Nice Haircut, Buddy

These are some detail shots of the new wallpaper over at Boxer Hockey. They show a little technique I’ve started to use in some of my coloring jobs to make pictures not look so flat.  When most people color in a simple cel style we break up colors into different areas and this can make everything look a little stale.  In real life colors are always bouncing off each other and reflecting on each other, especially when the lights get brighter.  So something I do is I bleed a little of the surrounding colors onto each other if appropriate.  Like Crystal’s skin onto the frog, or a little of the surfboard’s blue onto Ryan’s armpit and the red of her sarong, etc.  I do this by just selecting the area and putting a very faint gradient onto the shade layer.  It’s a really subtle touch but it’s something that can bring a palette together.  Try giving it a shot!