The tip about using dark, light, and desaturated colors as opposed to black, white, and gray is actually a gamechanger to me, along with the contrast tip
"Restrictions breed creativity" is honestly one of the best sayings I've ever learned, I think I originally heard it in relation to a Game Jam but it really does apply to anything creative. Even arbitrary restrictions like "must have a duck" can get the brain gears turning
Total freedom is an existential crisis. No limitations means no narrowing of options and no goals. I definitely prefer restrictions as they make the creative process more navigable.
Stand Still, Stay Silent has great colour work as well as panel layout. I recommend it for anyone wanting inspiration. Also check out Kill 6 Billion Demons for a lot of blue-green and red contrast, it's a feast for the eyes.
This was a dope breakdown. I’m in the middle of creating an afrofuturism comic and I have been studying color theory from film. Hopefully I can incorporate some of the things you said to tell my future colorist. It’s hard to convey how to color brown skin or show the lighting and how it contrasts off the skin. Again very dope video
Not all brown people are the same color. What is important? How does lighting hit across their face? If using more than line art, think back to which colors help our eyes to see your character’s features. In school and to this day, i have reference material i look at even when i’m not drawing. I study form, shadow, faces that seem to have their own unique personality. In google, I sometimes search by description including emotions. A favorite book I have is from a photographer who traveled worldwide capturing pictures of families. Amazing! Humans are so varied. I had lived such a narrow experience until i moved from my hometown, and before I bought that book. There is no singular definition of brown, no scientific definition for it either. Even more important to me, I think the best treatments of someone allowed in your story requires that you let their origin story reveal to you.
Hi, again. The book “1001 Families” is by Uwe Ommer. I have a hardback purchased around 2002. It’s on Amazon, new or used, from $9 to $59 depending on seller. I’m not pitching a sale 😊. It might be at the library. Maybe his website is still around, too. - Best wishes! - Almost forgot. I don’t know where you live but there are afro-oriented comic and illustrator and mainstream conventions all across the US (and worldwide, too).
In general, darker skin (and objects) will reflect colors around it and lighter skin (and objects) will show more dramatic shadows. Dark skin provides wonderful opportunities to play with dramatic and multicolored lighting and backgrounds because the colors will reflect off of your subject and frame their features. Sinister has a great video on it in his video on drawing skin.
"However, if you get two really strong personalities in vicinity to each other. Sometimes you get conflict, and I get a very entertaining lunch" Hahahah! 10:40
high quality content. learned new things about moving the eye with light, and avoiding too much contrast with midtones. some of my work definitely suffers from strong competing colors, but no more. subbed.
Discovered you as mention on discourse. Subscribing here. Digital learner, traditional paint background. Different media but visual concepts apply 2:43 at a specific moment. Thank you.
Thanks for coming aboard! Traditional painting background means you'll probably have an interesting perspective on these topics (I do both, but learned them simultaneously and my traditional paint leaves much to be desired especially)
And I was thinking that red microphone looks cool, but I do love red things, so may be biased ha ha. My favorite art professor right now in UA-cam, no BS, just straight forward applicable knowledge, great content, I hope you grow to the millions!
I like the color but it gets backlit a lot --I think that's why another commenter found it distracting (which it is, with that much light). I've just got to figure out how to light the scene better. Glad you're enjoying the videos! And hopefully I continue to avoid adding in BS.
I really liked the colors Greg Smallwood used in The Human Target. Very restricted palette. Moody and always complementing the pencils. I keep trying to get in his mind, but he is too good for me.
It's true. A vignette makes a kind of brute force focal point. We don't look at an image all at once, so having tiers of importance makes it more approachable.
Thanks for making this video, it's definitely giving me some food for thought. If it's not to much to ask, for No 7, I had a hard time understanding which colors in the palettes presented were "dominant" or not, and was wondering if some more clarity could be provided on this? Is it determined by the most saturated color? The one with the highest value? Warmest temp?
Dominance within a color palette describes the color with the highest visual weight to its surroundings (your eye will usually track to it first). This is usually determined by variables like saturation, value (lighter colors allow for more saturation), and proportion (the more of that color in the scene, the greater the dominance). Warm colors also have an edge on cooler ones, because cooler colors recede. So it's a basket of variables, many of which can affect the outcome. Usually in a natural color palette, the most dominant color will be high in saturation, warm, and bright. Other bright tones will typically be desaturated in comparison.
I have the opposite problem in coloring, I can’t get enough contrast… it has been frustrating as I’ve started trying to learn to paint. I’ve always drawn but never painted and it’s a very frustrating process
great video! very informative. I would love to know your opinion on the colors of a graphic novel like CRACKLE OF THE FROST by Lorenzo Mattotti which has very strong and striking color work.
I'm not aware of any tools for aid, but a color vision deficiency has many tiers of severity. I'd recommend taking the XRite test (www.xrite.com/hue-test) to see which areas in color space you have deficiency, and then focus on being particular careful working with those hues. Color vision can be improved by consistently working with color --though of course there are likely limits on how far one can improve above their baseline.
for the No.1 how can we talk about a color of a thing indipendent from the light... for "local color" we can only say under a white light its color is this or that.
in all seriousness, do you use AI to help you write your script hahaha I'm noticing a lot of keywords that AI overuse in almost all of your vids "fostering", "delve", "employ"
Jordan. I have a suggestion. Your giant red microphone in the foreground is fighting with my eyes to look at you speaking to me. You should be the center of attention. It is distracting. Just an opinion so please don’t take it the wrong way. Other than that I’m loving your content man. Great job!
No worries I don't disagree with you. The location is a little odd, though it can't be seen on camera, which limits the set up. Hopefully I'll find ways to build a better set area if the channel grows enough to merit it.
![Color Theory [SULA LIVES]](/img/n.gif)
The tip about using dark, light, and desaturated colors as opposed to black, white, and gray is actually a gamechanger to me, along with the contrast tip
It was a huge one for me (on the dark, light, desaturated colors). It helped to fix a lot of frustration I had with my own color palettes.
"Restrictions breed creativity" is honestly one of the best sayings I've ever learned, I think I originally heard it in relation to a Game Jam but it really does apply to anything creative. Even arbitrary restrictions like "must have a duck" can get the brain gears turning
Total freedom is an existential crisis. No limitations means no narrowing of options and no goals. I definitely prefer restrictions as they make the creative process more navigable.
this is geared for comic artists but tbh it's good advice in general for illustrations. i'm glad i came across this video
I'm glad you got something from it! And yeah, for color theory, what works is a lot more broadly applicable than just for comics.
Stand Still, Stay Silent has great colour work as well as panel layout.
I recommend it for anyone wanting inspiration.
Also check out Kill 6 Billion Demons for a lot of blue-green and red contrast, it's a feast for the eyes.
SSSS is a tremendous work all around, and definitely because of color. I'll have to check out the other. Thanks!
This was a dope breakdown. I’m in the middle of creating an afrofuturism comic and I have been studying color theory from film. Hopefully I can incorporate some of the things you said to tell my future colorist. It’s hard to convey how to color brown skin or show the lighting and how it contrasts off the skin. Again very dope video
Thank you! I hope it helps!
Not all brown people are the same color. What is important? How does lighting hit across their face? If using more than line art, think back to which colors help our eyes to see your character’s features. In school and to this day, i have reference material i look at even when i’m not drawing. I study form, shadow, faces that seem to have their own unique personality.
In google, I sometimes search by description including emotions. A favorite book I have is from a photographer who traveled worldwide capturing pictures of families. Amazing! Humans are so varied.
I had lived such a narrow experience until i moved from my hometown, and before I bought that book. There is no singular definition of brown, no scientific definition for it either. Even more important to me, I think the best treatments of someone allowed in your story requires that you let their origin story reveal to you.
Hi, again. The book “1001 Families” is by Uwe Ommer. I have a hardback purchased around 2002. It’s on Amazon, new or used, from $9 to $59 depending on seller. I’m not pitching a sale 😊. It might be at the library. Maybe his website is still around, too.
- Best wishes! - Almost forgot. I don’t know where you live but there are afro-oriented comic and illustrator and mainstream conventions all across the US (and worldwide, too).
In general, darker skin (and objects) will reflect colors around it and lighter skin (and objects) will show more dramatic shadows. Dark skin provides wonderful opportunities to play with dramatic and multicolored lighting and backgrounds because the colors will reflect off of your subject and frame their features. Sinister has a great video on it in his video on drawing skin.
"However, if you get two really strong personalities in vicinity to each other. Sometimes you get conflict, and I get a very entertaining lunch" Hahahah! 10:40
It is consistently a good show
Wow, this video answered so many of my questions and moved my understanding of color far forward. I still have a ways to go, but thank you!
Your videos have literally come at the perfect time.
I blame magic. But I'm glad you're getting something of value from the videos.
high quality content. learned new things about moving the eye with light, and avoiding too much contrast with midtones. some of my work definitely suffers from strong competing colors, but no more. subbed.
Thank you! Glad you got something valuable from it.
Discovered you as mention on discourse. Subscribing here. Digital learner, traditional paint background. Different media but visual concepts apply 2:43 at a specific moment. Thank you.
Thanks for coming aboard! Traditional painting background means you'll probably have an interesting perspective on these topics (I do both, but learned them simultaneously and my traditional paint leaves much to be desired especially)
awesome channel with lots of credible knowledge presented in a nice way :) happy to follow u and watch u grow !
Thank you! Hopefully we keep growing. Tell your friends. And a few of your enemies.
Really insightful video and your voice is very pleasant to hear!
Thank you kindly! Glad you enjoyed
Thanks Jordan. Will be waiting keenly for more.
Thank you! More coming for sure.
This video was way more useful than I expected. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Glad you got something from it! Thank you!
How is this for free, so good!!
Thank you! My career in bank theft frees me up to produce art content on the cheap.
Very good tips.
As for a comic with good coloring I really like the coloring in Aways, Never.
Thank you! And "Always, Never" looks really interesting. I'll have to read that.
Well explained, very useful even to filmmakers, photographers, designers. Love the link to music.
Harmony is one of those principles that extends way beyond color and into music, literature, anything you can think of
Thank you for the video, very helpful!
Glad it was helpful!
really helpful, thanks! also, james gunrey's book really is great!!
Glad it was helpful and yes, Gurney is a master. Huge influence on me and many other illustrators.
And I was thinking that red microphone looks cool, but I do love red things, so may be biased ha ha.
My favorite art professor right now in UA-cam, no BS, just straight forward applicable knowledge, great content, I hope you grow to the millions!
I like the color but it gets backlit a lot --I think that's why another commenter found it distracting (which it is, with that much light). I've just got to figure out how to light the scene better. Glad you're enjoying the videos! And hopefully I continue to avoid adding in BS.
I learned a lot about colour from the bande dessinée artists, my favourite being Matthieu Bonhomme. They gave me the excuse to truly play with colour.
I looked up Bonhomme! Amazing work all around.
very very helpful to me .... THANKKKKKK YOU BROTHER!!!!!
Colors with Ron Livingston is fun!🎉
The important thing is that we're having fun
You sr,got a new follower. Thanks for the knowledge!
Fantastic tips, thank you!
Thank you!
I really liked the colors Greg Smallwood used in The Human Target. Very restricted palette. Moody and always complementing the pencils. I keep trying to get in his mind, but he is too good for me.
True I need to go revisit that one
Re: Move eye with light: I finally understood why photographs pop when you add vignete to them.
It's true. A vignette makes a kind of brute force focal point. We don't look at an image all at once, so having tiers of importance makes it more approachable.
Thanks for making this video, it's definitely giving me some food for thought. If it's not to much to ask, for No 7, I had a hard time understanding which colors in the palettes presented were "dominant" or not, and was wondering if some more clarity could be provided on this? Is it determined by the most saturated color? The one with the highest value? Warmest temp?
Dominance within a color palette describes the color with the highest visual weight to its surroundings (your eye will usually track to it first). This is usually determined by variables like saturation, value (lighter colors allow for more saturation), and proportion (the more of that color in the scene, the greater the dominance). Warm colors also have an edge on cooler ones, because cooler colors recede. So it's a basket of variables, many of which can affect the outcome. Usually in a natural color palette, the most dominant color will be high in saturation, warm, and bright. Other bright tones will typically be desaturated in comparison.
Thanks for the informative reply! Really digging your channel :)@@jholtillus
I have the opposite problem in coloring, I can’t get enough contrast… it has been frustrating as I’ve started trying to learn to paint. I’ve always drawn but never painted and it’s a very frustrating process
Battle chasers books 1-10 have amazing coloring
That artistic urge to use horse as an example for references
It's truly powerful
great video! very informative. I would love to know your opinion on the colors of a graphic novel like CRACKLE OF THE FROST by Lorenzo Mattotti which has very strong and striking color work.
are there any tools to help people who are colour blind?
I'm not aware of any tools for aid, but a color vision deficiency has many tiers of severity. I'd recommend taking the XRite test (www.xrite.com/hue-test) to see which areas in color space you have deficiency, and then focus on being particular careful working with those hues. Color vision can be improved by consistently working with color --though of course there are likely limits on how far one can improve above their baseline.
@@jholtillus thank you . mines pretty bad. effecting any colour that is not prime . So i get 90% wrong . Can draw a great green tiger though haha
criminally under subscribed channel.
We can fix that. Tell your friends. Tell your friends' cousins. Them most of all.
I'll do what I can.
I learned to never use black in painting as well. Not even for mixing. It deadens the painting
for the No.1 how can we talk about a color of a thing indipendent from the light... for "local color" we can only say under a white light its color is this or that.
Fucking brilliant wisdom being shared here.
Appreciate it. Giving it my best
I vote for Lee Bermejo Batman Damned or Gabrielle Dell'otto Secret War Marvel....You should take a look seriously...Gabrielle uses oil paints....
in all seriousness, do you use AI to help you write your script hahaha I'm noticing a lot of keywords that AI overuse in almost all of your vids "fostering", "delve", "employ"
Nope. My dislike for the AI is very strong. And apparently now it's stealing my favorite words.
Jordan. I have a suggestion. Your giant red microphone in the foreground is fighting with my eyes to look at you speaking to me. You should be the center of attention. It is distracting. Just an opinion so please don’t take it the wrong way. Other than that I’m loving your content man. Great job!
No worries I don't disagree with you. The location is a little odd, though it can't be seen on camera, which limits the set up. Hopefully I'll find ways to build a better set area if the channel grows enough to merit it.
Now I want to use belligerent mushroom.
you look like rhys darby
I, also, am no swearwolf.
Color variety exists in all shadows. Black and grays are imaginary.
very useful video, thanks!!
Thanks for watching! Glad you got something from it!