[GFX] Colour

Big Casino

Money for Nothing
Veteran
Joined
Mar 4, 2007
Messages
7,422
Location
Scotland
Gil
0
I was just made a post in that colour game thread and figured id make a single thread about colour as i have a bit to say on it.

Colour can be pretty tough to get right in sigs and graphic making altogether i think :hmmm: Its probably the thing im most conscious of whilst making one. When you work with a render or a stock etc you have to work with the colours on that. The clothes, their hair, skin colour and anything else on it. So when you come to add in all the effects youv got to try and make sure they work with the picture. Of course you might not like the colours that the image wants you to work with so you can edit that to give you a little more options.

Ive got in the habit now whenever i add in an effect that il use colour balance on it. Sometimes when i need a drastic colour change il use the hue and saturation adjustment, as you can radically change the colour using the hue with that and by subtly adjusting the saturation and lightness you can adjust the colour so it doesnt look overly....I dunno the word but the colour looks a bit nicer and not just really bright and in your face :hmmm:
Hue and saturation is great for changing the colours on an effect C4D aswell. The ones with the best shape arent always in the colour you want. Hue is a great way to change that.

I love colour balance because you get a lot of control over adjustment and instead of a gradient map which can sometimes look burnt and pastey you can fine tune the colours with the colour balance tool :hmmm:
Besides the tools i mentioned i like gradient maps aswell. Gradient maps are another adjustment layer that i couldnt live without. When theyre used wrong they can really make a sig look terrible but the same could be said about any tool. I always know when i select my gradient map colours and it looks awesome first time i just know that my sig is gunna turn out good in the end :lew: I find the default orange and purple gradient map to be a great one. For some reason or another even when it clashes with the colours im using i always try it anyway because when it works which it does often it looks fantastic. :lew:
My sigs tend to have around 3 gradient maps. Its very rare i use them at 100%, usually they tend to be around 35-60%. As i said before every effect I use il apply a colour balance to them and before adding a border to a sig my final layer is a colour balance adjustment and brightness & contrast adjustment :hmmm: I think they just cap the sig off nicely.

Preference wise i dont have certain colours i prefer over others in general. If im making a sig for myself il use more boyish colours. I wouldnt use baby pink for example unless it was a full moon. I would however happily make a pink signature if it works well in a request or if its for sotw. I know some people who wont even think to use a colour they dont like which i find weird. I can understand not wanting to use it in your current sig and avatar set but not when it comes to someone elses request or if its gunna work better for a tag your making for sotw or some kind of challenge. Why not use that advantage? Ive never really been a believer that you can be better at working with certain colours than others. You may be more used to working with certain colours but i think really if you have a good eye for it you can work equally as well with all colours.

In overall sig making i find making colours work together for the final product to be one of the hardest things to get right. This hasnt always been the case. I think as i became better at gfx and my eyes a bit sharper that ive come to see that its difficult. I was looking back through old sigs ive made in the past and there weren't very many where the colour was that good.

Anyway what do you guys think about colour? Is it something you dont care too much about? Do you find it really easy? Or is it difficult and your sigs come out looking like burnt toast? Do you have any habits like me in using colour balance etc? Maybe you found this post long and boring but will post anyway?

Post away :toni:
 
Last edited:
I do use Color Balance, practically in most signatures that I make. On top of Gradient Maps (I'll have around 4-5 typically), it can be a nice combo. But colors are definitely something I do enjoy when it comes to photoshop (besides blending). When it comes to choosing colors, I try to do variety of combinations, usually 2-3 colors, and one or two can be very subtle while the other more prominent. It depends on the mood that I want to convey, as well as the render/stock. I don't think I've ever stopped and said, "I hate this color so I'm not using it." Haha, quite the opposite actually. I'm not too keen on purple or pink in general, but I've got a lot of signatures with those colors included. For some reason or another, my signatures will usually turn into something (color-wise) I initially did not intend, but I can easily change by using Color Balance, Gradient Maps, etc. It's a simple fix for me, but there's many ways to pull off a really nice color scheme.

I think I've used many different colors by now, from yellow, orange, green, blue, magenta, red, pink, purple, brown, and all different shades.
 
I think colouring is a big strong point for you. Ive said this to other people but your tags seem to have this gleam to them that no one elses do. I cant really think of a word to describe it but your colours are always very rich and deep. The little brushes of more intense colour you add is always very nicely done. Its something ive tried to emulate but so far no success.
I like to create a new layer and fill it completely black and set it to either colour dodge or linear dodge then use a brush on around 50% opacity to add my spots of colour. Lately im taking more to using linear dodge than colour dodge as it gives off a nicer light i think. Takes a bit of fiddling about to find the right opacity.
Wel have to collaborate again one day Mits. Its been years since we did that one collab and i think we could both do loads better now. Il leave the colouring to you so i can sneak peak at your technique :mrgreen:
 
Last edited:
I agree with Mitsuki (what an old post) but it still sticks true. Gradient maps, especially the orange/purple one is used a lot for me when creating signatures. Combining Gradient maps work great, and changing the opacity/layer styles, etc. I used to not touch the opacity when I first started and thought to myself "What the heck would people use these horrible gradients for?" but when changing the opacity they can absolutely make your piece.

Colour Balance is something I still don't really use often, a small "trick" I use when balancing out my colours is I'll apply the image I've been working on so far (background + render + effects) set it to Gaussian Blur (so you get your own "gradient"), and mess with the layer style and opacity, it works great because it uses all the colours you use in your signature and you can balance it out even more with the pre-set gradient maps.

I've been messing around with more Photoshop options, so I think I'm going to start throwing Colour Balance more into the mixture of doing things!
 
I think the Colour Balance is a pretty good colour option to use when initially plotting a colour scheme to your piece, particularly since textures and C4Ds rarely match chosen renders and stocks. It's a little more versatile then gradient maps as it also gives one control over highlights and shadows as well as the mid-tones giving you more scope to blend your colour palette. This is a tool I like to play around a lot with as it can also create some happy accidents.

I don't have any set colours to use for my gradient maps, usually it's a case of choosing whatever contrasts and blends with the current piece (usually a combination of both. Mostly I'll pick one contrasting and one harmonising colour for each gradient, the light and darkness of the shades depending on the colour itself. However, for anime style graphics, I find the orange and purple gradient set to luminosity (10%-20%) lends a romantic and slightly surreal cast to the piece which suits the genre pretty well.

I like dealing with colour in GFX, be it subtle or bold and bright. It's definitely something that's pretty subjective though (probably one of the most subjective aspects of any piece) so it's pretty tough to get right in a way that pleases most people, as well as yourself.
 
Back
Top