Mana Anzai Art Project, Part 1
Okay, it's been a really, really, long time since I've done anything on this blog or my website. The last post on this blog was just after New Year's with that belated share of a holiday themed picture I did. It was sometime before that when I last updated my website.
To be perfectly honest I'm not sure when I'll get back to the website. It's a lot more maintenance intensive for what I wanted to do with it than a blog ever could be, so I would really need time to just run everything up to date (primarily the anime reviews).
For now, I won''t close the book completely on the website. But, for the even scanter few that are paying attention now relative to the minute few who were around before, this blog will stay up, only in a very limited and occasional use. Such as today.
Or rather, I should say as over the next few days/weeks. I'm on a bit of a summer break right now, so while I have time I've begun working on brushing up some of my unfinished projects. I decided to track my progress somewhat, so what I want to do is put up a new post every day or two with how it is I added to the newest piece of the project. So, let's begin.
The piece I'm working on is title Mana Anzai. Brief background on the image is that I started a story I've titled Overture. I have it taking place in the future after the First Moon Saga, and it follows a new, personal original, main lead. High school student, he falls from his roof one night and is saved by someone he can't quite recall due to passing out. Next morning he wakes up in his bed fine and heads to school where the new homeroom teacher is supposed to start. Mana Anzai is that teacher. Central to my story is the fact that she and someone else my MC meets later on resembles almost identically Anzu Rosencraft/Anzushiro.
I drew this image of Mana Anzai some time ago (a couple years now I think). I'm adding color to the image now with this project. To colorize this one, similarly to how i have done in the past to colorize other projects, I'll be using Corel's PaintShop Pro (X6 64-bit to be exact).
I've tried a number of different methods to colorize images in the past. Often what I used to do is work directly with my drawing as the background. I add a layer and trace my original drawing so I can get a solid outline that looks more finished. Then, I go back and add the applicable colors to that layer on which I traced the outline.
One variation I've used a few times has been to trace one component at a time. For example, I would create a new layer, trace the hair, and add color to that layer labeled 'hair'. Then I would create another new layer, trace another like-color component, so parts of the image that share the same color, and then add color to that as a layer. In this case that would be the bow in Mana's hair and the tie she's wearing, both being green, as part of a single new layer, traced, and then filled in with the appropriate color (green). Then, once that is done for all parts of the image, I would flatten all the layers, making one complete image, touching up any areas where there's color crossing over outlines, or white where there should be color, etc.
Changing my approach a bit, primarily when I started uploading original works to this blog and other sites, I started to play with the RGB levels to darken and solidify the pencil lines of my drawing (I hate going over my work with pen). This step alleviated the need to retrace as much as I normally had been.
From there is my current method. I duplicate the base layer as a new raster. Then I fill in the coloring of each like-colored component on a new layer, each a duplicate of the original re-leveled base layer. I use the fill tool unless there is a break in the outline causing it to spill into areas it shouldn't. In that event I use the brush tool to buffer those spots and then fill to get the solid block. Then I go over the edges with the brush to make sure the color meets the outline. Thus you get this:
To be perfectly honest I'm not sure when I'll get back to the website. It's a lot more maintenance intensive for what I wanted to do with it than a blog ever could be, so I would really need time to just run everything up to date (primarily the anime reviews).
For now, I won''t close the book completely on the website. But, for the even scanter few that are paying attention now relative to the minute few who were around before, this blog will stay up, only in a very limited and occasional use. Such as today.
Or rather, I should say as over the next few days/weeks. I'm on a bit of a summer break right now, so while I have time I've begun working on brushing up some of my unfinished projects. I decided to track my progress somewhat, so what I want to do is put up a new post every day or two with how it is I added to the newest piece of the project. So, let's begin.
The piece I'm working on is title Mana Anzai. Brief background on the image is that I started a story I've titled Overture. I have it taking place in the future after the First Moon Saga, and it follows a new, personal original, main lead. High school student, he falls from his roof one night and is saved by someone he can't quite recall due to passing out. Next morning he wakes up in his bed fine and heads to school where the new homeroom teacher is supposed to start. Mana Anzai is that teacher. Central to my story is the fact that she and someone else my MC meets later on resembles almost identically Anzu Rosencraft/Anzushiro.
I drew this image of Mana Anzai some time ago (a couple years now I think). I'm adding color to the image now with this project. To colorize this one, similarly to how i have done in the past to colorize other projects, I'll be using Corel's PaintShop Pro (X6 64-bit to be exact).I've tried a number of different methods to colorize images in the past. Often what I used to do is work directly with my drawing as the background. I add a layer and trace my original drawing so I can get a solid outline that looks more finished. Then, I go back and add the applicable colors to that layer on which I traced the outline.
One variation I've used a few times has been to trace one component at a time. For example, I would create a new layer, trace the hair, and add color to that layer labeled 'hair'. Then I would create another new layer, trace another like-color component, so parts of the image that share the same color, and then add color to that as a layer. In this case that would be the bow in Mana's hair and the tie she's wearing, both being green, as part of a single new layer, traced, and then filled in with the appropriate color (green). Then, once that is done for all parts of the image, I would flatten all the layers, making one complete image, touching up any areas where there's color crossing over outlines, or white where there should be color, etc.
Changing my approach a bit, primarily when I started uploading original works to this blog and other sites, I started to play with the RGB levels to darken and solidify the pencil lines of my drawing (I hate going over my work with pen). This step alleviated the need to retrace as much as I normally had been.
From there is my current method. I duplicate the base layer as a new raster. Then I fill in the coloring of each like-colored component on a new layer, each a duplicate of the original re-leveled base layer. I use the fill tool unless there is a break in the outline causing it to spill into areas it shouldn't. In that event I use the brush tool to buffer those spots and then fill to get the solid block. Then I go over the edges with the brush to make sure the color meets the outline. Thus you get this:
So, that's how it looks so far. As you can see, there are two layers at this point; the background layer promoted to a raster, and a copy of that raster renamed Raster Hair. At the moment I don't think there's a background I have in mind, so it will just be about a dozen or so additional colors added to this image for her skin, dress, eyes, and props. Step two will be the relatively minor point of the necktie and the bow in her hair. Come back tomorrow to see how that looks.
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