Star Wars #50 Step by Step Part 3 Color

Our variant cover for Star Wars #50 - out now from Marvel Comics - a family portrait!

Check out how we made it.

PART 3

COLOR

FLATS

The first stage of color is called flats - flatting allows me to choose an area to color at any point throughout the coloring process.

First thing I did was lay an orange color over the whole piece to harmonize the colors and get the "old fashioned movie poster" feel I was going for.

I try to adjust the colors to their medium value or imprimatura - I use this as the starting point for the piece. 

INITIAL COLOR (ROUGH IN)

I colored this on my Cintiq 22 HD using Photoshop CS3 .

I rough in quickly all the medium lights and darks on the figures and cast initial shadows.

Using the Pencil Tool (Hard Round pixel Brush) at 100% to to begin and then switch to lower 30-50% to get the right value of color for the next stages of rendering.

RIM LIGHT

 I added the yellow rim light to Luke using the Pencils tool at 100%

 GRADIENT and ROSY CHEEKS

Used the Gradient tool to fade out the background

I added Rosy cheeks to Leia

Used the Lasso and Gradient tool to define Leia's jaw line.

COLORING THE LINE ART

This is the icing on the cake step of the process.

I colored a lot of the black lines - notice the lips, flesh outline clothes and SFX in the background.

TOUCHES

Adding an extra layer of depth to Luke's eyes to help them POP.

PART 1

PENCILS

PART 2

LINE ART

TD