Coloring tutorial
 

Does anyone know of a good coloring tutorial out there? I don't mean for how to specifically use a particular marker or pencil, but just how to color images in general, like figuring out where it should be darker or lighter, etc. I know it has to do with where the light source is, but I don't have any artistic background or training and therefore can't quite imagine how the image would look.

Any time I've done an internet search I usually come up with how to use Copics or Prismas to get the effect.

Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Dawn

Marianne, the Copic Queen is a great place. Even though she focuses on Copics, she teaches you about the things you're asking. Like this post for example:

I Like Markers: Water in a pond

Thanks for the link! I didn't see a list of her tutorials/categories so it's going to take some time to find what I'm looking for, but I do plan to check out her archives. The linked post did give me a starting point. Thanks again!

Good one here: Watercolor Pencil Tip! |

Vic

Have you tried the plastic baggie trick? Draw a sun at the top of a plastic baggie (or any transparency sheet) with a sharpie marker and then draw lines down from the sun to indicate the path of the sunlight. Then you hold that over your images. The spots where the lines hit first would be the place you would put highlights and where ever the lines touch last would be the darkest parts of your image. You can angle the sun anyway you would like. Sometimes you can tell from your image where the artist has added natural shading or shadows.

This post on Copic Oz has a great illustration here similar to I was talking about... it is art theory so you can use the principal with any coloring medium...

OOOOOOH! I've never heard of that! That sounds like something I definintely need to try. Thanks for that tip!

That is EXACTLY what I needed!! Absolutely perfect! Thanks so much!

Glad I could help. I found another example...again with copics in case anyone else out there wants to check it out... here on Zest Blog...gotta love the Bloggers from down under!

Thanks for the link, that is great information to have.

Great info thanks everyone!

Thanks everyone, I need help with this also.

Here is a great basic tutorial about coloring images:

Paper Pleasing ~ No Copics No Problem! - YouTube

I could not find any books on shading either. I look at photos on Google of what ever I am trying to color.

Good info to have.

Thanks for all of the great ideas from everyone! I will be trying them out, myself!

All the link aboves are really good ones but my suggestion to you would be to buy the book by Marianne Walker Shadows and shading. The book sells for about 15$ and, altought is written by the Copic Expert Marianne Walker, it's actually a very good resource to learn about lightning placement. I love mine and it helped alot. You can usually find her book where you'll find Copic products.

I agree it is a great book !

Another thing I have done to see how clothing is colored is to cut out pictures of clothing from the Joann's flyer . You can see where the shading should be placed.