Hello and welcome to my little musing page.

I'll be using this as more explanation on my art.

If you want to see more of my art please visit http://tavisharts.kamiki.net

My philosphy on coloring.

I tend to do a lot of coloring. So I wanted to share a bit on my philosophy on coloring.

I don't use black for shadows 90% of the time.

The reason for this is that it desaturated a work. Also it's easier to convey a time of day as well as bring forth a color scheme if you actually choose a color to shade with.

To kind of give you an example
Green shadow
Red shadow
Orange shadow
And my favorite color to use as a shadow: purple

Now this isn't to say I don't use black as a shadow. Its just that the color scheme HAS to have black/gray as a main color before you see me do it.
Example
Now even in this one blue is a main color in the shadow. You just get to see more grays in the shadows because the color scheme is actually gray, blue and yellow.

The color scheme is actually more important than the actual color a person/thing is suppose to be.

I have absolutely no qualms about making a person green or purple if thats part of the color scheme.
example: warning(blood/violence)

As you can see here the color scheme is green, purple and brown. As you can see everything there (even the "blue" in the picture) has purple and green in it. The blood is purple because red would break the color scheme. I actually refuse to use a color thats outside my chosen pallet.

A really good example of how little I tend to heed the true coloring for the sake of the color scheme can be seen in a collaboration I did.

I was chosen as the colorist for a mini comic on gaia
Story written by: Draike woode
art by: the frogger
Inking by: plushie heartless
coloring by : me

page5
page 6
page 7
page 8
page9

As you can see at times Meredith's (the red head) hair goes from red to pure purple in some panels. Also their skin will sometimes be purple or green depending on the lighting. Every page and almost every panel they are colored differently.

I recommend this insane coloring to others as well. In truth when you color the audience is in a state of suspended disbelief. So you can make things all sorts of colors and the viewer won't have a problem with it. Its really a lot of fun.

Theres also a lot of psychology that goes on with how you can get your viewers to see a purple person as being normal and completely healthy.
You can read a little bit of it here.
http://www.designmatrix.com/pl/cyberpl/cic.html
The perception is always more important than the actual color. So don't be afraid to try some crazy colors.