Trying to improve colors

[unreal wadi]

I was told my colors are too homogenized and lacked contrast. So I've been trying to improve that

Still confused by the contrast and complementary stuff people were saying

Among other things, I'm still trying to become more adequate

[unreal wadi]

Ive been told more advice and now im more confused

it just doesnt make sense

This is just something ive heard consistently that my colors lacked contrast

Im aware of the concept. Im aware of what colors contrast one another.

I dont understand HOW though

How would I incorporate the blue into the hair

how would I incorporate that yellow / green into the dark blue

Ive just been told "just add the color" but that doesnt help me comprehend how it is its supposed to be incorporated

The way people talk about it make it feel like im doing things completely wrong by not implementing this technique i dont even completely understand

[pastel otter]

Idk who told you that but I feel like your color work is good

You going for the classic anime color style? It looks pretty close to it. Two tone and highlights .

We're you trying to go into more colorful style?

[unreal wadi]

Ive been thinking about it but I dont know how to go about it

but even when I wasnt this is still something commonly told to me

Looking at this, I may have gotten a little too upset

[pastel otter]

You change the over all color of the shading one way. here's one example of contrasting colors . It looks kinda like a gradient right

A more difficult example

[pastel otter]

You play around with color basically

[unreal wadi]

Looks like a yellow to an orange to a pinkish red

[void hatch]

Color is light. Think about what if the light source has different color, or the tiny reflective light from the skirt (blue) onto the sock (white)

Reflective light from the hair (orange) to the face skin

Many people just add a bit of tinge into the edge of the shadow to make it looks more interesting

Contrast also come from the difference of value which can be made clear with just brightness

Make the shade darker and the highlight brighter and you'll see

[unreal wadi]

how would that look though? would that be in the shaows of the white part that the blue would reflect into ow would it go into more than that

[void hatch]

Depends on the position of objects. In this case, it would be reflected onto the back part of the sock and show as a super thin overcoat if i am the painter, but you should just add a layer and try it out to see if it works tho

[unreal wadi]

so a sort of outline?

[void hatch]

Maybe?

I'm not the best when it comes to digital painting tho I recommend just add a bit and see how you would like it or not

Another method as I said is increase the value contrast. The green hair clip looks like it can be interesting, but the brightness value is too close to that part of her hair so the green didn't stand out at all.

[unreal wadi]

So would it be something like this then?

I also did a little draft of adding a little of that blue you were talking about

I'm still not too sure about it

[void hatch]

Hmm I think that's all I've got to say for 'add more color contrast'. But if you just want to have a better focal point, which in this case maybe her face, then you can try making it more obvious by make the focal area high contrast and the not focused area low contrast. There are several methods for this too by adjust values or edge control. I'm not that good at a point I can just directly tell you a solution to fix it, but you can try to explore the methods I tell you.

And maybe if you have a sample of the better contrast art effect that you desire, I can help you a bit to look into what you can do to achieve similar effect

[unreal wadi]

i really like how ASK does her colors

[void hatch]

Are you familiar with value composition?

[unreal wadi]

thats not a familiar term

[void hatch]

For this drawing specifically, do you want to try add anything to the background? Or you just want to leave it white?

[unreal wadi]

white

i didnt plan for a background

[void hatch]

Can you fill the background with a neutral color? To see what is the part that pop out the most. The white in the back distract our eyes from the real highlight of the drawings.

[rugged charm]

Hii, cute drawing. Sorry if this is a bit out of topic and its not what you're asking for. But my vision tells me her neck is facing the wrong way compare to her body, also the coloring on her head/hair compare to the body has a different style.
Which leads me to wonder if her head is traced or heavily referenced. Now server rule is that traced images should include the original image and credit to the artist, but if its referenced I would still advice to post the referenced image aswell. Cus it would help the others who are trying to help you to understand what kind of coloring style you're trying to achieve.
If what Im saying is all wrong, feel free to correct me. Oh also if you are using reference image I would advice to use one that is closer to what you're trying to achieve with angle/body pose/coloring etc.

As for coloring, I see that you have a quite dark skin shadow on her neck, but that color is then nowhere else seen on other body parts, so I would recommend to use the color more to have a higher contrast of dark/light colors. Hope it helps!

[unreal wadi]

I dont trace anything. Never likedv doing that for things I post.

And as for the head/ hair/ I always draw it like that. If anything, the inverse would be more true (not that I'm saying it is). It's moreso I haven't fully understood the process of something complex like clothing to the same capacity I have with the clothes

But I did reference this image from Mika pikazo, but nothing was traced.

There was another I used for the legs but I couldn't find it. But that was an actual photo.

Looking at it, I think I followed the neck portion too closely when they werent in the same orientation to begin with

But for hair Ive always done some variation if this

[rugged charm]

Thank you for taking the time to reply 🙇 Huge appreciation! And thx for the reference image, cus now I can use it to hopefully help you. Take what fits for your drawing, my demonstration is not absolute, so you be the judge. Sorry if I offended you, just stupid me trying to understand. Thank you again!

I made both yours and Mika Pikazos (studying Pikazo a bit) drawing black and white, to focus solely on contrast, and we wont be comparing how yellow/pink/orange/red.etc things are.
Pikazos range from darkest to lightest on skin has a bigger range than yours, therefore we need to expand the range (in this case I went for darker) to match it how Pikazos does it. You can check this with other reference image that you want to learn from as well.
I would also advice you to learn how shadow/light works on objects, to further understand where you should place shadow/light. Example on her arm is missing a casted shadow on her shirt, compare to light direction.

Hope it helps, and feel free to ask question of my explanation. Also I have no clue what "homogenized" means tried to google it and Im getting milk...

Oh I would also recommend to align her hamster ears, as right side should be facing us more and not left

[unreal wadi]

I do appreciate the help. This was pretty informative

There isn't much to get worked up over since it was just a question