JGT: Behind the Page ~ COLOR ~ Characters

Ello! Well, aren't homework breaks just awesome? After about 1.5 hours of coloring, I can now show you some sneak peeks at the next phase in Coloring a Comic Page!

CHARACTERS!

Coloring the characters is probably the most time-consuming part of the many phases that go under Coloring. In saying this, I try hard not to overwhelm myself too much. So I like taking it slowly and coloring one character at a time.
When I tackle a character and all of his/her appearances in the page (these usually range from 1-7 appearances per page), I first color the skin. I have all of the color codes/schemes recorded for the characters; that way, all of their schemes are consistent throughout the entire episode. After skin, I go for the eyes, then the hair, and finish off with the clothes and mouth.
Think of the order like this. Layers. The character is toppled with layers...and the best way to start is to color the bottom layer and make your way to the top. That way, you don't have to be so picky with coloring inside the lines! The coloring of the upper layers will fix it for you! That is why I start with skin first, and finish off with the top-most layer of clothing, for instance, Harry's lab coat.

While coloring, I also make sure to blend in colors, so the characters don't just have one bland color-scheme going on. Hehe, I did tell you I like blending. (^^^ i.e. if you look closely, Rudy's skin consists of two shades of his skin color.)

For all you trivia-lovers, the hardest character to color as of right now is Human Jag. I mean, as a squirrel, he's as easy to color as all the others, but WOW did I make his color design time-consuming. While all the other human characters have about 1-2 colors in their hair, Human Jag has three. THREE. That lil diva has two shades of brown and one shade of red in his fluffy-squirrelly hairdo. I shouldn't blame him though, since I created him, but still...Jag, sometimes I wish you were a squirrel again so I wouldn't have to take about 20-30 minutes on your character alone...(and he shows up the most in this page, too...bonus for me -_-")

Though coloring the characters is hard/long, it probably is one of my favorite phases in the process. It's just because you get to see your character come to life, in a sense. Since I've been storyboarding practically my whole life, used to the simple world of black and white, I never really liked coloring, but sheesh the wonders coloring does to your characters! I'm such a rookie at this still, but I'm loving every minute of it.

The next phase is CLEAN-UP.....yeah, that post will be short. And hopefully will be coming soon ^^

Until then, thanks for reading!

Genie