Colouring Androids Who Dream: Part 1 (Patreon)

Zzt. Clank. Whirr.

Insight Function: [ACTIVE]

The door to Duski's compartment is malfunctioning, so you know what that means.

✨ art insights ✨

- Miguel

On to Part 1:

This is just my own take on colouring comics, currently very much something that I'm developing as I go. Personally I prefer a very matte, retro, textured look, with desaturated colours and a simplistic approach so that my lines can still pop!

Colouring starts with all my lines...

...flattened down into one folder. As I've always done, I colour underneath my lines in a new layer.

I fill in the whole of my panel with one colour...

... (in this case my panel edge at the top is hidden) This is just to make sure that I keep all my colours to one space, only inside the panel, and the base colour of each panel sets the tone for the atmosphere.

I then use a brush I made myself with a hue/lightness scatter to add chunky texture to the whole panel. (brush settings > color dynamics > hue jitter AND/OR brightness jitter)

Next, I paint right into the panel...

...with a pretty normal brush, usually a round or square one, and I'm layering colours gently onto one another, using selection tool mostly to keep it to certain areas. This is mostly to separate large areas out from one another. I often use subtle multiply layers to darken areas, or overlay layers to lighten areas. That gives depth to the foreground, middleground and background.

Next comes detail, and without...

...changing my VALUE (brightness/darkness) too much, I use a variety of layer modes to add in little details here and there. Her tattoos+nipple covers are done with a multiply layer, and the bright glowing LEDs of her goggles/mech parts are done with a Linear Light layer. The reason I don't want to change my values too much is because it will muddy up the areas that the eye perceives as foreground/background.

Here it is in black and white...

...to show you that the whole foreground is pretty uniform in value (lightness), even if the hues (colours) are varied.

Next, I use textures...

...in certain areas to add some interest and variation.

Here's more examples...

...of textures in other areas of the three pages so far of Androids Who Dream.

- Duski

End of Part 1

I always love these little glimpses into Duski's work. I'm never not blown away by the depth of her craft. We will upload Part 2 this Friday, so be sure to tune in!

- Miguel