Due to constant request by a certain someone, I decided to create a tutorial on drawing and coloring in flash. Here are my techniques, steps, and style tips for you to feed upon.
Drawing and Coloring in Flash MX tutorial
by Nicol3
Hello, and welcome to the Drawing and Coloring in Flash tutorial. The tools you will be needing in this are:
In this tutorial, a green cursor represents sketching. A pink cursor will represent coloring.
Okay, let's get started. Select the brush tool with your mouse, or press B on your keyboard.
Like I always say, developing style takes lots of time. Practice with what you want first, sketch, erase, get used to the different sizes of the brush tool. The reason I believe a tablet can improve your abilities is because It's very close to drawing and coloring on paper.
Before you start to draw, create a new layer. Name the top one “Sketch” and the bottom one “Color”, like the screenshot below. This is just to be able to identify the layer that should be selected.
Start drawing out what you desire to color in black (or any color you want) I suggest you draw it out in black first, because you can see it better. Of course, you can edit the colors later.
Take a look at that blue highlighted area on the toolbar. See it? That's the size control for the brush tool. When using a tablet, try to stick with a smaller sized brush when sketching.
Now, the technique for coloring I use is simple. First, select the “color” layer.
When you’ve finished drawing, Clean up the sketch.
Look again at the brush toolbar. Click the size, and make this the biggest one. Select your original (or main basis) color with the color mixer, and color it in as if on paper. Almost wildly coloring out of the lines a bit can also give a sense of style.
Now, point your attention over to that box with the pink fluffy boarder. As you should know, this is the color mixer. It is now officially your best friend, no matter how much of an arse it is. Don’t complain, be its friend, NOW. Why? I’ll explain soon. But we’ll move to our first “layer” of color.
Now, I’m going to go over Highlights and Shadows. The reason I needed you to befriend the color mixer is because it is not only dead sexy, but because it’s your key to mastering the 3Dimensional world. (Sounds Fancy)
What our sexy Color Mixer does for us is an incredible thing. It automatically gives us an entire bar of contrasted colors for us to choose from.
When selecting our colors, remember to somewhat measure the change in darkness or lightness. Not too little or too much, like in the illustration above.
When adding your shadows, be sure to have a good sense of what color goes where. Depending on where the character is facing, shadows are under grooves in the skin, such as chins, under mouths, and other places.
Highlights are used more sparingly. The lighter, the lesser used for me.
The same gradual tones go with other colors. Add your finishing touches, and you’re done!
I know a couple of you have had trouble exporting images correctly, so this screenshot should help. Go to File>Export image..
… and change the highlighted field to PNG. Make sure it is PNG, because that is the file type of the highest quality.
You’re done! If you have any questions or missing info I should add, be sure to post it.
EDIT: Changed the order of some things. I had them in the wrong place.
Drawing and Coloring in Flash MX tutorial
by Nicol3
Hello, and welcome to the Drawing and Coloring in Flash tutorial. The tools you will be needing in this are:
- Any Pressure-related Tablet (Not required, but Strongly Preferred)
- The Brush Tool
- The brush toolbar
In this tutorial, a green cursor represents sketching. A pink cursor will represent coloring.
Okay, let's get started. Select the brush tool with your mouse, or press B on your keyboard.
Like I always say, developing style takes lots of time. Practice with what you want first, sketch, erase, get used to the different sizes of the brush tool. The reason I believe a tablet can improve your abilities is because It's very close to drawing and coloring on paper.
Before you start to draw, create a new layer. Name the top one “Sketch” and the bottom one “Color”, like the screenshot below. This is just to be able to identify the layer that should be selected.
Start drawing out what you desire to color in black (or any color you want) I suggest you draw it out in black first, because you can see it better. Of course, you can edit the colors later.
Take a look at that blue highlighted area on the toolbar. See it? That's the size control for the brush tool. When using a tablet, try to stick with a smaller sized brush when sketching.
Now, the technique for coloring I use is simple. First, select the “color” layer.
When you’ve finished drawing, Clean up the sketch.
Look again at the brush toolbar. Click the size, and make this the biggest one. Select your original (or main basis) color with the color mixer, and color it in as if on paper. Almost wildly coloring out of the lines a bit can also give a sense of style.
Now, point your attention over to that box with the pink fluffy boarder. As you should know, this is the color mixer. It is now officially your best friend, no matter how much of an arse it is. Don’t complain, be its friend, NOW. Why? I’ll explain soon. But we’ll move to our first “layer” of color.
Now, I’m going to go over Highlights and Shadows. The reason I needed you to befriend the color mixer is because it is not only dead sexy, but because it’s your key to mastering the 3Dimensional world. (Sounds Fancy)
What our sexy Color Mixer does for us is an incredible thing. It automatically gives us an entire bar of contrasted colors for us to choose from.
When selecting our colors, remember to somewhat measure the change in darkness or lightness. Not too little or too much, like in the illustration above.
When adding your shadows, be sure to have a good sense of what color goes where. Depending on where the character is facing, shadows are under grooves in the skin, such as chins, under mouths, and other places.
Highlights are used more sparingly. The lighter, the lesser used for me.
The same gradual tones go with other colors. Add your finishing touches, and you’re done!
I know a couple of you have had trouble exporting images correctly, so this screenshot should help. Go to File>Export image..
… and change the highlighted field to PNG. Make sure it is PNG, because that is the file type of the highest quality.
You’re done! If you have any questions or missing info I should add, be sure to post it.
EDIT: Changed the order of some things. I had them in the wrong place.
AND SOME 