GummySkull's colors and fanart

I figure it's about time that I share my various creative efforts with this forum.

After admiring and being inspired the work of the many talented colorists on this board, I finally decided that I ought to start coloring comic pages myself. In addition, I thought that coloring would be fun, a great way to practice digital painting, and (eventually) provide work examples in a colorist portfolio.

As a starting point I read Lith's and CnC’s fantastic coloring tutorials. Since then I’ve been spending a lot of time experimenting with what works best personally and developing my own process.

At the moment I’ve colored several pages and drawn some Berserk fan art. I'll be posting all that over time. I don't want to share everything I have done so far in one sitting. :iva:

Here was my very first attempt finished back in May.

Click on the thumbnail to view the full-size image


In the middle of this kept asking myself why I just had to choose Berserk as the subject for my first coloring. Miura’s use of screen tones and crosshatching make coloring very challenging (not to mention the pages were never meant to be colored in the first place).
Anyway, it’s not perfect by any means but I’m still learning!

Comments and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated! I'd love to know what works,what I can improve on, or just get general feedback.

Thanks so much for looking! More to come.
 

Kompozinaut

Sylph Sword
I'm no pro, but I think it looks great! I like your textures and I like the variation in Puck's hue. I could be omitting some memories, but I don't think he gets many blue-green versions, but I kind of like it.

I thought you handled the shading well, and you definitely have a stylization going on that I can get behind.

I don't know if there's much you can do with that particular scene, perhaps, but I think there's just a lot of brown/tan going on. Puck is a strong contrast, but I'm wondering if there's something that could be done with the background? Once again, I'm not a colorer, so take my criticisms with a grain of salt.

Regardless, I look forward to seeing more! I always love a good Berserk coloration! :ubik:
 
Hello! I have not personally coloured any Berserk pages myself, but I have always meant to. Personally, I love the earthy tones that you chose here, as it fits the style of Muira's work very well.
The deep browns on the skin, and purples in the background are lovely. (The subtle colour on Casca's lips, and in Guts' eye [on the closeup] are really well done.) My only suggestion for you would be to really make Puck's glow a bit more noticeable on Guts' face. If you're going to add a secondary highlight from such a small/bright source as Puck, then I would really emphasize the "brightness" in his glow, since you coloured him so brightly I'd expect his cast on Guts' face to be bright as well. (If that makes any sense at all?)
Outside of that one comment, this is very well done! Keep up the good work, and keep posting it on here! I look forward to seeing more!! :guts:
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
Glad that you decided to share more of your work with the board, Gummy! I'm very fond of this coloration, I think you created a very palpable quality with the color combinations you chose. The highlights on Casca's skin jump out at me (in a good way!) and I think the subtle use of texture serves your interpretation without distracting from the original art.

As for Puck, I actually like how he stands out. It might be good to add more reflective color around Guts's face and cape, but that's all I can think of at the moment. :casca:
 

Lithrael

Remember, always hold your apple tight
Agreed w/ the others, very attractive shading, works nicely with the inks, maybe try find some more specular hotspots for Puck's light to reflect off. Great work, thanks for sharing it here!
 

CheAkiwara

大天使 ~ ボイド
Please keep up the good work , I love seeing BERSERK colorations and yours is really outstanding !
As Grail already mentioned , Caska´s skin really is highlighting the picture , it looks almost reflective. :ubik:

I only have a minor problem with Gut´s nails somehow index & middle finger seem a bit off , they´re too dark compared to the others. FOR THIS YOU SHALL GET SLAPPED INTO THE VORTEX OF SOULS :rickert:
 
Thanks so much for the kind replies so far! They are very encouraging. :casca:

Delta Phi said:
I'm no pro, but I think it looks great! I like your textures and I like the variation in Puck's hue. I could be omitting some memories, but I don't think he gets many blue-green versions, but I kind of like it.

...

I don't know if there's much you can do with that particular scene, perhaps, but I think there's just a lot of brown/tan going on. Puck is a strong contrast, but I'm wondering if there's something that could be done with the background? Once again, I'm not a colorer, so take my criticisms with a grain of salt.

Despite what you may think,your critiques are very helpful! An artist getting outside perspectives on their work is really important. When we spend hours looking at your work it can be easy to overlook some details.

I always thought of Puck and being somewhere along the blue green-spectrum because of his hair.

I agree that the colors are a bit to muddy for my taste. I'll definitely work on adding more contrast in the future.

Jackolyn said:
My only suggestion for you would be to really make Puck's glow a bit more noticeable on Guts' face. If you're going to add a secondary highlight from such a small/bright source as Puck, then I would really emphasize the "brightness" in his glow, since you coloured him so brightly I'd expect his cast on Guts' face to be bright as well. (If that makes any sense at all?)
Grail said:
As for Puck, I actually like how he stands out. It might be good to add more reflective color around Guts's face and cape, but that's all I can think of at the moment. :casca:
Lithrael said:
Agreed w/ the others, very attractive shading, works nicely with the inks, maybe try find some more specular hotspots for Puck's light to reflect off. Great work, thanks for sharing it here!
Reflective light is something that I still have trouble with, so these are all great suggestions.
I'm actually going to take a look at what I've already completed and check if I've added the appropriate amount of reflective light.

CheAkiwara said:
I only have a minor problem with Gut´s nails somehow index & middle finger seem a bit off , they´re too dark compared to the others. FOR THIS YOU SHALL GET SLAPPED INTO THE VORTEX OF SOULS :rickert:

heh, It looks like that because I got a little less precise with my shading towards the end. :griffnotevil:

Thanks again everyone!
 
Hello everyone! Here are two colors from episode 347 I did last night. I had fun doing ones that are very different in tone.

tumblr_odyon7J5Ey1uekfmco2_1280.jpg


tumblr_odyon7J5Ey1uekfmco1_1280.jpg


I've actually done a lot of colors and art since my last post in this thread, but I keep forgetting to post them... :farnese:
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Gummyskull said:
Hello everyone! Here are two colors from episode 347 I did last night. I had fun doing ones that are very different in tone.
I've actually done a lot of colors and art since my last post in this thread, but I keep forgetting to post them... :farnese:

I love them both! Adding a bit of color to that Eclipse page really makes it even gloomier. And smart use of primary colors for the Casca one.

What are your thoughts on Miura being able to convincingly tap into a child's drawing techniques? I know that's something that's difficult to do for a trained artist. Maybe he outsourced it to a niece? :guts:
 
Walter said:
I love them both! Adding a bit of color to that Eclipse page really makes it even gloomier. And smart use of primary colors for the Casca one.
Thanks so much!

Walter said:
What are your thoughts on Miura being able to convincingly tap into a child's drawing techniques? I know that's something that's difficult to do for a trained artist. Maybe he outsourced it to a niece? :guts:

I think it looks great, it comes across as childish while still looking intelligible. It's very difficult to draw like that when you're trained, especially with how much he is. I admire that he was able to do it, funny as that sounds.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Great job, Gummyskull. Both are very nice!

Walter said:
What are your thoughts on Miura being able to convincingly tap into a child's drawing techniques? I know that's something that's difficult to do for a trained artist.

I've said it many times, but the breaks in the prepublication schedule have the benefit of allowing for that kind of research and experimentation, among other things.
 

Grail

Feel the funk blast
I know I'm repeating myself (because I already replied on Twitter), but just wanted to say again that I really liked these colors! With the first part of Casca's dream, it seems very appropriate for it to be in color, like she took out some crayons and went at it. :ganishka:

Now that you guys mention it, it didn't occur to me that Miura would have trouble drawing in a kiddy style. It does involve some "unlearning" of techniques he normally uses, but it's also worth mentioning how he used this opportunity to distill the essences of characters to their most recognizable features. Not always easy to do, but it shows how distinct each of the members of the party really are. :guts: Good character design at work!

One thing I also wanted to mention is how I think the color of the second picture helps to highlight not only the ominous nature of what's to come in the next episode, it contrasts really nicely with Danan's flower petals.
 
Nice! The Eclipse looks suitably creepy, but you still managed to make the flower petals stand out and even glow without either losing them or downplaying the ominous nature in the image. And seeing the colorized version of Casca's dreamscape brings a smile to my face. It's even sloppy enough to look like a child's typical crayon coloring.
 
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