Blue Hamster

I haven't been very good with keeping this site up to date and whilst I am busy doing my own projects and work I decided to do a quick sketch just to keep things fresh. Lately I got into gouache paint for the first time and decided to give it a trial with this Space Hamster sketch. I was pleased with the results as the paint is similar to inks but gave a painterly quality to the my image. The paint wasn't 'washy' like ink either so when it came to tweaking on Photoshop it was easier for me to select and adjust the colour. 

I think that this new medium might become a replacement to the ink washes I am accustomed with when doing tonal images.

So simple.

Today I was wondering how does a colourist for Tim Sale bring colour to his grey ink wash images and seemingly replacing the grey with the colour without losing the texture. Well today I found out the answer and a rather simple one at that. Essentially all you need is a new layer in photoshop with either the color or overlay blend and then go crazy on it and then rocket, parmesan, done. I experimented with a page from my 'The Big Sleep' adaptation and compared it to how I orginally altered the inkwash colour. Now originally I made the inkwash into a solid new colour, wiping out any brush texture that was there originally and quite frankly it took a long time to do (I am sure there was a quicker way to achieve this).
With the experiment that I did today it only took a couple of seconds and it still looks great, so I feel had I known this other method I could have saved myself a lot of grief and time. Though I have to say I like both versions for their own merits but it will be interesting to try an inkwash image and then to render the colour digitally.