3 BASIC STEPS IN COLORING A MANGA CHARACTER DESIGN

Last time, we discussed about how to draw a manga head.  And the last picture I have inserted on that  article was the final draft.  In this topic, we will be discussing the steps on coloring a manga character design.

In my head I've got loads of ideas about novels that I wanted to create , and hopefully, publish.  Even for free.  I just wanted to make them as long as my heart's contented.  I just don't have the chance to make them possible YET, but I've already written some of the scripts or plots on my notepad.  So I should probably start making one this year.

One of the characters that I have designed is Kyon.  He is the lead male character from "Morning Glory".  It's genre should be romance, fairy tale, comedy and josei manga.  He is the one that we've drawn on the previous blog, and now we will discuss how to color Kyon.

Step 1  DRAW THE CHARACTER DESIGN.  We have drawn the character design on the previous blog, and this is how he looked like.

Step 2  BASIC COLORS.  Add another layer and start the coloring with the basic colors.  Burnt sienna for the hair and brows.  Green for the eyes.  Flesh for the skin.

Step 3  PUT THE SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS.  I always add another layer for each action that I make.  I added another layer here to put shadows and highlight on the eyes.

Next is the shadowing for the skin.  Always check if the darker shades on your drawing is appropriate for its lighting.  Always remember to put one source of light and make sure that it is shown on the drawing.

Putting shadows on the hair is more delicate than that of the skin tone.  The hair should always show its volume, and the highlight should always be in line with the strands of the hair.  I always start with the shadowing.  Here shows the darker parts of the hair that already gave the volume of the hair.

Next are the highlights.  You can see that there are parts with the bigger but softer highlights, and there are also parts with highlights that are thinner but sharper.  These two types of highlights shows more volume to the hair.  Therefore, shows the hair strands, manga style.

Hope you enjoyed reading!  'Til next time! :)