Legacy LD5

done with gimp... in like 2 hours it's a little rough (my first time using gimp), but as i get better with it, i'll start colorizing my drawings.

here's the original http://lavadomefive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=658

For some reason Gimp has a reputation for being awful for colouring and drawing in, though I'm not sure why, since Gimp used to be virtually identical to Photoshop. Unless things have changed. Photoshop may not be the easiest thing in the world to use for colouring, but I can get perfectly good results out of it.

Assuming Gimp is similar, there are several things you can try:

Layers. Layers are your best friend in any art program. They are fairly self-explanatory, anything you draw on one layer doesn't overwrite things on other layers. It also means you won't destroy your lineart/sketch with colouring. Which leads on to:

Multiply mode. Try using 2 layers, a layer with your colours, and a second layer on top, set to 'multiply' blend rather than 'normal'. This will apply the greyscale of your picture on top of the colour, which will instantly give you a bit of shading, and it means the lines will show up on top of your colours, if that's the effect you're looking for.

If you can figure out multiply mode, you're half way to my usual method (and seems to be the preferred shading mode in tutorials). If you ca us a multiply layer for the black and white drawing on top of colour, then you can also use a greyscale multiply layer to apply shading, and another greyscale layer, but set to 'screen' blend mode, to apply highlights. But that's a bit more advanced, and not having Gimp myself, I'm not really familiar with the steps/interface required.

Having said all that, I appreciate the attempted use of highlights and shadows. He(she?) looks a bit like the weemato I drew for Dino, a little shiny due to the particular colour and the hardness of the brush used for the highlights. Also glad to see you haven't fallen into the trap of trying to floodfill (paint bucket) line art. It seldom works properly because of antialiasing and shades of grey around the lineart.

All in all, it's a great start, and much superior to the MS Paint-like pics that have been posted on the forum by others.

TL; DR.

Hmm... being so strong with the coloring means you've lost nearly all your texture, which is bad... except for the fact that now it looks like RipRoarRex's early work, which is hard to rag on. Now the subject looks Egyptian (animal head on human body with bronzed skin), which again may or may not be seen as an improvement.

I suggest you have a lookie-loo at this tutorial for a technique called "Noise Fur." If you like what you see, try it out.

Spent so long on writing a reply, Spotchy got in with a link. That noisy fur tutorial, uses the same concept I suggested of using multiple layers, with multiply and screen blending. Have a look at it!

THANKS ALOT GUYS i can definitely use the help, since i am looking to start coloring my drawings