Colour your fantasy figures

Having drawn and inked your fantasy figure in the previous tutorial, you now need to think about colouring it. We’ll show you the basics of using your Layers palette, as well as talk you through how to use some tools in your Tools palette, such as the Polygonal Lasso and the Elliptical Marquee. We’ll also show you how to cell-shade (colour using hard-edged shading techniques) your character while adding in a detailed background to situate your fantasy character in its own unique environment. The way colours are used in this tutorial is not only pleasing to the eye, but also brings everything together to create an effective composition. Finally, you’ll learn how to add in effects such as shadows and sparkles, which will turn your work into a polished composition that’s worthy of publication.

Expertise provided by Melissa Somerville. Melissa creates character designs for small projects between friends and computer-coloured anime-style artwork. You can contact her at messachan@hotmail.com.