Monday, October 17, 2011

Color I: The Basics and Flats

Currently I am working on a four part story to be published on my website, Eye of Infinity. Each part is 4-5 pages and illustrated in a typical comic book style. However this will be the first time I incorporate color.

Sure I used color in my previous story, The Incredible Growing Man, which can be read in its entirety on my website. However I created through color with that project. When I created the final image, it was with color, shapes of color with smaller shapes on top.

This project (which will be viewable on my website once completed) follows the traditional procedures of pencil, ink, color, lettering. I have currently finished the pencils and inks for part 1. Now I am working on the color.

I am using The DC Comics Guide to Coloring and Lettering Comics as my teaching foundation. It suggests the following procedures: 1. Flats, 2. Gradient Fills, 3. Highlights, 4. Shadows. As you can imagine from the title I have not, as of yet, proceeded onto the Gradient Fills....yet.

The basics of color involve hue, complementary colors, value, intensity, and color temperature. It seems best to think of these concepts in tandem with the Flats, as they will be the colors that will dictate the Gradient Fills, Highlights, and Shadows. In many ways this is a relief, as I wont worry about the basics (as much) once I start modelling (term used to refer to Gradient Fills, Highlights, and Shadows).

However, as I sit here examining the first page filled in with flats....I can not decide if I have chosen the appropriate hues, intensities, values or complimentary colors. Gray sidewalks, red bricks, purple uniforms...I got the general ideas, but with such a plethora of variations on colors...could I not choose better?

The angst, the potential, the possibility gnaws at the back of my mind (tweak, tweak, tweak, just a few more tweaks until it is perfect). But it will never be perfect, not like this. I learn better from my mistakes. I will forge ahead; I will make those mistakes, and be better for them.

Right?

2 comments:

  1. My strategy when issues like this arise is to always tell myself I can go back and fix it later (fooling myself because probably I will not). It gets the job done.

    When picking colors, the relationship between the colors on the page (rather than exact values of particular colors) is more important anyway. Step back and squint—if it looks good, move on.

    ReplyDelete