Lith's colors & tutorials
- Thread starter Lithrael
- Start date
Lithrael
Remember, always hold your apple tight
Thanks guys! I'll take a serious shot at Ganishka later on - today I've got a start on Sonia. I'm trying to match the look that Vax set with the apostle reaction shots. CnC will be along shortly to point out how the inks imply a hard shadow and I've made the lighting all soft. 
I haven't started the helmet yet... I suck at shiny metal.
I haven't started the helmet yet... I suck at shiny metal.
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
Very nice, Lith, I love her eyes. The lighting on her nose looks a little sharp; it almost makes her face look like it's made out of glass, so you may want to soften that up a bit. When it comes to lighting, as you said, CnC will probably give you better advice than I can. 
I like it.. except that she doesn't have lips. ???
Had to bend my "picture's due" (2800'th post) rule to try and say something about all the cool work the Station is seeing recently. I'm afraid I'm completely swamped in work and haven't had the time to finish what I was working on. But hopefully soon, anyways:
Reeeeally cool work, Lith!
You guys are beginning to read me like a book
The skin tones are very nice but yea it's a too soft right now. Which puts that highlight Rhombaad mentioned into focus. He's right in that she's have to be wet to give off that kind of sheen, and similar highlights would also be wherever that angle is shared on other parts of her face.
I'd also bring some darker tones to part of the hair, as it kind of looks like it's glowing right now.
trick to metallic/shiny objects isn't how they look, but rather what they're reflecting. Put suggestions of what you'd like around her on the helmet and it'll sell the object as metallic.
That's kind of the style Miura has, which he shares with a lot of japanese artists. Lip shape is implied but not will actually change the hue to indicate lips. It can look a bit wierd on Miura's stuff when someone attempts a more photo-real rendering since he has a more realistic style.
Reeeeally cool work, Lith!
Lithrael said:CnC will be along shortly to point out how the inks imply a hard shadow and I've made the lighting all soft.
You guys are beginning to read me like a book
The skin tones are very nice but yea it's a too soft right now. Which puts that highlight Rhombaad mentioned into focus. He's right in that she's have to be wet to give off that kind of sheen, and similar highlights would also be wherever that angle is shared on other parts of her face.
I'd also bring some darker tones to part of the hair, as it kind of looks like it's glowing right now.
Lithrael said:I haven't started the helmet yet... I suck at shiny metal.
trick to metallic/shiny objects isn't how they look, but rather what they're reflecting. Put suggestions of what you'd like around her on the helmet and it'll sell the object as metallic.
Ramen4ever said:
That's kind of the style Miura has, which he shares with a lot of japanese artists. Lip shape is implied but not will actually change the hue to indicate lips. It can look a bit wierd on Miura's stuff when someone attempts a more photo-real rendering since he has a more realistic style.
Lithrael
Remember, always hold your apple tight
Thanks for the great feedback CnC, Rhombaad! Yeah, there are a few things that aren't working yet. I'm trying to figure out what to do with the line of her nose... it looks odd to me when I leave it dark, but yeah - if I use it as a hilight it just makes her look slick.
When I try to make the shading harder, it looks strange to me too. The darker tone ends up looking very unnatural. I guess I just have to try it a lot more till I get used to it - you know, get the hang of what it ought to look like.
Ramen - I'll try painting her up some lips, too.
When I try to make the shading harder, it looks strange to me too. The darker tone ends up looking very unnatural. I guess I just have to try it a lot more till I get used to it - you know, get the hang of what it ought to look like.
Ramen - I'll try painting her up some lips, too.
Hmm, for the shading I agree with CnC and Rhombaad. A glossy look just doesn't seem right especially since they're not actually in any light. As shown on page22 (as well as your coloring two pictures back.) Ganishka is completely blocking the sun. Which makes this a hard shot to color, too dark and she'll look like a Kushan.
Vaxillus
The one and only severed head
Coming along nicely, those eyes are simply fantastic. Now let's see if I can say anything useful.
Metal will indeed reflect the surroundings. If you look at some pictures of chrome, it's basically a mirror with muted color and increased contrast. Of course, nobody wears chrome armor, so it's best to dull and simplify to make things more believable and manageable. Remember though, the colors are still based on the color of the metal and its surroundings. In shameless reference to the coloration I just did, Gurunberd's armor shading is mostly brown/orange since I assume this is reflecting a dirt road, while I stuck to blue-grey for Locus since his armor always seems to have a bluish tint to it.
I'm guessing the hair is still WIP, so I won't comment.
The skin really is a doozy, I had it easy since apostle faces are so angular. I'd recommend making some harder edges around the facial features. I used a hard edged brush in mine, but turned down the opacity and flow to allow for propper blending. You might want to pick out the bottom of the nose around the nostrils with somewhat harder edges, the ridge should follow on its own. I also added a lot of color in the shadows, usually blue or green, though this may not help since her features are so much softer.
Also, there's a little trick to punch up the saturation that I've started used (and perhaps abusing) in my stuff, which I'll post later tonight when I finish up that panel. I'll see if I can test the tips for the nose when I do that as well.
Metal will indeed reflect the surroundings. If you look at some pictures of chrome, it's basically a mirror with muted color and increased contrast. Of course, nobody wears chrome armor, so it's best to dull and simplify to make things more believable and manageable. Remember though, the colors are still based on the color of the metal and its surroundings. In shameless reference to the coloration I just did, Gurunberd's armor shading is mostly brown/orange since I assume this is reflecting a dirt road, while I stuck to blue-grey for Locus since his armor always seems to have a bluish tint to it.
I'm guessing the hair is still WIP, so I won't comment.
The skin really is a doozy, I had it easy since apostle faces are so angular. I'd recommend making some harder edges around the facial features. I used a hard edged brush in mine, but turned down the opacity and flow to allow for propper blending. You might want to pick out the bottom of the nose around the nostrils with somewhat harder edges, the ridge should follow on its own. I also added a lot of color in the shadows, usually blue or green, though this may not help since her features are so much softer.
Also, there's a little trick to punch up the saturation that I've started used (and perhaps abusing) in my stuff, which I'll post later tonight when I finish up that panel. I'll see if I can test the tips for the nose when I do that as well.
Lithrael
Remember, always hold your apple tight
Hey all, still working on Sonia but I thought I'd give a spread from 297 a shot.
Oh, and my webhost is being bollocks again so a lot of my old links are bust for the moment.
Have somma this!
It's wip-ey but crits or ideas for broadly different color schemes are welcome.
Oh, and my webhost is being bollocks again so a lot of my old links are bust for the moment.
Have somma this!
It's wip-ey but crits or ideas for broadly different color schemes are welcome.
My current review would be that it's fucking awesome. I really love what you did with the clouds. However, I think you should tone down the light on the fields, and probably lessen it in the sky as well. Those dark clouds are pretty much supposed to completely block the sun from view I think. Additionally, maybe changing the golden hue for something more stormy (purple?) would reflect the reality of the situation better.
I really love what you did with the clouds. However, I think you should tone down the light on the fields, and probably lessen it in the sky as well. Those dark clouds are pretty much supposed to completely block the sun from view I think. Additionally, maybe changing the golden hue for something more stormy (purple?) would reflect the reality of the situation better.
Lithrael said:
Its a beautiful job, the clouds are amazing! You can really tell how large and far away Ganishka is. The colors just don't evoke that feeling of utter doom and complete darkness though. If anything it looks like dawn because of the orange. What if you try red like the night sky in Bruce Tim's Batman: TAS. It would certainly give off the apocalyptic feel of the event.
I think the yellow/orange is fine. Great work Lith.
Lithrael
Remember, always hold your apple tight
Aw, thanks guys! You rock! I'll give a shot at some more color variations for that sky soon.
Oh hey look I'm a co-mod now!
You guys got any ideas for what I should do with my powers? My... SCAREY POWERS??
Anyhows as usual still way behind on revising any of my old stuff that needs work, but threw together just a tint color (and un-texting) on one of the Ganishka spreads from episode 297. If anyone wants to take this and finish it up, or blueline some suggestions for me to do the same, that'd rock ;)
It looks wildly different on different monitors, too, so that's obnoxious. XD
Full res over here: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_12-13_full.jpg
And if anyone wants the black and white w/ no text let me know.
Oh hey look I'm a co-mod now!
You guys got any ideas for what I should do with my powers? My... SCAREY POWERS??Anyhows as usual still way behind on revising any of my old stuff that needs work, but threw together just a tint color (and un-texting) on one of the Ganishka spreads from episode 297. If anyone wants to take this and finish it up, or blueline some suggestions for me to do the same, that'd rock ;)
It looks wildly different on different monitors, too, so that's obnoxious. XD
Full res over here: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_12-13_full.jpg
And if anyone wants the black and white w/ no text let me know.
KazigluBey
Misanthrōpos
Certainly looks apocalyptic.
Lithrael
Remember, always hold your apple tight
Thanks Griff & Kazi!
Ok, here's a more painted-up version of that one. And an alternate RED DOOMey version of the farm scene. 297's spreads are freaking awesome!!
Full res: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_02-03_red.jpg
Full res: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_12-13_color.jpg
1024x768: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_12-13_c1024.jpg
Ok, here's a more painted-up version of that one. And an alternate RED DOOMey version of the farm scene. 297's spreads are freaking awesome!!
Full res: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_02-03_red.jpg
Full res: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_12-13_color.jpg
1024x768: http://www.lithrael.com/berserk/297_12-13_c1024.jpg
I like the newer Ganishka one a lot more. This is breathtaking stuff. Ganishka is such an inhuman monster now, I can stretch the image across my widescreen desktop and nothing looks amiss
Regarding the farmer colorization, I think the red glow across the horizon should recede the further away from the blaze it gets. Unless I'm forgetting something about the way light is diffused through clouds.
Regarding the farmer colorization, I think the red glow across the horizon should recede the further away from the blaze it gets. Unless I'm forgetting something about the way light is diffused through clouds.
