Zelda Art Help with Re-Colouring Zelda!

[TheWakerofWinds]

So, I found a picture of Princess Zelda in a Manga that I'd love to see in colour. So I'm putting myself up to the horrible task of re colouring her with her ST colours. From the exact scan. Can you guys give me tips on how to do this, or general advice when it comes to re colourings? Thanks ^_^

PS: When I'm done, I'll show you how bad I am at GFXing xD (AKA I'll show you the done pic)

@Also: How do you do shading? D: Do not knowww~

 

[Hylian Pants]

I color manga quite a bit, and it's funny, I'm about to tackle some Zelda manga colorings myself! First off, what program are you using to color it? The vast majority of people who color use Photoshop, so I'll assume that's what you're using for now. When you say "re-coloring" do you mean that the picture is already colored or that it's in black and white? I was a tad confused there. Anyways, it would be helpful for you to post a pic of the image you're using; I'd be happy to give you some instructions, but it would be much easier if you could specify a bit

 

[TheWakerofWinds]

I color manga quite a bit, and it's funny, I'm about to tackle some Zelda manga colorings myself! First off, what program are you using to color it? The vast majority of people who color use Photoshop, so I'll assume that's what you're using for now. When you say "re-coloring" do you mean that the picture is already colored or that it's in black and white? I was a tad confused there. Anyways, it would be helpful for you to post a pic of the image you're using; I'd be happy to give you some instructions, but it would be much easier if you could specify a bit

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING ME! ;D

Alas, I am not using Photoshop. I don't exactly know how to use it ^_^"" (extreme newbie right here) So I'm stuck on using paint. I already have my colour pallet, but I don't know where to begin. I have recoloured before, but I only know how to do sprites (Since they're the easiest!) so recolouring manga will be quite tricky for me...

This is the lovely picture that I wish to re-colour. It's from Link's Log Book (Wind Waker) It's where Tetra first transforms into Princess Zelda

 

[Hylian Pants]

Doing it in Paint eh? You're a brave artist than I! :xd: Even if you're not familiar with photoshop, I would highly recommend you get to know it at least a little. Especially if you color manga, since Photoshop allows you to color underneath the lines right off the bat.

BUT, I realize that's not what you're working with so I'll do my best. Since Zelda has a lot of detail going on with her design, it'll require a steady hand to stay within all the lines with the coloring. I recommend working zoomed in, so that it's easier to be precise, but remember if you stay zoomed in while working, be sure to zoom out to normal size every now and then to make sure the lines look even and everything.

I guess as far as coloring goes in MS Paint, it's pretty straightforward... just jump on in and put down your flat colors while staying inside the lines. However, for the parts that are white, like her gloves, her hair accessories, the whites of her eyes, or the designs on her dress, I would suggest going over them again in white as if you were coloring them. Scans can sometimes leave minuscule discolorations on white area, and going over them again helps them look brighter and crisp. For shine marks, like those on her necklace and crown jewel, lay the color down first, and put the white on top it.

The background and ground have some messy lines that you may need to touch up a bit before coloring. You can completely get rid of those balls of light behind Zelda by going over them in black or white (depending on where it is in the picture), redo them yourself in color by just clicking with the round brush in their original spots; no outline needed. I would suggest cleaning up those lines on the ground by taking a thin black brush and making the look less spotty. Now, shading! It isn't too hard, just pick a color slightly darker than what you're shading; not too dark, but dark enough to be noticed, and apply that color where shading would naturally occur-- clothing folds, overlapping skin/hair and stuff like that. I took your picture and colored in blue where some of these shades might fall. (obviously you'd be shading with your darkened base colors, though, not blue) But, don't feel like you need to cover all of these spots; cel-shading, especially in Windwaker, is usually quite simplistic.



Wellll, I think that's what I have to offer as far as paint goes. Good luck coloring!

 

[TheWakerofWinds]

Doing it in Paint eh? You're a brave artist than I! :xd: Even if you're not familiar with photoshop, I would highly recommend you get to know it at least a little. Especially if you color manga, since Photoshop allows you to color underneath the lines right off the bat.

BUT, I realize that's not what you're working with so I'll do my best. Since Zelda has a lot of detail going on with her design, it'll require a steady hand to stay within all the lines with the coloring. I recommend working zoomed in, so that it's easier to be precise, but remember if you stay zoomed in while working, be sure to zoom out to normal size every now and then to make sure the lines look even and everything.

I guess as far as coloring goes in MS Paint, it's pretty straightforward... just jump on in and put down your flat colors while staying inside the lines. However, for the parts that are white, like her gloves, her hair accessories, the whites of her eyes, or the designs on her dress, I would suggest going over them again in white as if you were coloring them. Scans can sometimes leave minuscule discolorations on white area, and going over them again helps them look brighter and crisp. For shine marks, like those on her necklace and crown jewel, lay the color down first, and put the white on top it.

The background and ground have some messy lines that you may need to touch up a bit before coloring. You can completely get rid of those balls of light behind Zelda by going over them in black or white (depending on where it is in the picture), redo them yourself in color by just clicking with the round brush in their original spots; no outline needed. I would suggest cleaning up those lines on the ground by taking a thin black brush and making the look less spotty. Now, shading! It isn't too hard, just pick a color slightly darker than what you're shading; not too dark, but dark enough to be noticed, and apply that color where shading would naturally occur-- clothing folds, overlapping skin/hair and stuff like that. I took your picture and colored in blue where some of these shades might fall. (obviously you'd be shading with your darkened base colors, though, not blue) But, don't feel like you need to cover all of these spots; cel-shading, especially in Windwaker, is usually quite simplistic.

View attachment 6409

Wellll, I think that's what I have to offer as far as paint goes. Good luck coloring!

I appreciate the advice, but I think I'm going to have to use Photoshop ^_^"" Re-Colouring is seriously hard on paint. The background won't be an issue; I'm getting rid of it (I'm colouring the pic so I can use it for a avvie/siggy picture)

 

[Hylian Pants]

No prob, a lot of my explanation can still apply to Photoshop, too. in fact, I'm kind of glad you've made the switch -- it makes the process much easier! Really useful tip: If you set the layer with the picture on it to "multiply" and make a new layer underneath it for the colors, you can automatically color under the lines. It's sooo handy for manga coloring

EDIT: Important typo: I meant to put "multiply" instead of "overlay". Overlay works as well, but then the colors get more washed out.

 

[(◕‿◕✿)]

It also helps to work with multiple layers and set the brush opacity pretty low (50 percent or lower depending on the colour). Using Overlay definitely helps, as Hylian Pants mentioned, I'd definitely recommend doing that. For really detailed areas, I'd recommend using the Select tool, duplicate from that selection, then colour it in with a fine brush set to overlay.

 

[TheWakerofWinds]

Right now I'm just working on getting rid of the background/ getting rid of all the 'nearly white' pixels in the picture

 

[basement24]

The easiest way to colour Black & White art in Photoshop is to turn the layer to multiply. It removes all white by making it transparent. Make a layer underneath for your colours (or multiple layers, one for each different colour) and colour away. Leave them on "Normal" and you don't have to make any changes to brushes or opacity levels, or tweaking colours to make them look right. You can even use the eyedropper to take the colours from an existing coloured piece of Zelda art so it's 100% accurate to the pallet you want.

 

[Hylian Pants]

Basement pretty much explained perfectly the technique I was trying to describe. (but I mistakenly put "overlay" instead of "multiply") I agree, the eyedropper works very well when you're trying to get your pallet down.