Photoshop: Coloring Comic Book Characters
1h 39mIntermediate2016-04-07
Authors

Ben Bishop
Comic Creator
Course details
Things are rarely black and white when it comes to today's superheroes and super villains. Modern-day characters are complex. Comic book artists use color and atmospheric backdrops to make their personalities shine through. But it's hard to get black-and-white drawings to look like the comics that end up on store shelves. Learn the secrets to bringing your own comic book characters to life with engaging color and beautiful backgrounds, in this course from comic creator Ben Bishop.
Ben takes the characters he created in Drawing Good and Evil Comic Book Characters and adds color, subtle shading, and simple environments with Photoshop. He shows how to prep your illustration and perform color flatting—simple color fills that save professional artists a lot of time. Along the way, Ben explains how to choose and apply color that feels authentic to the characters and environments you are developing.
Learning objectives
Color flatting
Choosing the right colors for your characters
Adding shading
Drawing the background
Creating atmosphere
Adding shadows and highlights to the final scene
Ben takes the characters he created in Drawing Good and Evil Comic Book Characters and adds color, subtle shading, and simple environments with Photoshop. He shows how to prep your illustration and perform color flatting—simple color fills that save professional artists a lot of time. Along the way, Ben explains how to choose and apply color that feels authentic to the characters and environments you are developing.
Learning objectives
Color flatting
Choosing the right colors for your characters
Adding shading
Drawing the background
Creating atmosphere
Adding shadows and highlights to the final scene
Skills covered
Comic Book IllustrationImage EditingPhotoshopPhotographyAdobeAnimation and IllustrationDeep Dive (X:Y)
Concepts
0. Introduction
- 01 - Welcome
- 02 - Using the exercise files and what you should know
1. Coloring Comic Characters
- 03 - Color flatting - Part one
- 04 - Color flatting - Part two
- 05 - Choosing the right colors for your characters
- 06 - Adding simple shading
- 07 - Final touches
2. Coloring the Background
- 08 - Setting the scene - Adding a background
- 09 - Coloring and texturizing the background
- 10 - Adding shadows and effects to the environment
- 11 - Using warm and cool tones to create atmosphere
- 12 - Adding shadows and highlights to the final scene
Conclusion
- 13 - Next steps