Seven ways to color digital art faster. How to tutorial. ⭐️ Scribble Kibble Digital Art Tip # 12 ⭐️ All Art Tips: • Scribble Kibble Digita... Patreon: / crowneprince Twitter: @CrownePrints / crowneprints Store: crowneprince.horse/store
IT SHOULD BE MENTIONED that for programs whose bucket tools dont magically fill in your whole selection (because its affected by lineart above or theres gaps between patches of selection) you can just use the rectangle shape tool to quickly drag over and fill in your entire selection or recolor clipped layers!! This is how i always do it in firealpaca (as ive learned its FAR faster and more reliable than just using a really really really big brush)
@scribblecloud Completely filling a selection is probably most easily done through Layer>Fill (the keyboard shortcut is Insert) - at least in FireAlpaca.
if you favour the fill bucket method, you should probably be using clip studio. You can set your fill bucket up to area expand and refference another layer for constraint other than the one you are editing, by setting the tool to use the refference layer for constraint, and then setting the inking layer to be the refference layer, which makes this method of colouring in MUCH faster.
Firealpaca has a pretty good full bucket tool imo (set it to canvas reference and expand 2 pixels). But it works better if you have no anti-aliasing and thicker lineart. But yeah, if you have messy/textured lineart, it’s not as good lol. But the paint bucket tool is pretty good for me!!
@@illumanarti In clip you can adjust the "tollerence" that adjusts how far into the black it will go before it detects a pixel as an edge. Which helps a bunch with textured lines. It may be your program has something similar, but it's not really a problem I deal with.
you shouldve definitely included tho that MANY programs should simply have the option to expand your fill bucket tool's area by a few pixels, and adjust the threshhold, this makes it far easier this and the lasso shape tool definitely also deserves a mention for being a really good way to fill something cleanly if its a small or narrow area or has thick lineart, or if youre going over parts and removing gaps, or youre coloring lineart
PLUS the magic wand SHOULD be able to expand by several pixels automatically as well without having to manually go in and expand selection every single time
Krita added the close-gap feature in February of this year, and I didn't even notice! I've always been adjusting the little nits in my paint bucket regions and it'll be nice to not have to do that anymore and let the lineart speak for itself.
Wait, really?! They never mentioned it. I've been using an older version of Krita because it no longer supported the colorize lineart propagation G'MIC. Is it working properly or do you still have to make too many corrections?
I use Ibispaint X, and what I like to do when I want to color something in is I create a layer under the uncolored drawing, use the paint bucket tool, and then use the brush to color in the tiny white spots.
Alternatively, some programs/tools allow you to set their thresholds based on "all layers" so you don't have to create a merged version; or to copy from all layers (instead of just one) so you can paste it into a separate layer all in one more step.
what i do is that a make a layer above the lineart, use the paint bucket tool on everything i need colored (i use ibispaint so the color will go slightly onto the lines), manually fill in areas that weren't colored, and then move the layer down below the lineart layer so it looks cleaner
YESSS FINALLY SOMEONE EXPLAINS & USES MAGIC WAND + INVERT AHHH imo its the best option to use in every program. and omg thank u so much for the reduse section 😭 no wonder why my art has some weird outside thingy
i use ibis’s digital brush that has no antialiasing (so it’s all pixels) and fix any gaps in the lining, so i can just bucket everything in with no worry. i can even set it so that it has no expansion because everything is 100% discrete, which means that my lineart and coloring have no overlap. this lets me be a lot more flexible with my lineart
One other method: if using CSP, you can set a layer or even multiple layers to 'Reference' mode via the lighthouse button, which you can set up to interact with bucket and wand tools. It saves the need to duplicate the lineart layer or refer to all layers globally. If you're using vector layers (which are fantastic in CSP), you can also set it up to reference the vector path rather than the line's pixels, so it won't leave any gaps and will fill up to the centerline. If using raster, you can set up an automatic resize option on the bucket tool to extend the fill range a little to ensure it goes fully under the lineart--it's similar to as if you used the wand tool and expanded your selection a few pixels. Another tool I love myself for filling in colors is the Lasso Fill tool, though not all programs have it.
Select > Modify > Expand (by 1 in most of my use cases) > Invert the selection > Create mask layer on the color layer FTW! I've been using this method for possibly over a decade now and it's SO MUCH USEFUL! Glad it got a mention here. I highly recommend it over manually following lines and trying to not go past any (but if that works best for you, then keep at it!). 2:51 Ooooooh, so that's what that Actions tab thingy in Photoshop is for? I never knew! XD Always wondered what that was all about but never bothered with toying around with it to see what it's for and learn how to use it. Now I will do it. Even if I end up never making use of it, anyway. Turns out I did just learn something new with this tutorial. Thank you, Crowne!
This tutorial is compatible with most of the most popular ART software over there so don's sweat if here you see the damnned Photoshop. Except MS Paint... that one is GOD level
We would like to shout out Krita's Colorize mask! It is incredibly time efficient, and it is very smart about gaps and transparencies. Basically, you add a "Colorize Mask" over your lineart. You can then add a single brush stroke of colour across the regions you want to colour, press a button, and it will fill everything in! The cool part in our opinion is that it is very easy to edit afterwards. You don't have to carefully erase, or fiddle with the magic wand, or keep things in multiple layers, just erase or add to the brush strokes and press the update button again. We do recommend checking out the Krita manual fur instructions and an example!
My go-to when using IbisPaint X is to just use the Paint Bucket, but that has many cons to it, namely, tight corners. But some of these other options might be VERY helpful! Thanks again for the extremely helpful tips.
Krita's Colorize mask is te best for me Thanks to this mask I can colour in almost any flat colour drawing in less than 5 minutes, it all depends on how detailed it is, and it looks perfect with the lineart
My method in Krita is setting my fill bucket to automatically expand by 1 or 2 pixels and to make selections based on layers filtered to yellow, then I create a coloring layer under my lineart and set the lineart's filter to yellow. This method can work off of multiple lineart layers at once if I want that, though I rarely ever do that
Some programs have ability to expand bucket fill by couple pixels. (For example, Medibang Paint, ClipStudio Paint and FireAlpaca). This basically solves the "bucket problem". As for cleanup, just wand-select your flat colors after you fill them in, and shade+render them *while still selecting the flats* on a new layer (using flat color layer for selection) - you no longer have to clean anything up, because your brush is automatically masked. That's how professional comic colorists do it.
Back in the day I used actions to change color profile, change image size, apply color-correction to account for the issues with color profile swap, and Save As... Just open 10 files at a time, click Play, then type in new file name for the Save prompt. 60 files, downsized in web-friendly color settings, done in 3 clicks apiece, easy
in procreate I usually copy the lineart, bucket fill it, then alpha lock it (one of the downsides is that there may be small unseen pixels that arent filled, I usually fill the whole canvas to see where those pixels are and I fill them after undoing the giant fill.)
I love that this video considers and has tips for multiple methods! I used gimp before moving to firealpaca, and most coloring tips I'd seen straight up didn't work with the available tools, but this video was actually helpful!
What I do is use clipping layers. I click outside of the lineart that is NOT going to be colored and then invert it. I always have it set to expand 2 pixels so when it inverts it contracts the pixel count so there's no color bleed. I then switch the bucket tool to fill everything in the active layer on a separate layer from the lineart. With this new layer I do one of two things. I either have a clip layer over this main layer and fill in all the colors so there's nothing that goes past the lineart or I use a cliping layer to make sure I have a shading layer and make multiple layers for each color, duplicate the clip layer and change the shading color accordingly with each color to make sure nothing looks muddy or too dark.
I usually use magic select tool on the outside of the lineart, then expand and fill in the areas, on separate layers that is not lineart, with base colors. For small areas within the lineart, I use the same tool but expand just to fill the area so that no transparent spaces are left, the fill that space on a separate layer with color.
The most common term used for "recorded actions" is likely to be "macros". If an art program doesn't support them for some reason, you can probably get a similar result with a dedicated macro program by using each step's keyboard shortcut as a step in the macro/action.
With area scaling in csp, you can just set your lineart to "reference layer", give your fill tool area scaling, set the tool to recognize the reference layer, and then use the fill tool on the color layer. You can close gaps on the color layer like this as well. I'll do my rendering on clipping layers or alpha locked on the base layer, depending on what method I'm using.
Comment for the algorithm! I do believe that most art programs have the option to expand their wand tool selection by a few pixels by default (for FireAlpaca it’s just in the menu at the top) It’s also kind of sad to see this be the last art tip of the series. Thank you for your work Crowne!
Coloring is a big factor in why I only use aliased lines lol. Cannot be bothered to deal with selecting or fill-bucketing soft edges. I don't need to spend twice as long drawing over the halo of unfilled pixels every time I fill bucket a marking outline on the color layer. ILY pixels ILY raster ILY aliasing
I guess I’m lucky that my fill tool has an option to fill from canvas or layer, so it automatically knows where the lines are without having to copy them or anything
Usually when i colour, i just copy the lineart on another layer, and colour on a layer bellow since in most cases my colours are very flat so there's no need for any fancy methods. (With the exception of artworks that are more complex and don't have black outlines and such)
1:12 with Krita it's easy to just make it grow by a pixel or so, and/or increase the threshold 1:40 Krita also has the grow and threshold options for the magic wand tool so you don't have to expand selection separately :)
If there's a need to color faster, maybe consider turning off anti aliasing. Which is more beneficial for animation but any illustration that isn't the "retro" 1024x768 or lower would also often be okay to do such trick. And if you need a smoother look, you can always gaussian blur later. And for anything intended for printing there's an additional thing to be in mind, that is you might want to trap some color. Modern printers are often calibrated well enough, but there can still be some alignment error, so you would want to expand the color into the outline a bit to make up for the error. And if you are preparing for white ink printing you should shrink the layer a bit for the same reason. Often times these can be done using the expanding/corroding filter, but it can be beneficial to hand paint the layer for a more natural look as well. And that's when you might not want to use easy ways to color.
When making characters, I select the background with tools and then invert selection. I make sure all flats and lines are in 1 folder. Then shading I draw above that folder and use clipping options (sai only? Idk)
For Krita users you have it easier with the bucket fill tool having options to extend or retract your fill by a set ammount of pixels, making the whole process super easy after you find your perfect setting. Also alpha channels or alpha lock, not sure what krita calls it but it's masking done way easier, just needs groups to work sometimes.
In alpha lock mode I think it locks in the value of the alpha channel so you can paint over an existing layer's pixels without changing their opacity. So fill in the shape, alpha lock and then texture and shade the layer without worrying about changing the shape.
Speaking of this general topic- i really really miss how krita had the ability to make clipping masks over grouped layers, it was incredibly useful and procreate unfortunately can't do it. Rn im really considering going back to drawing on a drawing pad connected to my pc, both for the sake of my body (my ipad slouch is godawful, i might even opt to get a drawing pad without screen in order to minimise the damage i do to my poor poor back + neck) and so i can have access to more complex tools again. It would no doubt feel overwhelming to go back to more complex art programs at first but it'd probably be worth it in the long run. Besides I really really wanna give Corel or Rebelle a go- procreate really has some of the worst blending functionality out of all popular art programs rn and it's so painful to me bc i love painting with oil-like brushes.
I actually do a certain version of paint and erase! I get a big brush size and scribble in the whole color, and do layers not for every color, but more for when colors touch, like skin color goes in one layer, hair color goes on a layer above. I dont really try to stick close to the shape, just has to have the whole area with color in. then i erase everything outside the lines when everything is colored. Is it faster? i dont know but i sure have a better time doing it like that
Think of coloring quickly outside the lines like how some people edit their writing drafts. A good way to be quick with your edits is to save editing spelling and grammar last. Be sure to add and remove content first. Otherwise, you’ll end up removing stuff that you corrected. That used time can add up. Same idea (sort of). Don’t use up time making sure you’re correct the first time around when you can do the task quickly and cleanup at the end instead.
Instead of duplicating all the lineart layers to a master copy, I stick them all on a folder together and make the selection with the folder, because having the folder selected in the layer menu counts as having all of the layers in the folder selected (I use CLIP, don't know how this works with other art programs, or if I even explained it well lol).
Krita has a Colorize Layer feature that can also fill in lineart quickly too. All you have to do is draw over your lineart with colored lines on where you want the colored fills to go. The Colorize Layer should do the rest. Other programs that support G'MIC plugin can also do Colorization with this method too (Photoshop, GIMP, Paint NET and etc). Even CSP has this feature with its AI coloring tool but I never used it though (since I don't have CSP).
my main art program on my ipad is kinda weird so what ive found is easiest and fastest there is using the vector tool. (it doesnt make actual vectors in the real sense its basically just a colour lasso tool) its faster and less hassle than fighting with the bucket tool that can’t be expanded by a few pixels to fill with no artifacts like firealpaca and it basically keeps me in check for how complex I make an image (will this be easy to vector colour this shape later? if no I usually simplify it) lol
I always would scribble my colors and erase my colors outside of the lines. I've been doing this for years, and sometimes i do *almost* everything on 1 layer (i know, im insane).
Do you have any tips for coloring many different elements layered atop each other? Like a character stepping trough a door: Like you have to do the the character, the door frame, what's on the other side of the door, the front wall, the back wall. I just find these sort of thing becomes exhausting and complicated really quickly.
you can contour around the lines manually with a brush and then fill in with the bucket tool, this is how i do with my sketches or, you can also select manually with the lasso tool and then fill it if you use clip studio or ibis paint you can use try the lasso fill tool , it works just like the lasso but it automatically fills it with color
This is why I switched to fire alpaca from Photoshop. Photoshop sucks for lining and coloring. Only time I like PS more is for rendering. It's so easy to color digital art in Fire Alpaca
Good tips, heres mine: Cut down of separate color layers. i know its scary, but it will save you years off your life in the longrun Krita has an literal black-magical enclose and fill tool. use it. USE IT. (make a base solid fill layer under the lineart with the wand for best results)
Unfortunately, if you use Krita, (like me) you can't really have open lineart/gaps. Instead of acknowledging all the layers as one, it focues on the one which you are on so the first tip doesnt really work with Krita.
