Colorizing Black and White Sketches: Techniques and Tips

Effective color application in sketches requires research, experimentation, and careful blending to create mood and vibrancy.

### Transforming Black and White Sketches into Vibrant Color Landscapes
* 🎨 In this video, I demonstrate how I **added color to four previously sketched landscapes**, encouraging viewers to check my last video for context.
* 🖌 I aim to keep this video **slower-paced**, focusing on my **actual painting speed** rather than rushing through the process, which lasts about **40 minutes**.
* 🔍 The process of coloring involves **fine-tuning and tweaking**, using tools like the **color range tool** and **magic wand** to select areas effectively.
* 💡 I utilize layer blending modes and adjustment layers throughout the video, emphasizing the **importance of experimenting with these tools** to **enhance the vibrancy of my sketches**.
* 🌈 Researching color schemes is crucial; I draw inspiration from various sources, including **landscapes and other artists' works**, to inform my color choices.
* 🌞 The mood and atmosphere are shaped by my color selections, with **warm colors in the light** and **cooler tones in the shadows** to create **depth and drama**.
* 📸 I highlight the significance of lighting in setting the mood, using **dramatic lighting to evoke feelings of grandeur and warmth** in my landscapes.
* 🖥 As I continue to work on new content, I remind viewers to always **reference and study colors and lighting in other media** to enhance their artistic skills.

So, in my last video, I showed you how I sketched these four landscapes here. And if you want to see that before seeing this next part, then you should probably click the link down there in the description first so you can see what I did there. If you're coming from that video, hello there. Um, let's not muck about. Let's just get into it. Here are the quick color setups that I've added to these four sketches, and I'm going to go over the tools that I've used to do this. In this video, I've tried to not speed this video up so much, and hopefully this time I'm not as close to the microphone as I was in my last one because I was a little bit, like, a little bit too close. So, um, yeah. But anyway, I haven't tried to speed this up too much, and, uh, even though it is still 40 minutes long, hopefully that's mostly because it's closer to my actual painting speed. I think as you'll watch this, you'll realize that this way of adding color to

a black and white image is really a process of fine-tuning. You'll see me tweaking what I have a lot, slowly back and forth, trying to find what works based on a general idea I've got from the reference I'm looking at and the kind of color scheme that I'm trying to get to. I'm not going to ramble as much in this video, and I'm just going to get on with it, even though I've already been rambling quite a bit already. Hopefully, from my previous video, you can see what I'm doing with selecting parts of the image using the color range tool and, you know, the magic wand and things like that. So, if you're confused about what I'm doing with that, I do recommend you go and watch my previous video so you can get more of a heads-up on all that stuff if you're confused about it. Overall, in this video, you'll see me mostly using layer blending modes and adjustment layers, all tweaked with opacity controls. I'll also be painting a lot too.

as this isn't just about adding a wash of color over your black and white sketches. I'll be using a similar workflow to my last video, where I'll be selecting these areas of value that I've already set out and then adding color into them in various ways. [Music] I've attached a layer to the base sketch using a clipping mask, and a clipping mask is a layer that can be used on top of another layer to paint into the boundaries of said layer. It's a good way of not ruining your work but also keeping things within a certain layer. I explained clipping masks in my landscape tutorial video, and yes, again, feel free to check that out, but here's a quick overview anyway. Make a new layer above a previous layer and right-click the top layer, and then choose Create Clipping Mask. One of the main things that I'll really be using throughout this process are layer blending modes, and I'm using them straight away here. You can see them over on the right layer palette at the top of the layer palette.

back to blending modes for a little bit, though um to really get that punchy and glowy look that um I tend to rely on quite a lot in my paintings um. We'll be using the contrast-heavy blending modes, and these are the ones uh like overlay, soft light, and hard light. And I know I said I wasn't going to ramble, but apparently here I am doing that exact thing. So, a bit of a side note to that. Photoshop's and live blending modes can be a really confusing set of things to get your head around um. There are a ton of mathematical equations that are behind each mode, meaning that each of them can have a really varying effect on your paintings. I don't really think it's necessary to sit down and religiously learn all the little intricate details behind these modes um. I think you kind of have to have an idea about you know a general idea what they do to paintings, but like as I said, the mathematical background to all these is uh to me really confusing, and I'm just a

bit stupid, so I find it best just to experiment and to see what each of these layer blending modes does when you apply them to your painting. Obviously, you have to have a general idea about what you are doing with these, and I will get on to more of that in a bit. But if you're like me, you probably learn in a more visual way, and the more you play with things like this, the more you'll understand what each of them does. For a quick breakdown, modes like overlay and soft lights are generally known as their contrast layers. These essentially help you make your images pop a bit more by increasing the contrast in the areas that you're painting. Overlay was one of those layer modes that I used to use all the time when I was starting out because it would make this overblown look to things, um, and it wasn't exactly a good look, but it was still really cool to play with at least, and I felt like it had added this kind of, I don't, I can't really explain it, this level of uh

glow or intensity, something like that. I mean, look at these old things I did here. I used overlay far too much, and because of that, there's uh, so much white space and loads of really dark blacks everywhere. Um, when you increase the contrast so much, you lose so much detail, and dare I say, a nuance. Obviously, these modes need to be used carefully and sparingly, because if not, you'll ruin the values of the base sketch, and you'll end up like me 10 years ago, and you don't want to be like that. When you use overlay effectively with a soft brush and strong color, you'll find it'll start to make this really nice glowy and boosting effect to your work, and you'll be pushing the eye more towards a point in the painting. That's why when I do use, I mostly use it around areas where the focal point is going to be, just to give it that little extra bit of pop, but obviously, again, I use this very sparingly. Well, now I do anyway. So, unfortunately, there isn't one big secret.

to turning your black and white sketches into color ones. Um, using things like blending modes, etc., will help you create more vibrant pieces, but without proper direction, these are going to be pretty useless. And if you've watched my videos up to now, you probably know what I'm getting at and where I'm going with this. The way that you'll effectively be able to make pleasing color schemes is to research them first. This means that you should be looking at reference, and this can be anything. When I say reference, I mean things like color grading in movies, artwork made by other artists, real-life photos from real life, and things like that. Finding color schemes and setups in other media is the first step to learning how to apply color to your own work. Putting down random colors without really thinking about why usually won't lead to a successful painting, so you should have an idea for a color scheme planned out first. These first two sketches, for example, I was looking at places like Monument Valley in the USA, as well as a number of other cool pieces.

of artwork that I've seen on ArtStation. I've tried to build up a visual library in my head of how I want the scene to be colored by researching how the area actually looks in certain lighting setups while also seeing how other artists have utilized color in their own work as well. A lot of the time, I'll be really inspired by a really bright and bold sketch that I've seen somewhere, like on Instagram or something like that, and I'll want to then go and paint something really similar to that in my own style, referencing the cool colors they've used or the kind of nice style that they're going for, or I'll save it in my references folder for something else down the line. What I mean is you should normalize collecting and researching cool images that inspire you to make similar things and then draw from them. So, I did touch on this a little bit at the beginning, but hopefully, you didn't come into this video thinking that when you color in a black and white image.

like this um that you'll just be adding in really easy washes of color and you know adjustment layers and all that kind of stuff because unfortunately in this workflow anyway there is still a lot of painting to be done. You can see that I'm selecting areas and then using specific colors on them um things like blue in the shadows warm oranges and yellows and the light and I'm still using my brush tool to paint into the scene. I'm using relatively broad strokes of color but at the same time I'm trying not to just wash one color over an entire area in a soft brush and call it done. You can leave the big soft brush strokes until the end when we're adding in atmosphere and lighting changes and stuff like that. I'm trying to add in vibrancy to a dull or black and white image and I want it to look colorful and unlike the base sketch as much as possible by using things like brush pressure opacity um that's hard to say and uh color dynamics in my brush settings.

I'm trying to vary the vibrancy of the color that I'm putting down. You've got to think about each element in your painting as its own object and think about how that one object is being lit. And this comes again from researching your subject matter. When you do good research, you'll be able to see what kind of colors will work well. And it's not about using the exact right ones. Again, this is meant to be fun and experimental. It's about using colors that work well together to create a pleasing color scheme. There isn't an easy trick to it, unfortunately. But thankfully, as we've already set out a base sketch, we've got something to work with. I tried in my last video to make a sketch that had simple forms and grouped value areas, essentially grouping areas of light and dark. This is to simplify the image and make it look more striking and graphic and just a bit bolder. And also, it's to make the whole process easier, which I like, including the coloring part that we're doing now.

we've already set up the guidelines of where to put the color. We just now need to do that and put it down. We're trying to continue with the simplified nature of the base sketch and put down sketchy blocks of color, trying to retain that graphic look that we're going for. An important way to think about these sketches is to think about them as a whole instead of just focusing on one area and working out from there. I'm trying to keep as zoomed out as I can so I can see the entire sketch. I started with an overall color shift at the start of the video, but then I moved on to creating the blocks of color that you can now see here. As you start building these blocks of color up, helped by your base sketch underneath, we'll start to see the piece coming together as a whole, and you'll start to see how these strong colors might be affecting the overall color composition and value. Our color choices should be in line with the sketch and the reference that we've gathered. I'm making sure that my focal point, the

lit area of that main rock is lit in a bright and warm yellow, which then complements the colder surroundings that are in the shadow. What I mean by that, and what I'm trying to get on to now, is that I'm trying to create mood and atmosphere. Another quick side note though, um, I seem to be doing quite a lot of them. You can see here that I'm using overlay and soft light blending modes to give that warm glow. I'm trying to replicate the sun bouncing off of the rock. I'm using warm oranges and reds to do this, and I'm only doing this now as it's towards the end of my process of this sketch, and I don't want to now go back and paint over that nice glow effect that I've got going on. I've also used the linear dodge, uh, in brackets add blending mode too, with a really bold red here, and I've done this to get those reds burning into the shadows. I'm trying to hint at the idea of the sunlight bouncing and reflecting into

those shadows. I feel like this is a really good thing to remember to do to add vibrancy. Um, as long as it obviously makes sense. So, mood and atmosphere in paintings is a very subjective thing, and I'm not referring to atmospheric perspective here either. The way I'm trying to choose my color and lighting and the way I've already set up my sketches previously is to try and portray a certain mood. Certain color schemes and subject matter in lighting setups and compositions will lead a painting to have a very particular mood, and this is something you can see everywhere in other media and in real life. Certain environments will have a feeling to them depending on what you're trying to get across. One of the easiest ways to explain what I mean is this: imagine that there's a picture of a sunny day and a picture of an overcast day in your mind next to each other. What elements of each day portray a mood to you? As this is subjective again, we all see things a little bit differently, but

To me, a picture of a sunny day would conjure up feelings of warmth and happiness, and energy, and you know, just being, just you know, quite nice feelings. And obviously, conversely to that, an overcast day to me would be a bit gloomy, cold, and a bit sad, a bit like England where I live. The colors you would use to portray a sunny day, yellows, reds, and the deep blue for the sky, set up an idea of the kind of mood a place like that has. This is something that we have kind of ingrained into us anyway from movies and media, and like general ideas of what certain colors mean to us. For example, gray and blue colors tend to be more downbeat; they might evoke feelings of sadness or dullness. Green colors tend to symbolize nature and life. The colors that I'm using for these sketches are mostly on the warm side of the color wheel. For the areas that are in light, I'm using yellows and oranges and warm greens. The warm greens come a little bit later.

on these don't help to build mood alone though, and it's the offset of colors I'm using in the shadow areas that help to build an overall feel of drama and scale, and then eventually, hopefully, a nice mood to them. I'm using cooler purples and blues in the shadows to hint at the sky color seeping into these shadows, but also to add in color contrast to the warm focal areas. It's this offset that I'm trying to accomplish, which will hopefully build the mood I want to get across—almost moody and shadowy environments that are punctuated with strong rays of light and vibrancy, hopefully creating a feeling of grandeur and warmth in the environment. But more so than just color, that lighting in a piece will help set the mood even more. Lighting is one of those ways that I try to use the most to create mood in my work. I usually try to go for quite shadowed environments, with one area in particular being here, like I just mentioned, trying to hint at something a bit more fantastical going

on with dramatic lighting. Dramatic lighting conjures up these feelings of grandeur to me, and that's the kind of mood and atmosphere I want for these sketches. Mood and atmosphere, again, is something that's very subjective, but it's something that you can research in other media to see how you want to get across a feeling to the viewer. If I was going to create a, you know, like a moody horror scene of zombies and all that kind of stuff, I would stick to desaturated blues and grays with a high contrast. I would use lots of dark space or lots of dark colors to get across a spooky and gloomy mood. Looking at examples of color grading in movies and, like, different color palettes that different shots in movies use is a great way to see how you can use color and light to portray a certain mood. Creating good color schemes and lighting goes hand in hand with creating an effective mood in your sketches. So, I did say I wasn't going to ramble as much in this video, so

That's why I'm going to leave it with my narration for this one, but I am working on a lot more videos now that I've got my new computer set up and I've got this lovely new microphone. So, um, this might be a little bit short, but I am working on a lot more content, and that will hopefully come out a little bit quicker than these ones have. I'll let the video play out now, um, and as I said, I've made sure to not speed this up as I usually have, so hopefully this will be a bit more clearer than some of my older videos have been. So yeah, the main thing really is to make sure to remember to be looking at ref, not just when you're adding color to a black and white image like this, like all the time. Hopefully, there is something in the rest of this process video that you can find useful, and I will see you next time. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Greyscale to Colour Tutorial: Digital Painting Landscape

Jordan Grimmer

The video demonstrates the process of adding color to four landscape sketches, emphasizing a fine-tuning approach.

The creator uses tools like the color range tool, magic wand, layer blending modes, and adjustment layers, along with painting, to achieve the desired color scheme.

A clipping mask is employed to paint within the boundaries of the base sketch, ensuring the work remains organized and intact.

Using Blending Modes for a Punchy and Glowy Look

Contrast-heavy blending modes like overlay, soft light, and hard light are key for achieving a punchy and glowy effect in paintings.

The mathematical equations behind these modes can be confusing, so experimenting with them visually is a more effective learning method.

Using overlay and soft light sparingly can enhance contrast and create a glowing effect, while also drawing attention to the focal point in the painting.

Turning Black and White Sketches into Color

Blending modes can enhance the vibrancy of color in sketches, but proper direction is essential.

Researching color schemes from various references, such as movies, artwork, and real-life photos, is crucial for successful color application.

The process involves selecting specific colors for different areas and using brush dynamics to add vibrancy, rather than relying solely on soft washes.

The key to achieving vibrant colors in painting is to treat each element as its own object and consider how it's being lit.

Good research on the subject matter helps in choosing complementary colors for a pleasing color scheme.

Using a base sketch with simple forms and grouped value areas simplifies the process and creates a bold, graphic look, while sketchy blocks of color are applied to build the overall composition and mood.

Creating Mood and Atmosphere in Paintings

The mood and atmosphere in paintings are subjective and can be influenced by color schemes, lighting, and composition.

Different environments and weather conditions evoke distinct feelings, with warm colors representing happiness and energy, while cool colors suggest gloominess and sadness.

The use of color contrast and shadowing, along with strategic lighting, helps to build drama and create a vibrant, grandiose mood in the artwork.

The Importance of Dramatic Lighting in Sketches

Dramatic lighting is crucial for creating a mood and atmosphere in sketches, with different color palettes and contrasts used to convey specific feelings.

Researching color grading in movies can provide inspiration for effective mood portrayal.

Consistently referencing colors and lighting is key to achieving the desired atmosphere in artwork.