Kiriano

this is my first attempt (emphasis on “attempt”) at a tutorial…i personally hate laying down flat colors neatly so this is to make that process as painless as possible lol; i end up cleaning the edges during the rendering process anyway so it works for me

note that every artist has a different way of working, so this tutorial may be entirely unhelpful to your own process (which is fine and valid!) however, if you’re looking to try out a different workflow, maybe give this one a shot :)

side note for a full piece w background:

i tend to start with a rough color thumbnail (basically layering colors under my sketch layer until i can imagine what the final piece will look like). then, i do lineart.

you can see the rough version does not line up with the lineart at all! (third image) but it all comes together after rendering and cleaning up.

as you can probably guess, rendering is probably the most time consuming step (with lineart being a close second). it takes even longer if i decide to use textured brushes, like the one below.

my number one tip for finding a good workflow for adding color is to prioritize your enjoyment of the process! i hate laying down flat colors, so i make that process as quick as possible. that way, i can spend more time on inking and painting, which i enjoy more. if there are steps you hate doing, try to think of how you can minimize or even eliminate that step.

a redraw of an old piece…i’ve been learning a lot about color and light, and i hope it shows :) still not perfect yet, but at the very least i’m seeing some improvement in the way i draw full scenes 🐟

here’s the old one for comparison:

and the ink lines alone :)