Digital Coloring Tutorial using Corel Painter & Tablet

Hello friends! Here we have my friend’s dearest beloved pug (a breed of dog) which she named “Candy”. Candy is very lovely and my friend says Candy is “Uglishly Cute”. 🙂 Sadly Candy broke her rear limb which is very hard to heal. I pray for Candy’s recovery. So I gifted this artwork to her (my friend) after printing it.

Download the WallpaperPack here!!

Therefore the first thing one should keep in mind for the printable artwork is the compatible size, dpi and print color mode (RGB/CMYK) before starting the artwork.

I chose 12inch x 18inch canvas with 150dpi (as 300dpi slows down the pc, sometime 150dpi can also do the work) and RGB color. Why not CMYK?? Well, Corel Painter does not support CMYK and this color mode takes 1/2 more computer resources. But Photoshop supports CMYK and I don’t recommend painting on CMYK as we have less color option. I always convert the color mode at the last before printing and then adjust colors and levels.

Tools of trade:

Corel Painter 11 for the whole sketching and coloring
Adobe Photoshop CS5 for final touches and color adjustments
Wacom Bamboo
My hand and a pinch of brain 😉

Here is the image I took reference from. I have put all the images /steps as a TAB so there will not be a LONG LIST of images. I hope it will help.

First Part – Basic Coloring

For the outline I used “Acrylics Opaque Detail Brush 3” and for coloring I used “Wet Acrylic 10”. I like these brushes because they give mild brush texture. You can experiment your own favorite.

[tabs style=”framed” nav=”tabs_above” height=”300″ tab_1=”Step 1″ tab_2=”Step 2″ tab_3=”Step 3″ tab_4=”Step 4″ tab_5=”Step 5″]
[tab_1]

First I sketched the base lines taking reference from the image. I used my tablet to draw lines but you can draw your character separately on white paper and scan it.
[/tab_1]
[tab_2]
Then I applied the base color. Don’t forget to save / note or mark the color used just like I did on the right top side of my artwork.
[/tab_2]
[tab_3]
After I took a darker shade and applied on the shadows. You can note the color you used.
[/tab_3][tab_4]
Corrected the color to match the reference.
[/tab_4][tab_5]
Then I again applied more darker shade. Here you should not worry about blending of colors as that step will come later.
[/tab_5]
[/tabs]

[tabs style=”framed” nav=”tabs_above” height=”300″ tab_1=”Step 6″ tab_2=”Step 7″ tab_3=”Step 8″ tab_4=”Step 9″]
[tab_1]
I colored the eye. I have placed the details on eye near the end of the tutorial below.
[/tab_1][tab_2]
Then I started coloring the part where light landed. I mean highlights.
[/tab_2][tab_3]
Added more tints on the highlight areas. Also drew the body following the same steps.
[/tab_3][tab_4]
Later I added some shades on body. I have placed the details on body at the end of the tutorial below.
[/tab_4]
[/tabs]

Second Part – Blending

Blending is a process where we blend and smooth out the edged colors we did before. For Blending I used the same “Wet Acrylic 10” brush but the difference is I disabled the Resaturation and increased the Bleed. You can go to these options from Window > Brush Controls > Well .

[tabs style=”framed” nav=”tabs_above” height=”300″ tab_1=”Step 1″ tab_2=”Step 2″ tab_3=”Step 3″ tab_4=”Step 4″ tab_5=”Step 5″]
[tab_1]

[/tab_1][tab_2]
More blending.
[/tab_2][tab_3]
More more blending.
[/tab_3][tab_4]
More more more blending. 🙂
[/tab_4][tab_5]
More more more more blending. Finally blending is completed and the artwork looks quite blurred. Don’t worry, now its time to add some details.
[tab_5]
[/tabs]

Third Part – Details

To add details, I used the same above mentioned brush but in smaller size. Here is a piece of artwork where hair upon head can be seen. I picked up the nearby colors using the eyedropper tool and brushed away along the path of hair. I also blended some of the edges so they don’t look very sharp.

[tabs style=”framed” nav=”tabs_above” height=”300″ tab_1=”Step 1″ tab_2=”Step 2″ tab_3=”Step 3″ tab_4=”Step 4″]
[tab_1]
Details on top head hair were given where the light has struck directly. Pure white or the brightest tint of the base shade can be used.
[/tab_1][tab_2]
Then I darkened the nose area more.
[/tab_2][tab_3]
More Details!
[/tab_3][tab_4]
More more details.
[/tab_4][/tabs]

Here are the steps on how details in the eye was given.

[tabs style=”framed” nav=”tabs_above” height=”300″ tab_1=”Step 1″ tab_2=”Step 2″ tab_3=”Step 3″]
[tab_1]

[/tab_1][tab_2]

[/tab_2][tab_3]
On the top of the image fully detailed hair can be seen, eye is quite detailed, fold above the nose is in the process of giving details. You can see the incomplete work and the nose is left as it is after blending.
[/tab_3][/tabs]

These are the steps on detail work on the body.

[tabs style=”framed” nav=”tabs_above” height=”300″ tab_1=”Initial Detail” tab_2=”Blending” tab_3=”Final Details”]
[tab_1]

[/tab_1][tab_2]

[/tab_2][tab_3]

[/tab_3][/tabs]

This is the final product. Click to view full size.

Final Part – Color Adjustments & Background

I usually do final stuffs in Adobe Photoshop because it has color and level adjustment layers compared to Corel Painter. I also created the background layer in Photoshop just by brushing light tints and blending using its shades. Here is the background and the screenshot of the artwork in Adobe Photoshop.