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[Foxeye]

Since many of the people in this community are novices at digital coloring, I thought I'd share the most fundamental "rules" and philosophies that I was taught, and that I learned for myself, about the art of coloring digitally.  

Rule #1: No fuzzy brushes.

This should be the first rule that every digital artist learns.  Brand it on your mind. Your heart.  There will come a time when you can break this rule, but when you are first learning to color digitally, put DOWN the fuzzy brush and walk/run away from it.    

Instead of fuzzy-edged brushes, use hard edged brushes with low opacity and flow. If you are using a tablet and a program with pressure sensitivity, set opacity and flow to pressure.  Then use patience and build up your colors slowly.

If you don't know how to do this, post and tell me what program you use, and I can help you find the settings and maybe post some screen shots.

If you want to take this a step further you can get yourself some nice custom brushes that simulate what you were probably trying to achieve with fuzzy brushes (gradual color changes). But those require knowing the software a little more. For the time being, a basic hard-edged round brush with low opacity is your best friend.

Rule #2: Dodge/Burn are The Evil

OK, so this may have changed a little in Photoshop CS4, because they gave you the option to have dodge/burn not change the hue, but even as it is it still has problems. And as with rule #1, there will eventually be times when you can break this rule.  I know some people who break it with impunity and create goooorgeous art, but they are the exception, not the norm.

Dodge and burn are not good tools for shading and lightening your art. They produce odd colors and things look fake.

If you want a simple way to create darks and lights, take advantage of layers. Create a layer set to "multiply" and draw your shadows on that layer (using the same as your base color). Create a layer set to "screen" and draw your highlights on that.  It won't help you produce photorealistic shading, but it can look attractive and save you time.  

Rule #3: The internet can teach you how to draw

The internet is full, and I say FULL, of digital art tutorials. Deviant Art is especially full. I mean, seriously, you have no idea.  It's glorious.  And that site is only the beginning.

If you want to do something and you are not sure how, go to deviantart.com and search on it. "coloring skin tutorial", "fire tutorial", "chainmail tutorial", etc etc. There are soooo many generous, talented people out there giving advice on how to use digital art programs.

[mischievous_valkyrie]

Wanted to bring this back to the front pages because one of these days when I finally locate my Tablet pen I will start attemtping to color digitally lol but still excellent advice for the Digital artist

[Wildfire]

I've actually wondered for a while.. Why are the fuzzy brushes forbidden? I've been reading a lot of tutorials lately, and many of them use fuzzy brushes (some of them use smudge/blur tools as well) so I've been a bit confused as to why not 'cause I've stuck with your rules for a long time now, so I haven't experimented with the fuzzy brushes yet.

(Also, smudging feels like cheating. Is it?)

[Foxeye]

I'm not sure I'm the best person to explain it, because it's mostly a gut reaction for me (backed up by what the digital "masters" say).  Many would use the words "fake" or "too digital", but I'm not sure those are accurate, because sometimes something can look great that also fits into those categories.  All I can say is that I don't like how it looks when I use them (except in a few cases), and 90% of the time I see it in other people's art it is not aesthetically pleasing.  Most of the artists that I admire express the same sentiment.

That said....if you are starting to ask that question, then it's time maybe you *should* experiment with them.  There is a time and a place to use them, just as there is with dodge and burn.  If the results of a tutorial look like something you'd want your art to be, then the steps they take to get there are valid.  

There are some artists who do some gorgeous things with "fuzzy" brushes.  

As for smudging...I'm of the opinion that there is no cheating in art, unless it's cheating yourself.  In other words, if you find a quicker way to achieve great results, then use it! But try the harder way at some point, so that 1) you have had the chance to learn and 2) you know for sure that you really do like the results of the easier way better (or as much).  Personally I think that smudging as it comes in most art progs is pretty icky. It never looks as nice as when I have the patience to do my own blending with a low-opacity brush.   But then I found a custom smudge brush at conceptart.org, and I began to reevaluate the tool.

[Afke]

Lol, I smudge traditional art as well, usually with my fingers (I hate those paper-made blenders), so why not digitally. It's just a material, and you use it to gain a certain effect, to bring out on paper/screen what you had in your mind. Just try everything out and see what works best for you!

[Wildfire]

Hmm, alright. Thanks for answering ^_^

I think I'll try out the fuzzy brushes and see how it goes But wouldn't they be useful for blending on low opacity? Hard brushes always leave lines (But that might of course just be because I've got to learn to blend the colors better xD)

I read in a book about traditional art once, that smudging was a big no-no. So I've stayed clear of it since, but I've seen tons of artists use it succesfully, so perhaps it was just a beginners thing. "Learn to shade properly first, and then smudge". I know that I abused smudging with horrible results when I was younger! xD

[Foxeye]

But wouldn't they be useful for blending on low opacity?

They might be.   Rules are made to be broken, after all.

My favorite brush isn't actually a basic round hard one. It's a custom brush for PS made by Marta Dahlig (I love many of hers), that has nice jagged edges, so it does blend rather nicely, though it doesn't avoid the "line" problem completely.

Linky - it's the first one in that set

[Afke]

I read in a book about traditional art once, that smudging was a big no-no. (..) "Learn to shade properly first, and then smudge".

Haha, well I think everyone has their own rules like that, and 'professionals' might have even more. "Learn" could be placed before many of the things, and it's all true (like, learn to draw from life before you make up fantasy proportions and all that).
Even though I use Photoshop myself, I often felt digital art is 'cheating', since you can take your steps back and erase faults like they never happened. That don't mean it's not a super handy tool, and a tool is all what it is.
Like cheap materials, apparantly using them is 'evil', but I'm not wealthy and I think it's about what you create, not with which tools.

[Wildfire]

They might be.   Rules are made to be broken, after all.

My favorite brush isn't actually a basic round hard one. It's a custom brush for PS made by Marta Dahlig (I love many of hers), that has nice jagged edges, so it does blend rather nicely, though it doesn't avoid the "line" problem completely.

Linky - it's the first one in that set

Ooo, nifty! I think I'll try these out, thanks! I've only used the default hard brushes with different opacity until very recently, so I'm pretty new at brushes xD

[Wildfire]

Haha, well I think everyone has their own rules like that, and 'professionals' might have even more. "Learn" could be placed before many of the things, and it's all true (like, learn to draw from life before you make up fantasy proportions and all that).
Even though I use Photoshop myself, I often felt digital art is 'cheating', since you can take your steps back and erase faults like they never happened. That don't mean it's not a super handy tool, and a tool is all what it is.
Like cheap materials, apparantly using them is 'evil', but I'm not wealthy and I think it's about what you create, not with which tools.

Haha, that might be true. It's very easy for a beginner to listen to one set of rules and then stick with them for far too long. I know that I did...

About Photoshop, yeah I agree. I've begun drawing traditionally again after years of only drawing digitally and I've learned so much. I'm far too dependent on the "undo" tool and moving things around by copy/paste so I'm going to rectify that now!

Horray for learning processes! xD

[Foxeye]

BTW, it just occured to me that this:

Details

...is an example of someone who has harnessed the power of the Fuzzy Brush in a way that works. I'd probably have sharpened up the edges on the gold hairpiece, but otherwise it's brilliant.  The key, I think, is to 1) have a style that specifically goes for that "glowy" look, where you still use low opacity and 2) to follow it up with a hard brush to keep edges defined where they need to be defined.