Weekly news 2018-07-03: Page 1 full test (Krita files and full preview)

Hi Patrons, last week I focused on finishing page one of episode 26. I often do that; experiment new strategy on the page one (a full loop of the workflow). Pause and learn, then apply the big steps to the other pages. 

Under is the three key step of the method I'm using: (1) storyboard. (2) Then a black and white pass where I experimented around my "painted contrasted black&white line-art" for characters (on a layer) and the backgrounds painted with simple greyscale. (3) Recoloring all with blending modes and paint-over.

1) Storyboard:

2) Black&White

3) Full color:

So far, I like this workflow: it feels good to reach a clean level of detail for the characters at the Black&White step and focus on proportions, acting, composition with the simplicity of black and white. The re-coloring was a bit more more problematic: I tried various strategy. All were good enough to complete the job; but it was more or less still a bit random. Especially to keep consistency of lighting, color of material, skin color. For sure this is a powerfull workflow for illustration (single picture) but it has cons as soon it is used for sequential art. This is the topic I'll learn probably the most after the completion of this episode; I plan to improve on that and find a consistent method to fall back on always the same tint, saturation and lightness without having to do too many post-adjustement and tweaks. 

On this page one, I was hesitant at many time: you'll see it because I'll publish this week a timelapse video (I recorded this page from scratch, to evaluate the step and replay and see "production bottleneck"). 

This week, I have to transform all storyboarded page into black and white step. A big work ahead! I'll probably need a bit more than a single week. We'll see it next weekly. Have a good week and thank you for your support!