Coloring with Masks tutorial
Added 2016-05-26 19:50:20 +0000 UTCAfter 200 of your votes were gathered, there was an even split between a mask coloring tutorial and a tutorial about comic page proportion! I figure coloring is probably more useful to the general artist, so I'm starting off with this topic. As I wrapped this tutorial up I realized there was room for a lot more nuance, so it will likely lead to an Advanced Mask Coloring tutorial in the future.
FURTHERMORE, you can catch a preview of the brand new support material worksheet right here! The full version is available now to all $10+ patrons, and is an excellent test your knowledge and get the most out of each tutorial. If you find yourself needing extra help or wanting some 1:1 advice, you can look at the new reward tier to the right to find out more.
Anyhow, you can either right click or download the full version in the attachment section :] Enjoy!
Patreon Tutorial Series
- May 2016: Coloring with Masks / Supplement Worksheet
- June 2016: Writing for Webcomics/ Supplement Worksheet
- July 2016: Researching for comics/ Supplement Worksheet
- Aug 2016: Clean up your Acting/ Supplement Worksheet
- Sept 2016: Grow your own Brand/ Supplement Worksheet
- Oct 2016: Figure out Patreon (1/2)/ Supplement Worksheet
- Nov 2016: Build dat Patreon (2/2) / Supplement Worksheet
Comments
Hi DEM! So I guess you're asking about a normal non-masked layer compared to a masked one? Like, what if I just colored onto a layer that was clipped into a base layer vs masking stuff (if that's not what you're asking feel free to clarify). But the reason for using masks is that you're coloring or adding effects based on their properties, vs manually adding those properties in. I kind of think of it like a math problem where you could either write x+x+x+x+x or just do 5(x); both can achieve the same result, but the second one applies an effect to the entire layer of x and you don't have to manually paint anything in. The added bonus is that you can pick up the effect and add it to another layer, like y, so now you have 5(y) very easily just by copying the mask. You can't achieve that with a normal layer since it will be very strongly tied to the layer it's clipped into. This might not seem super important for a single illustration or something, but for a comic where you might need to do several pages of specific lighting that needs to be consistent, it can be a lot easier to just transfer specific colored blending modes across the pages and adjust them with the mask than to manually/ painstakingly repaint the same material. And when you add in things like modified textures and patters, again it is a lot more efficient to pair those effects with masks than to add them in and adjust them by hand.
Der-shing Helmer
2017-02-14 16:14:11 +0000 UTCHello, new patreon for you over here looking at your backlog of material, hopefully you still answer questions for older tutorials. This whole mask tutorial has been awesome, but what are the differences between using a mask and using a layer that "Clips" the layer below it? It seems that a Clip layer could get most of these effects by just adjusting certain settings, but maybe I'm just not noticing the huge advantages (which is probably more likely).
DrunkenElfMage
2017-02-14 09:30:05 +0000 UTCThis was extremely helpful!!
Ofeila Eneroth
2016-06-05 22:44:51 +0000 UTCNo that answers my questions perfectly, and thank you so much! I'm excited to give this a try. :3
Joie Foster
2016-05-28 22:17:23 +0000 UTCOh man I use masks all the time for other applications but never thought to -paint- with those values, awesome, and I love how you write tutorials, A+ humours
Alisa Bishop
2016-05-28 20:57:24 +0000 UTCYeah definitely! I mentioned it cursorily at the bottom of the main text, it probably needs to go into an advancemode tutorial though (along with masking off folders... thank god for useful CC updates)
Der-shing Helmer
2016-05-28 02:25:34 +0000 UTCYou can also use layer masks on adjustment layers which is super handy if you ever need to adjust part of a larger piece. For example, if you needed to quickly lighten a characters hair, you could make an adjustment layer to lighten the color with everything except the hair masked out.
chiz
2016-05-27 22:42:17 +0000 UTCAhaha, one of my tutoring students said the same thing, after learning the traditional comics select/ gradient thing. Yeah! for consistency I mean what you said; when coloring a new page in a series with consistent lighting (the recent pages of MI for example, by the blue fire), I will do my flats and then drop in the shadow/ lighting layers. I generally flat fill these layers and apply a blending mode to them, and rarely do more than that (in this example here goo.gl/esnkjH you can see the layer called Linear Dodge does have a mix of blue/ gold on it, but that's about as crazy as I get). I definitely do need to paint in details still, but it's far easier to work in values than it is to work in color for a scene that needs to look exactly like previous pages + with the textures I want. It tends to be a bit easier for things like The Meek, or cel shaded freelance which have less textures, and I won't rely on masks very much in that case. For an average page it generally takes 5-6 hours to complete in general, but that's because of a couple reasons like fiddling with color holds, adding in late-stage details by hand, coloring in fx, textures, etc. If I've already established my colors it can take a few hours less depending on bg detail. And for flats, I ink with purposefully closed lines, so I just do a flat fill as a base and clip in my flats. Since I mostly shade in the layer masks though I don't bother with the alias stuff and just select/ expand and then color in the mask directly. I don't color in my flats at all, or if I do I will only do it on the secondary flat layer so I can retain my magic wand selection areas, if that makes sense... if you scroll back through the Patreon archives I have a few posts with psd files that show this in action. Sorry for a lot of text, hope that answers your questions!
Der-shing Helmer
2016-05-27 04:20:50 +0000 UTCI... I... you've just blown my mind. I colored my own way when I started doing things, and then was forced into the "comics standard" when I started coloring for companies. Once you've been told "this is the way it's done" you... end up forgetting how to innovate and how to try new things. I cannot *wait* to try this with my own personal stuff. I was sitting here at my computer making explosion sound effects while I was reading it. :O~ Quick Q... is it possible for you to explain the "Consistency" part a bit further? I imagine your lighting layers are painted, so if you were to drag and drop it, you'd still need to repaint it for the new objects on the page? Does it just ensure that the color and layer type are exactly the same? Also, how long on average would you said it takes you to complete a "medium" complexity, daytime lighting page? Do you still do "flats" the way printed comics achieve it (anti-aliasing lasso, paint bucket fill, etc).
Joie Foster
2016-05-27 04:08:35 +0000 UTCDelicious delicious text wall, thankyou so much! You're right, of course, digital tools are there to be used, not disregarded just because grandpa would shake his cane at them. I think I'm going to do both. I'll probably start using template layer groups (REALLY SMART, THANKYOU) for work stuff and other things that need to be consistent, but also keep brute-forcing my painting off of the clock. I feel like I'm very close to a super-sayan-esque painting development, but we'll see. Thankyou again for taking a moment to talk with me, my warm-up today is definitely fanart!
Rex Smeal
2016-05-26 23:50:43 +0000 UTCGood question! Here comes a text wall First, the definition of "cheating" is entirely up to you... personally I think one needs to have a better grasp of light properties in order to paint this way. Traditional painting is limited to one "layer," which is fine, but the point imo of digital painting is to be able to take advantage of digital tools to their fullest extent. If you don't understand light and color, and you scroll through blending modes hoping to find something that looks ok the way you'd scroll through instagram filters, then yes painting this way can be a crutch. I'm also self-taught so believe me I have the same worries of not fully understanding what I do, but proceeding anyway. But, if you ARE building your layers based on understanding of the properties that give real objects their color and dimensionality, is that still cheating? or just a flexible application of basic principles? The other side of this story is "what do I have to do, as a professional artist, to get consistent and good-looking work out on time." In that case I think everything aside from direct tracing would not be considered "cheating," haha, and people even argue their cases for that sometimes. Here's an example of my character color layers for a typical MI page <a href="https://goo.gl/esnkjH" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://goo.gl/esnkjH</a> It's a little deceptive since most everything above "Layer 1" is me manually painting on top of the base lighting conditions without filters. That's why in the text for this tutorial I mention that I feel like I need to make an Advanced version of this tutorial to carry the convo forward after you have the basics down... no matter what I do go back and hand-paint on my masked layers, it would be weird not to. But without them I would 100% not be able to get my work out on time, so it has become a very useful and necessary part of my process using Photoshop at least. I hope Procreate gets with the program soon, so to speak :x
Der-shing Helmer
2016-05-26 23:41:15 +0000 UTCWell, this is definitely how I used to go about it- and maybe one day I'll come back to masks- but I guess I figured brute-forcing my painting using one layer and no masks would improve my sense for colour? Painting with value-masking always felt a little like I was synthesising a process that normally painters would learn a sense for by trial/error. I'm self taught, so I'm very paranoid about accidental holes in my skillset. Also some of the software I like (procreate!) doesn't support masks (yet?) What're your thoughts on this? Keep smacking my head against painting without layers, or CHEAT?!?
Rex Smeal
2016-05-26 23:28:29 +0000 UTCHaha, I see. Well if it works for you/ your comp then that's good XD My comps lag so much since I work at ridiculous sizes. I used to color in a similar way to you until the lag caught up with me... one quick fix for your elements though is to flatten them into one layer? and selecting colors with the wand. If you flat using a pencil tool/ aliased fill, you can select with pixel accuracy. Results may vary or not be as applicable for your work specifically though since it's so organic :]
Der-shing Helmer
2016-05-26 23:20:23 +0000 UTCHaha, well, I'm a bit trigger-happy when it comes to layers in Photoshop :D Whenever I need to add in a new detail I'll generally do it on a new layer and then merge down. The reason it usually reaches 200 layers or so is I tend to have each element on a separate layer, so then if I add adjustment layers on top to tweak local colours for specific areas it makes life a lot easier for me to balance the image as a whole to make sure the panels all work together. Or if I just get lazy and don't merge down as I'm going :D I guess everyone just has different methods for creating :) My Mac's pretty good at handling the speed though, and it'll only start to lag if I reach over that limit but it's easily solved :)
Ella Kingstone
2016-05-26 23:14:55 +0000 UTC:[___________________] why do you have 200 layers? is the first question, haha. But generally I shade the way real life is shaded... got my local color flats, environmental shadows, a light source if there is one, a bounce light if there is one, then another layer on top for finessing. Usually i don't get past 5-6 clipping masks if I do it that way.
Der-shing Helmer
2016-05-26 23:08:15 +0000 UTCThat looks so cool! I personally use clipping masks to keep everything in place and save time, but they can slow Photoshop down quite a bit when I reach around 200 layers :D So at that point once top layers are all finished and I'm happy with them I have to start merging layers together. Do you find clipping masks causing any lags at all in the programme?
Ella Kingstone
2016-05-26 23:05:08 +0000 UTC
