Hi there! Huge huge fan of your art and style. Wondering if you’d give a rendering/coloring tutorial? Thank you so much! (:
thank you so much! I've been meaning to do this tutorial since so many people ask about it, so let's jump right in!
I'm not going to talk much about the definition of color/rendering, as I'm sure most of you have probably heard it all before from an art teacher or the internet. I'm also not going to give you a step-by-step tutorial, because it will do much more harm than good. We all draw differently: a decent tutorial should nurture that instead of trying to replace it!
When I talk about color and rendering, it will be through a functional sense. What are they for? How do you use them effectively?
A lot of artists like to view color as a static fact about the environment/character/object they are drawing. The grass is green, the rock is grey, the orange is orange etc... in these examples, color is just one way of describing the subject. Even if you argue some grass is yellow, you're still just telling me what it is! When we think about color like this, we limit ourselves a lot.
The truth about art is that grass does not have to be any color: we’re not ACTUALLY trying to make a 1:1 replica of real life (even when we are.)
(seen above: an illustration where the moon is green, Six-claws is 50 feet tall, and for some reason the sky is bright blue-purple at midnight)
in art, we try to illustrate what the human eye wants to see… and color is part of that. Color is a tool in which you can convey the emotions, tone or atmosphere of a piece. If you think about it like this, you’ll be more inclined to choose what works best with your composition instead of what you think is ‘real.’
Here's an example of how I use color to tell you about my OC and beloved son Flicker.
I made this piece as the cover of his character doc - my main color scheme includes yellow, orange and red: which work together because they are all analogous.
Flicker's 'highlight' color (the one I use the least in his character design) is red, so all of the important information in this piece should also be red! This way, color is telling the viewer where to look and what is most significant about Flicker.
Color and Value are married
As much as color placement can direct the eye, it will ultimately bow to the power of value. (unless you're using two very high contrast colors, like bright red/blue.) Our eyes are much more accustomed to spotting value differences compared to color differences: this is because color is subjective, but value is not. A colorblind person still sees the same values as a non-colorblind person.
Because of this, it's important to consider value when you pick colors. Flicker's sweater being darker than his facial crest helps his sweater to stick out more. When I color, I like to frequently put my piece in greyscale so I can see if the values have enough contrast! You can easily do this by putting a saturation filter over your piece, which (I think) is a feature on most digital programs.
(To do this on procreate, take any grey you want and drop it on a blank layer above your art. toggle saturation, and boom!)
Next order of business: How you render?
Rendering is often regarded as the polish of any good art piece: a good render can take you from beginner to intermediate! However, a lot of artists see the open-ended nature of rendering as a little bit scary.
When I render, I am essentially trying to add the texture (and sometimes lighting) to the subjects in my piece. This also usually involves a lot of line cleanup for me, but a less-messy artist wouldn't have to worry about that.
You can render under or over your lineart layer: it's up to you! Just make sure you put it above any lighting filters you have.
Ultimately, the way you render will be a natural product of your artistic style - instead of looking at chud tutorials like this one, you'll improve the most from doing real-life studies and experimenting with different brushes, strokes and techniques. Here are some things that helped me learn how I render!
Seriously, use different brushes. Textured brushes are the easiest way to make your piece look more detailed without having to put that much effort into them, which is a lifesaver if you don't want to spend 8 hours on one drawing!
I like to use smooth, firm brushes (like hard airbrush) for metal. For skin, I prefer more 'painterly' brushes - and I use a lot of grainy/weird shaped stuff for environments.
You can always add MORE lighting on top of your render! Sometimes, touching up bright spots with the airbrush is the finishing touch you need.
Zoom out frequently! Don't get lost in the details, especially if they don't matter/aren't even your focal point. You can usually get away with loosely rendering to add texture, and hyper-detailing everything tends to distract viewers from what matters.
If you want a good FREE procreate brushpack, I highly recommend the JJ exclusive brushpack! I have had these brushes since 2022 and they are seriously some of the best on the internet. Super versatile and easy for beginners to use! I still use the Acrylic JJ 1 for skin rendering to this day. Procreate also has some nice stuff built into the app: Ink bleed, salamanca and soft airbrush are a few favorites of mine.
I hope this tutorial was at least a little bit helpful, even if it turned out more like an assortment of different tips. At the very least, I have given you brushes. YAY!
color and rendering are difficult to learn… but not impossible! You got this!
