This is how it's done!!!

I praised Nik for his fast learning in the realm of digital color flatting in the last post. I also promised to show examples."Flatting" is the process of apply flat colors to artwork so that it can later be "rendered". Rendering is the addition of shadows and highlights to create the illusion of shape, form and mood in color pieces.

 Good flatting and having someone else flat help the person rendering the color are by saving them time in having to mask of sections of the art. 

Nik just flatted this piece for a video we are doing for Detroit Fanfare to showcase our superhero comedy comicbook Candy Coated. This first piece is a shot of the villains.

Nik did a great job keeping things within the inked boundaries here. He also did a great job with color selection, in my opinion. Next is a shot of our heroes CANDY COATED!! I included this shot to show you the beginning of what I do with Nik's flats.

Notice the big guy. He was originally a flat color brown. I added the details to created an "animated cell style look. As you can see below we can also so other things with Nik's flatted work. Like comic book style colors; 

notice the characters top. I have rendered it using the gradation tool in photoshop on a screen setting.

I just wanted to show you guys what good flats mean and how Nik seems to be mastering the concept in such a short time. Good Job Nik!!

Mark