Mostly An Ref Blog.

So first of all I usually tend to not do lineart - even when it looks like I did lineart, in 19/20 cases I've just edited the rough base sketch until it looked tidier LMAO

like- my most recent comic for example had lots of that!

I tend to prefer sketch cleaning over lineart just bc I feel like whenever I do proper lineart it's bound to look uneven and awkward (there's also something weirdly therapeutic to cleaning up a sketch? Idk)

For the next steps' examples I decided to color out one of these random practice sketches I made the other day

Then for my base coloring I prefer to use big, smooth brushes with pressure based opacity (in this case the turnip pen) - as I color I like to use the C key to toggle between applying color and turning my brush into an eraser

I also use separate layers for different "groups" of colors (like one for the body color, one for the clothes, one for the hair etc) - this is bc I am a spoiled brat who's addicted to the clipping layer setting - they make it so nicely easy to apply blush, freckles, patterns etc so that's a big part of why I separate my coloring layers excessively

Sometimes I need them all merged to one layer, in which case I'll group the coloring layers together and make a safety copy of the group that I'll just keep invisible - then merge the og coloring down to one layer before I move onto shading. If something goes wrong or I need to change a lot of colors that I don't wanna re-apply manually I can always go back to the group with the neatly separated layers!

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For my shading I always start with a multiply layer and clip it on top of the base colors (shown below an example of the shading layer on multiply vs normal setting)

Then I pick one darker color and one lighter one into my foreground and background color thingies(?)

these things ^

and bucket-tool fill the whole layer with the darker color. I then apply and blend my way through the shading using the default CSP guache brush (I like the texture and feel of it) and the X button to swap between the two colors. Mentality-wise I try to imagine where the light would hit the subject I'm shading and then just. Add light there. I'm sure you can start with the lighter color as well and then add the shadows using the darker one, but I personally find it a bit easier to work in the opposite order.

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Next we have some ambient occlusion of sorts? (once again below showing the layer set to "add" vs "normal")

I make a new layer, set it to "add", clip it on top of the base color and multiply shading layer and bucket-tool fill the whole canvas with black (black becomes "invisible" with the layer set to "add" so it makes for a great color to blend out the added highlights with with a bit of texture to it) before applying the lighting - basically using the same brush and X hotkey method from the multiply layer step.

I like doing 2 colors of light coming from opposite directions (keep the actual color you're working with dark tho, keeps it more subtle and is easier to smoothly blend) but sometimes - if I see the need for it - another color or two just to highlight certain parts and make them pop.

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Everything that comes next is what I'd call "optional color adjustments" territory - they're experimental things I do to take my rendering to the next level and I don't consistently apply them, since it really depends on what I'm drawing and how I want it to look!

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First we have the result of me going "man the colors are looking a little washed out/dull now" and here's where that merged base color layer copy comes into play - I copy it, paste it above all the other shading, then hit CTRL+U and use the adjustment sliders to crank up the saturation pretty close to max and lower the luminosity a bit, before setting the layer to the mode "color" and pulling the opacity down to half or less

This brings the flat colors out a bit more without un-doing the shading:

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Next we have something I sometimes do on faces specifically, which is lightly air-brushing a pastel color (in this case a light pastel pink) onto some larger sections and turn the layer mode to "soft light" - it softens the outlines a little and brightens that part in a very subtle way I personally really like. Draws your eye to it without feeling busy!

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Up next is what I'd normally consider the very last step of my "really detailed" rendering style - the touch-ups.

It looks complicated but is actually really simple - just tedious LMAO

I basically just make a new layer above every other layer, then pick various colors off of the image (by holding ALT and clicking onto whatever spot I wanna pick from) and use my basic flat marker tool (that I also primarily use for sketching) to manually sketch in some texture details or highlights

it looks deceptively subtle but it seriously makes WORLDS of difference

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WE HAVE ENTERED THE POST-PROCESSING ZONE!

oftentimes after saving a PNG duplicate of the drawing I just made I'll open said png and start piling effects on top to bring more out of the drawing for either atmosphere or just my own enjoyment LMAO

with that in mind, here's some fun effects I like to do:

BLUR

copy the merged image layer -> gaussian blur the copy -> erase whatever spots you want to be sharp and in focus -> enjoy the soft

I would recommend not to go overboard with this one lol

2. COLOR VARIATION

copy merged image layer -> go to menu bar -> click "Edit" -> "Tonal Correction" -> "Tone Curve"-> go WACKO mode on it

-> behold your holographic abomination

-> set the layer mode to "color" and crank the opacity down to somewhere between 10-40% -> PROFIT

3. GRADIENT MAP

admittedly this one I use basically never but it's still neat to know for the occasional random case

-> copy merged layer -> hit CTRL+U -> pull saturation all the way down -> go to menu bar -> click "Edit" -> "Tonal Correction" -> "Gradient Map" -> experiment to your preferences

It also honestly just really improves the process of making a black and white version of a drawing? Example:

the first image is with just the saturation pulled down, the second one is with the default b/w gradient map applied!

4. CHROMATIC ABERRATION

this one is to be enjoyed carefully and in measures since it can be very eyestrain inducing!

Also CSP EX has a ready-to-use filter option for this but I only had CSP pro for the longest time so I'm explaining the manual method I've done in the last:

you'll want to start with a copy that has the saturation slider pulled all the way down like in the last example

go to "Edit" -> "convert brightness to opacity" -> go to your layer settings and click "lock transparent pixels" -> slap a bright neon red or pink onto everything on that layer -> set layer mode to "overlay" -> copy layer -> hit CTRL+U -> pull the hue slider all the way to the left or right -> pull both layers around indivudally and ONLY VERY SLIGHTLY into opposite directions using the transform tool (CTRL+T)

tadah!

I think this is more than enough for now - I hope it helps??? We don't gatekeep art knowledge in this house!