tips for coloring

[slowtiger]

Maybe my workflow is of interest for others? These tips apply to Debut as well.

I have a standard scene setup, in 4K, with line art on top, color layers below.
- Befor you start coloring check the scene for missing elements/lines. It seems that nowadays only large studios have dedicated checkers emloyed, for smaller outfits this position is not filled, therefore the work they give out is not checked thoroughly. Those mistakes should be corrected first.
- There should be a decent color model: rectangles of color, named and big enough to easily get picked, additionally the character/prop besides so you know which color goes where. Front/back/inside view if there's other colors there. This color reference goes to the top layer on hold so it's always visible and ready to pick a color.
- Depending on style, you may put all colors on one layer. Use fill with mode Behind then. If there's shadows or gradients required, I keep each color on a separate layer. When each color is their own layer it's easy to adjust a color later. I use colour groups to separate stuff: lines, colors, gradients, certain objects/characters. The largest color areas go to the bottom, stuff like rims and borders always under the central fill: this way I can take it easy with drawing and correcting because the higher layers will cover any excess color.

For each character I create an own TVP file (clips would work as well) with empty, named and color-grouped layers of 1 frame in the order I need it, plus 1 layer with all colors neatly arranged and named. This way it's easy to select & copy everything necessary and paste it into the projects I get from the animators.

Important: the more color layers TVP displays, the more it slows down. If possible, I only have line art and the one color I work with visible. Remember that mask layers also work when invisible.

You will always run into line gaps. In order to work fast, I use this sequence:
- First flood fill (reference: above) all areas with gap close set to 0. cmd-Z if area overflows. Go through all frames.
- Flood fill again with gap close set to 1.
- Get a pen and close larger gaps, then use flood fill with display.
Since I switch between these three modes all the time, I put them in a tool bar. Clicking a button is much faster than using the drop down menu or change the number settings.
- Any remaining gaps are closed with a brush/pen.

- Very small areas or parallel lines are hard to fill with flood fill, much faster to just draw.
Sometimes the line art is a bit too faint, I just duplicate the layer once or twice, then merge. Sometimes the line art is a bit too thin, I use FX>Stylize>Border with settings of about 0.5 to fatten them. This is also useful for close-ups of a character.

It may be useful to first fill all of the character with a uniform color which is the bottom layer. Use magic wand outside, invert selection, use fill/layer. (Could this be made into a toolbar button as well?) Flood fill erase all open areas inside.

Always choose a background color in good (but not too strong) contrast to your colors, a middle gray works most cases.

I always use expand with flood fill, since I want the color to extend unter the line art. For very thin lines (1 or 2 pixels) I use a setting of expand = 1, smooth = 1.5.

For gradients I select the respective color layer, preserve transparency, and use airbrush. (Only if I know that these colors will not get changed later.) I use different sizes (and my own brush profile setting): 10, 20, 30, 50, 75, 100, 150, 200.

For shadows, I select all the color layers the shadow shall cover, swich on their mask, and draw on a new shadow layer This combined mask works nicely. A separate shadow layer may get rendered separately wich makes the compositor happy.

If I draw shadows/gradients by hand, I work like this: first draw all frames left arms, then draw all frames right arms. This way my hand can stay the same position on the tablet and remembers the stroke position, and it's much faster than to navigate to all occurences in every frame. Whenever possible, I extend the same stroke over several frames (in very small or slow movements).

Happy coloring!

[Tylos]

Thanks for shearing... usualy I work alone so I do as simple as posible . I mostly use only CTG layers. Sometimes you can fill 100 frames whit one stroke.. Life saver... Till now never used shadow lines. I do some triks in after efects.

[Gochris1]

"For gradients I select the respective color layer, preserve transparency, and use airbrush."

Tried it and I like it. THANKS