Post by corky on Feb 20, 2004 11:49:17 GMT -5
as some of you requested, i have come up with a lesson on some of the techniques i use to colour caricatures. i've used the example of courtney love to demonstrate.
i assemble all my materials, photo refs, paper, and sketches first. i often go thru several different pencil sketches before i decide which one i'm going to use for colour. once that's done, i transfer the image onto illustration board, or cold-pressed paper. i like to begin with terra-cotta pencil (i use prismacolour and verithin brands) to outline, instead of graphite. i personally, don't like the gray pencil showing thru, and terra-cotta blends in easily with skin tones and hair. there are several different methods of blending, here's the ones i use most of the time: dryblending or tonal, crosshatching or vertical strokes, or layering (more than one colour, added overtop).
so, as you can see here, i used layering to create the skin tone.
i used a bit of crosshatching to blend the dark tones of the hair (i like the line quality it gives hair)
i also used a technique called burnishing for the shiny parts, like lips and eyes. burnishing looks like this;
if you use hard pressure, with a lighter colour added on top (i use white or cream) also using hard pressure, that's called burnishing. it makes a smooth, shiny look, which is perfect for lips.
for the eyes, i used burnishing (for shiny, wet eyes) and layering for the eyeshadow and skin.
a note about colours: i use colours in the same colour value, so that they will look like a darker tone to the hair or eyes. so, for example, if i'm colouring in hair, i'll use cream, lemon yellow, and light umber (all yellow-based light values). for skin, i use these numbers for realistic skin tones: 914 (cream), 939(peach), 7451/2 (terra cotta), 941 (light umber), 945 (sienna brown), and 947 (dark umber). that gives me a huge range of skin colours to work with.
when i've finished adding colour, i then use a colourless blender, on some areas, to achieve smoothness. here, i used a blender on the eyes and lips. you can use a couple of different types;
.
this is what they look like;
first one is blender pencil (colourless), so it adds another tone. or you could use colourless marker, which gives a nice painted effect, like watercolour. or you could use a stump (the smudgy one in the middle). i never blend areas like the hair, however, as i think it needs that roughness.
that's the basics of colouring. the biggest tip i can give you is grab your colour pencils and experiment...try different strokes and layering, to see what happens. that's how i learned what works for me.
i assemble all my materials, photo refs, paper, and sketches first. i often go thru several different pencil sketches before i decide which one i'm going to use for colour. once that's done, i transfer the image onto illustration board, or cold-pressed paper. i like to begin with terra-cotta pencil (i use prismacolour and verithin brands) to outline, instead of graphite. i personally, don't like the gray pencil showing thru, and terra-cotta blends in easily with skin tones and hair. there are several different methods of blending, here's the ones i use most of the time: dryblending or tonal, crosshatching or vertical strokes, or layering (more than one colour, added overtop).
so, as you can see here, i used layering to create the skin tone.
i used a bit of crosshatching to blend the dark tones of the hair (i like the line quality it gives hair)
i also used a technique called burnishing for the shiny parts, like lips and eyes. burnishing looks like this;
if you use hard pressure, with a lighter colour added on top (i use white or cream) also using hard pressure, that's called burnishing. it makes a smooth, shiny look, which is perfect for lips.
for the eyes, i used burnishing (for shiny, wet eyes) and layering for the eyeshadow and skin.
a note about colours: i use colours in the same colour value, so that they will look like a darker tone to the hair or eyes. so, for example, if i'm colouring in hair, i'll use cream, lemon yellow, and light umber (all yellow-based light values). for skin, i use these numbers for realistic skin tones: 914 (cream), 939(peach), 7451/2 (terra cotta), 941 (light umber), 945 (sienna brown), and 947 (dark umber). that gives me a huge range of skin colours to work with.
when i've finished adding colour, i then use a colourless blender, on some areas, to achieve smoothness. here, i used a blender on the eyes and lips. you can use a couple of different types;
.
this is what they look like;
first one is blender pencil (colourless), so it adds another tone. or you could use colourless marker, which gives a nice painted effect, like watercolour. or you could use a stump (the smudgy one in the middle). i never blend areas like the hair, however, as i think it needs that roughness.
that's the basics of colouring. the biggest tip i can give you is grab your colour pencils and experiment...try different strokes and layering, to see what happens. that's how i learned what works for me.