Here is a picture I'm trying to color...

I really want to kiss the person who scans the berserk episodes...
I can't imagine tolerating such a poor scan, let alone trying to color one. Good job cleaning that mess up.

About the coloring, its very dark. What detail there was is all but lost. However ignore that if this is a night scene (I don't know much about Naruto, only the basics and I don't know where this panel is coming from).
That said, its also looking a tad flat. Thats not your doing, mind you. The original panel is sorta flat.

CnC said:

I really want to kiss the person who scans the berserk episodes...
I can't imagine tolerating such a poor scan, let alone trying to color one.  Good job cleaning that mess up.

About the coloring, its very dark.  What detail there was is all but lost.  However ignore that if this is a night scene (I don't know much about Naruto, only the basics and I don't know where this panel is coming from).
That said, its also looking a tad flat.  Thats not your doing, mind you.  The original panel is sorta flat.

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what else can i do to make it look better?

i went back and read the manga and its like morning noonish there so... i have to edit the picture again :(

what do you suggest i do?

rick said:

what else can i do to make it look better?

i went back and read the manga and its like morning noonish there so... i have to edit the picture again :(

what do you suggest i do?

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Well the biggest thing to keep in mind is to pay attention to light. Wheres the light direction coming from? How is it reacting to the surfaces it hits. Where are the shadows, how hard/soft are those shadows.
You seem to be picking a color and distributing that color across the entire surface. In the end all that does is flatten the surface. I'd give highlights/shadows where applicable. Keeping in mind the surface, things like bark of a tree react differently to light than a face or hair. All of the objects in your picture are rounded objects and require shading. You can use the shading given to you in this panel as a guide as to where the light is coming from, but since the original is so flat (IMO) that I would probably spend some time correcting his lack of shading.
Composition is next. Composition in re-colors is easier since the layout of the panel is already done for you. In this piece I'd say its a no-brainier that the point of the pic is this person's eye. So keep that in mind as you shade and don't create and huge bright spots on other places in the picture. That would only result in competing with the actual focal point (the eye) and would bring down the piece, overall. Hue and Light (saturation) act very well as focal point indicators. If you had every color of the rainbow in this piece the original focal point would be lost, as well.

Keep in mind, I'm still learning as well. So take any advice I would give with that in mind. This is just what I've been taught. I stayed away from technical aspects of how to do this in photoshop. This is because photoshop has so many different ways in which something can be accomplished, I would have to write a novel on the subject.
Hope that helped and keep at it.

SaiyajinNoOuji said:

Couldnt have picked a better picture myself to color my friend. It will be a very long task but at the end it will be worth it! I wish you good luck!

For a little insperation on how a big project can turn out, here is something I did way back when Grunbeld first turned into his Dragon form and was fighting with Gut's.

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Strange, I always thought Grunbeld was blue in his apostle form.

Tell Me Why said:

Strange, I always thought Grunbeld was blue in his apostle form.

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Why? Corundum is red.

I always saw him as red. He's a fire dragon (or at least it seemed to be implied), so blue wouldn't make sense. In any case, he seems to be red in the artwork for the card game, though I'm not sure how official it is.

Kagami said:

Why? Corundum is red.

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Corundum is naturally clear actually, and it can have a variety of different colors depending on the impurities it contains. It can be blue, yellow, or white among others. Sapphires are in corundum, like rubies. Please don't reply so confidently on topics you don't know about in the future, thanks.

Vaxillus said:

In any case, he seems to be red in the artwork for the card game, though I'm not sure how official it is.

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He's red of course. If Tell Me Why thought otherwise then he was wrong, nothing unusual.

Aazealh said:

Corundum is naturally clear actually, and it can have a variety of different colors depending on the impurities it contains. It can be blue, yellow, or white among others. Sapphires are in corundum, like rubies. Please don't reply so confidently on topics you don't know about in the future, thanks.

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What was so confident about my reply? Looked like a normal one to me. After looking up on wikipedia, is Grunbeld more a Ruby or a padparadsha in color? For being a fire-like color I would guess padparadsha over a ruby (more red than orange/red/yellowish)

So, now that I know that corundum is NOT just straight red, what color would suit him more (or is closer to official pic)? I think the coloring job looks like padparadsha on this particular one, and suits him fine.

http://images.bidorbuy.co.za/379/287PADRUB.JPG

padparadsha

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c4/Cut_Ruby.jpg

ruby

Kagami said:

What was so confident about my reply? Looked like a normal one to me.

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The fact your post just said "corundum is red" in reply to TMW as if it couldn't possibly be of any other color, which is completely wrong. Is that clear enough or do you need any more precision to get it?

Kagami said:

After looking up on wikipedia, is Grunbeld more a Ruby or a padparadsha in color? For being a fire-like color I would guess padparadsha over a ruby (more red than orange/red/yellowish)

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The degree of color/clarity in rubies like in other stones can vary greatly, so I don't see how anybody would be able to precisely define which type of corundum it is without a clear color illustration by Miura, especially since padparadsha can take on very pinkish or bright orange tints but can't be red. Also, don't forget that Grunberd's literally on fire (and is a supernatural being) so he's subject to intense heat and light, that affects the general tone of a picture a lot. If I absolutely had to choose one of the two I'd go with ruby since it's more prestigious, but Miura used "corundum" for a reason and I don't think we need to be more precise in defining it.

Anyway it's not the topic of this thread, no need to start speculating on that kind of detail here since it doesn't concern rick's artwork at all.

i always kind of just figured he was red but i guess thats cause playing all the D&D and everquest fire dragson are red and ice dragons are blue hehe. That and in the Berserk PS2 game hes red.

I know though that you can get a blue flame at extreme temperatues. Though im not mister science so i dont know how hot it has to be to be blue but maybe thats what Tell Me Why was thinking. Maybe when he saw Grunbeld he thought that his fire element was extremely hot.

Well i dont know just thinking out loud i guess

Aazealh said:

The fact your post just said "corundum is red" in reply to TMW as if it couldn't possibly be of any other color, which is completely wrong. Is that clear enough or do you need any more precision to get it?

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No, looking back I get how it could be seen as kinda rude. Sorry "tell me why", hope you didn't get offended (at least you pwned me, or did I pwn myself?).

On another note the pink colored padparadsha looks like the ruby pics that I found, so I guess corundum is too sketchy to decide anything on the skin situation. Either way, the colors look much better here than other ones I have seen (I saw a pink one on google image search, didn't look as bad ass).

i tried coloring again :hs:

Hey rick its looking good. Things like the fur and gums need more dimension, imo. The coloring can look flat without a light source hitting the form and giving it adequate shading.

CnC said:

Hey rick its looking good. Things like the fur and gums need more dimension, imo. The coloring can look flat without a light source hitting the form and giving it adequate shading.

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where would the light source come from? i just kinda thought it was supposed to be darkness around the beast, and did the hair i guess kinda like the kyuubi from naruto... like chakra-ish?

lol, dunno, im a n00b at this

rick said:

where would the light source come from?

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I don't really know what the rest of your post was talking about. But the inks are the biggest clue as to where to find the light source. Miura's stuff is pretty easy to find a light source, but other comics can be as subtle as to just have line thickness as the only guide.
In this instance I'd say the biggest clue is the light indicated on the chains. Looks like the primary light is coming from the right (perhaps upper right), and a little secondary light from the left (you have the room to make that come from the eye, if you wanted).

overall this is a tricky panel for color. Good luck.