This is Part 2 of our 3-part series on "Tips to Level Up Your Work."
The theme of Part 2 is "How to Color Areas Without Line Art." Let's work on leveling up step by step.
Continuing from last time, here is the line art we'll be using.
>> Line art of the Butterfly Girl
We offer both a downloadable version you can print and color right away, and a version already printed on paper made especially for coloring. Please check out whichever suits you best.
Now, let's get started!
First, to raise the quality of your work, it's important to remember the idea of "adding a little extra on top of the basic coloring technique."
Last time we introduced the first of these, "adding subtle color variations." This time, the second tip is "how to color areas without line art."
Many of you probably find that "the areas with nothing drawn are the most confusing." This time, we'll walk you through exactly how to handle that.
In the previous video, we colored up to this point.
This time, we'll color the simpler part of the clothing, which has fewer lines. Even with line art that has no markings and few hints for dimension, once you know the coloring tips you can still express texture and depth like this.
To understand how to draw fabric wrinkles first, our two previously published videos are also helpful references — please check them out if you haven't already.
>> Fabric Wrinkles: How to Color and Think About Them ① — Basic Concepts and Coloring a Ribbon
>> Fabric Wrinkles: How to Color and Think About Them ② — Coloring a Skirt and Curtains
These may look like just a few random lines, but they actually represent fabric wrinkles.
Once you understand how fabric wrinkles work, you can build dimension and texture even from just a few lines.
Here, we use these three clues to add shadow:
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Lines indicating wrinkles
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Outer contour lines
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The line of the body underneath (not actually visible)
We'll add shadow using these three as our guide.
This time we want a whitish outfit, so we'll use gray. Start by coloring along the lines of the line art, then add shadow slightly longer than the lines, keeping the flow of the fabric in mind.
Draw the wrinkles while keeping the roundness of the shoulder underneath the clothes in mind, and add a shadow of the same shape slightly away from the line art's lines to make the fabric look like it's puffing up.
Do the same for the curved areas, adding shadow slightly away from the lines. As you extend the shadow, you can express the fabric's puffiness even in areas with no lines. Since the shadow we just added is the "lower part," and the gap left in between is the "raised, brighter part," we can add another shadow slightly further away again.
Repeating this process gradually brings the fabric's movement to life. Where the fabric overlaps, adding shadow to the underlying side expresses thickness.
To pull everything together, it's also a good idea to add colors that match the overall mood for a sense of unity. Make the shadow darker near the line art and gradually lighter toward the outside.
Add extra darkness to the shadows in the areas without line art too, to emphasize the fabric's dimension.
We'd like to add even more color, but since we need to keep checking the balance with the surrounding areas, we'll stop here for now.
Once the background has color, we'll check the balance again and continue layering.
If you add too much dark color to white fabric, it stops looking white, so it's also a good idea to use light, bright colors. This time we want an overall cool tone, so we're using light blue, but for warm tones, adding yellow or pink would work well too.
Whichever color you choose, avoid coloring too strongly — add just enough color to still read as white while balancing it with the surroundings.
This time, since we've used a lot of black in the background and figure, the fabric reads as white pretty easily even with more color added, so it's okay to add a bit more.
Here's the finished piece. Compared to the original line art, the fabric wrinkles have increased, and both texture and dimension have improved.
Even in areas without line art, by finding "hint lines" like we did this time and gradually adding shading while thinking about the form, you can fill it in with confidence.
Simple line art tends to end up as flat coloring, so please try applying today's tips to color it with more dimension.
Next time, in "Tips to Level Up Your Work, Part 3," we'll introduce "How to Color Backgrounds with Depth."
Thank you for watching. We look forward to your requests and comments for future videos. See you next time!