art

Webcomic Color Palettes

As I am working on defining my particular drawing style, I’ve been noticing that many webcomic artists use a very particular color palette that helps differentiate and define their comic. As I try to define what I might want my own webcomics to look like, I decided to compile a sheet of all my favorite webcomic’s color palettes. I thought I’d share it here in case anyone else was interested. Disclaimer: this is not an extensive list of every single color ever used in every single one of their webcomics, but it is enough to give me a good idea of their color palette.

These are all webcomic’s that I follow or have followed and I highly recommend all of them. Most of them can either be found on the Webtoon app or the TinyView app but some have their own websites such as The Oatmeal.

Some of them like Art by Moga and Strange Planet by Nathan Pyle have, what seem to me, very clear color palettes. Interestingly enough, these are also the two comics that use something other than pure black for their line work. I recently experimented with this for the first time while drawing a character from The Book of Mistakes by Corinna Luyken and I really liked it – I feel that it adds an extra layer of interest. Perhaps that’s why they have such clearly defined color palettes? Any color looks good with a black line but not every color looks good with brown line work or a deep blue-pink line.

Many of the webcomics use black and white almost exclusively and use color as just an accent. It also appears that many of them just use whatever color best fits the comic they happen to working on at the time although most of the time they do lean more towards a certain saturation (i.e. more pastels or more bright colors).

Personally, I can see how a defined color palette could be quite freeing but I can also see how it would be restricting. So the moral of the story is: do what you want and what you like the best because if you don’t like the colors you are working with, you won’t actually enjoy drawing.

Sketchbook Snapshot: Children’s Book Characters

Got to do a couple more character drawings from some children’s books that my kiddo and I have been reading lately. Both books were a lovely read. <3

Comic #4: COVID-19 Vaccines

I’ve been *sob* waiting so long *sob sob sob* to be able to post this *sob sob sob.*

4 panel comic titled COVID-19 Vaccines. 
Panel 1: an excited smiley face with the words "After reading that scientists were developing a COVID-19 vaccine..."
Panel 2: an excited smiley face with the words "After my older & immunocompromised friends & family were vaccinated..."
Panel 3: an excited smiley face with the words "After my husband & I and adult family & friends were vaccinated..."
Panel 4: a sobbing face that's saying "I'm *sob* so *sob* HAPPY!" with the words "After my kiddo was vaccinated..."
So grateful to be able to get my young kiddo vaccinated. *sob sob sob*

Comic #3: Kids COVID-19 Vaccine Approval

Me, this morning, realizing that the CDC is meeting today to (hopefully) approve Pfizer COVID-19 Vaccines for the 5-11 age group. The vote is scheduled for 4:15pm ET/3:15pm CT and I am literally counting down the hours.

Two panel comic. 
Panel 1: A man and woman are sleeping in bed when their alarm goes off at 7am. 
Panel 2: The woman is awake right away and says to her bewildered and wide eyed husband "Wake up honey! It's CDC day!"
Happy CDC Day to you!

Sketchbook Snapshot: Newt Scamander

I’ve been wanting to do this drawing and accompanying quote since the first Fantastic Beasts movie came out. YEARS later and I’m finally getting to it. XD It was great for practicing shadows, my lines, and just getting used to all the tools on Rebelle 4.

A watercolor painting with black ink lines of Newt Scamander from the Fantastic Beasts movie. He has brown hair, brown eyes, light skin and a gray jacket with the collar popped. He also has a navy bowtie, white button up shirt and a tan vest over his shirt. There are words in cursive that say "My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice. - Newt Scamander"
Made on Rebelle 4 with watercolor, pastels, airbrush, ink, and acrylic. And the glorious Undo button. 😉