish this step, combine all layer is an option.

But I chose to keep them separately for fixing if needed later.

I put them into a folder as preparation for the next step.

Color

Add a layer then turn it into OVERLAY mode.

Make sure you click on this symbol, if not, color will be spill over.

As you can see, even with 1 color, there is still having depth on the art.

So you could fill any color but still keep the values.

(I suggested you should use a color palette like this to avoid a messy art.)

Cause there is not much colors on 1 palette ( usually)

Sometime, we need to adjust color brightness for making new color, but still keep it same tone.

 

 

Like this.

I pick pink color then adjust it brighter for coloring skin.

With purple and cyan, I adjust them to darker tone for new colors.

After fill all color, I turn this layer back into normal mode for fill in all the blanks.

Line art

I use texture pen to trace directly on the sketch.

Be creative on this step.

You could choose any color to border.

More depth?

After fixing some details, I wanna make this art look more interesting by use another layer with multiply mode.

 

 

I chose pink color - a warm color for making a warm tone shadow.

Cause my art has a lot of cool colors.

It need a balance.

So, thank you for watching this and I hope my way will help you more on your coloring process.

Curious about my Process, take a glance on my included videos.