"Issue 0 took a while to come together for several reasons: Firstly, the concepts for Branches were still developing, but more significantly, so were the techniques I would employ to bring it to the page. Branches represents my first official attempt at coloring my work, and on a computer no less, so as you can imagine there was a bit of a learning curve. Add to that the constant experimentation and the days flew by.
The good news: I seem to have gotten a better grip on what I can do in Photoshop. The bad news: With more understanding comes more potential. I try to keep things as simple as possible and allow the line art to dictate the color, but this darn computer has so much power...
Finally, as I have mentioned, I color Sky between Branches myself, and if you are looking to add color to your own illustrations I recommend that you at least understand the process if you do not do the actual coloring. Too often potentially great comic art is done a great disservice by amateurish color. Conversely, great color can take a lackluster illustration to new heights. In the end, it doesn't matter how you do it, be it colored pencils or Photoshop, just be involved and spend a little time investigating what makes color great, all the way back to the classic illustrators who did it all without the aid of software!
The background is a digital painting referenced from various photos of water. I tried many different things and finally ended up combining everything into the final version. I occasionally paint entire backgrounds first so that I can utilize them in later steps. It is important to always "think through" your drawing. Undoubtedly you will arrive at new ways of creating.
- J |
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