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Digital Colour is Hard!
16 years ago
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I think I'm driving myself crazy with this. I have one commission that I've had from a great guy who has commissioned me before, and I figured that I'd try and colour it up in Photoshop since I want to get a hang of digital.
I thought that for certain aspects of the pic I'd take photos off the 'net and layer them behind the lineart. Thus, the cammo jeans are real cammo, the shirt has the texture of a real shirt, the ammo can in the corner is built from pics of a real ammo can, etc.
But the more I get into it, the more off-kilter it seems to get. I knew that there were some items I couldn't get photos for, or would be too hard to manipulate, so I've been painting them in like usual. But everytime I add a layer (I'm up to 20+ ) I end up having to redo or alter a previous layer, or redo a section because the colour doesn't mix well with the surroundings, or I find I screwed up a layer somewhere back, or so forth.
I'm wondering if I should just scrap a lot of what I've already got and start over, even though I hate to throw out what I've been working so hard on. And if I start over, I'll likely just end up painting the whole thing like normal and ditch the photostuff, which sucks in itself, because some of it looks really good.
I'm just glad the commissioner is such a great guy and has stuck with me through all my bullcrap.
Oy...my love-hate relationship with Photoshop continues...
D.O.P.R
I thought that for certain aspects of the pic I'd take photos off the 'net and layer them behind the lineart. Thus, the cammo jeans are real cammo, the shirt has the texture of a real shirt, the ammo can in the corner is built from pics of a real ammo can, etc.
But the more I get into it, the more off-kilter it seems to get. I knew that there were some items I couldn't get photos for, or would be too hard to manipulate, so I've been painting them in like usual. But everytime I add a layer (I'm up to 20+ ) I end up having to redo or alter a previous layer, or redo a section because the colour doesn't mix well with the surroundings, or I find I screwed up a layer somewhere back, or so forth.
I'm wondering if I should just scrap a lot of what I've already got and start over, even though I hate to throw out what I've been working so hard on. And if I start over, I'll likely just end up painting the whole thing like normal and ditch the photostuff, which sucks in itself, because some of it looks really good.
I'm just glad the commissioner is such a great guy and has stuck with me through all my bullcrap.
Oy...my love-hate relationship with Photoshop continues...
D.O.P.R
Another thing that might help you is get all your textures in there, your colors, everything. They may not look unified so what you can do is flatten the entire thing, duplicate the flattened layer and desaturate it, adjust your levels to strengthen your values, then go up to edit>adjustments>color balance and mess with the sliders for your shadows, mids, and highlights. Get some strong colors in there but careful not to make them pixellated. Now just lower the opacity to anything form 10% to 40% and see if that balances your colors out ^..^ (Props to Skadjer for showing me this technique; I use it a lot now)
I'll look over that video and then try what you (and Skadj) recommended. If nothing else, I can save it as a separate psd.
D.O.P.R
Let me know how it goes or if you have any trouble with it :)
The alpha channel is your friend. Fade through, make things blend seamlessly.
At a time I tried a pic of an anthro feline using parts of a real tiger photo over the lineart, and I must say the effect was pretty impressive... until I got tired of spending 20 minutes to apply another 15px x 15px patch of fur.
D.O.P.R
Modern technology needs to be put in its place. ::nods::
D.O.P.R
Investigating is the best way to learn. And practice. A lot