[Gnord]

I had some issues posting on the board, so this is a little late.

But finally I can share the results.
This is my first time coloring a comic character, with any success.
I learned a lot.

[blackspike2710]

Nice, but I thought her shirt and shoes were supposed to be green?

[Gnord]

blackspike2710, on 02 July 2010 - 11:18 AM, said:

Nice, but I thought her shirt and shoes were supposed to be green?

I wasn't sure. I hadn't seen anything recently to indicate they were green, though her clothes have been green in the past.

I just decided I liked purple/pink better for this picture.

[David]

Very impressive
Although there is a bit of pixellation in places, what software did you use?

I think the pink works very well, we've never seen that outfit in colour, so anything goes

[Celtic Minstrel]

It would appear that there is no anti-aliasing on the flames. I presume that's what you're referring to, David.

[David]

It's also quite obvious around the neck-line.

[Ineluki]

That is, indeed, a very good start, Gnord. Keep at it!
Personally, I prefer the original colors from the comic. So maybe this will or won't be useful to you in the future. Haven't updated it in eons, but I still use it myself.

[Gnord]

David, on 02 July 2010 - 01:44 PM, said:

Very impressive
Although there is a bit of pixellation in places, what software did you use?

I think the pink works very well, we've never seen that outfit in colour, so anything goes

Yes to all points.
In hindsight, the girls just spent the night in the hotel, so Grace could have changed into anything of any color. There's only a few comics where she is wearing today's clothes.

I used Gimp.

The pixelation in the flames is because I did them first.
I did the flames first, and rather than using a semitransparent paint brush, like I used on Grace, I just flood-filled the flames with the given colors.
As I figured out more how to select the regions correctly and keep the existing shading, you see more detail and texture.

This is the order I worked:

• Flames (1 hr)
  
• Green background (20 mins)
  
• Grace's forward most tail (almost 2 hours, which I reverted & recolored, when I worked on...)
  
• All the rest of Grace (1 hr including the previously reverted tail)
  
• Grace's shirt and shoes. (15 mins)
  
• Eyes and mouth (10 mins)

The belt and pouch I left gray, since the belt buckle is probably metal, and the pouch I thought should stay different from the clothes.

As I said, this is the very first time I've done this, so there are mistakes, like the flames, and a bit of leaked color on some edges.

Ineluki, on 03 July 2010 - 02:31 PM, said:

That is, indeed, a very good start, Gnord. Keep at it!
Personally, I prefer the original colors from the comic. So maybe this will or won't be useful to you in the future. Haven't updated it in eons, but I still use it myself.

That is extremely useful!
I wish I had it when I started. I had to just eyeball and guess with everything.

[Celtic Minstrel]

Did you set the greyscale layer to "Multiply" mode and draw the colours "underneath"? That's the way I usually do colouring (I've done a few colourings of Cheer! comics in the past, though none of EGS), and it works quite well. You still have to be careful about leaking, but it's not too tedious to go back at the end to erase any leaky bits of colour.



And I wouldn't say it's that important to use the colours Ineluki linked, as long as you keep approximately to the proper colours for the character. For clothing, anything suffices (well, in theory anyway).

[Jake R]

I'd say it's very well done, better than my own attempts so far. As for the comments: the anti-aliasing bit is a valid remark (if you did that on a layer like you should, you could try to soften or feather it?). The shirt/shoes color might indeed be better in green as I don't really think of Grace as the kind of girl who'd wear that color on a trip into nature. I mean, she's part animal, she of all people should know the importance of camouflage. Plus, it's Grace, not some uptown girl. Living in her uptown world. If anything, I'd expect it to be bright yellow or orange, not purple. xD

[Gnord]

Jake R, on 04 July 2010 - 04:49 PM, said:

I'd say it's very well done, better than my own attempts so far. As for the comments: the anti-aliasing bit is a valid remark (if you did that on a layer like you should, you could try to soften or feather it?). The shirt/shoes color might indeed be better in green as I don't really think of Grace as the kind of girl who'd wear that color on a trip into nature. I mean, she's part animal, she of all people should know the importance of camouflage. Plus, it's Grace, not some uptown girl. Living in her uptown world. If anything, I'd expect it to be bright yellow or orange, not purple. xD

All your points are valid. At the same time, Grace is the most "girly" of all the female characters.

No, I didn't do it properly with layering, I haven't figured that out yet.
I used the paintbrush, on semi-transparent, and painted over the greyscale. So, in fact, it's perfectly backwards of what it should be.

It would be fairly easy to redo the flames though, and put this grace on a properly done flame background.
Not sure I'll take the time to fix it though, it was just a cool experiment to try.
Next time Dan inspires me, I'll just do the next one better.

[Chimera]

Very Cool made