i havent yet run out of color schemes for the same fucking scenario of "lantern lighting nighttime". protip do not set like 50% of your script at night if you are writing about a society that doesnt have the lightbulb yet. you will have to get creative.
Hullo, I'm an #ArtistOnTwitter . I don't post much these days because i'm keeping my head down and working on a graphic novel, but i'm still kicking around !
I handpick my colors, because I like the control that gives me + allows me to use repeated colors for shadows. I will use multiply layers if I feel stuck, though, and then use them to generate ideas! Here's a side-by-side of my handpicked colors (first) vs multiply layers (rest)
And, lastly ... a rough plan for shading. I like the look of pages with flats alone, and some of my pages dont have any shading, but I think it's really helpful in situations where the light source isn't the sun at high noon or what have you
I flip the canvas, clean up the linework, then start laying down flats. Color choices can and do change here! I try to repeat colors as much as I can for a cohesive color scheme.
Also, while we're here - a side-by-side example of using white for his tunic vs light yellow. For the style/tone I'm going for, I think the yellow helps really sell the scene and the warmth of the room
Anyway, after I've put in the general background, character, and light colors, I'll add accent colors, which in this case I decided to have be greens and blues (complementary colors to the background color is a good idea usually)
For colors that are entirely outside the wavelength of the lightsource color (SORRY THIS IS HOW I THINK OF IT), then what happens is, they wont be able to reflect the light, and they'll become MASSIVELY desaturated. An example is the green on this guy's coat
The next step is to fill in "canonical" colors, such as the woman's clothes and skin. I never just use the eyedrop tool (left) though, I always manipulate them in the direction of the lightsource color - meaning oranges and reds become more orange and red here