Adding Gradients Before Painting Shadows and Textures

Once I have all my shapes filled with flat color I will want to add some gradients to some of the shapes.

I make my gradients subtle by using 2 colors that are closely related but usually not the same hue or saturation. This gives the shapes a slight illusion of color depth rather than having only cold flat colors.

For example on the muzzle area of the bear I pick the color I used for the flat fill and for the other color I slide the cursor on the color selector slightly up or down, left or right to find a color that looks just a bit different than the first color.

2 colors show at the bottom of the tool bar

 
Then I select the shape I want to add a gradient to. 

Once selected I click the gradient tool and choose the type of gradient I want. In this case I chose the linear gradient on the left.

I then drag my cursor across the shape in whatever direction I'd like my gradient to appear.

I use this process to make a few gradients out of some of the shapes that make up my cartoon image. I generally don't fill small areas with gradients.

You can see gradients on the muzzle, the tongue, the shirt collar and the nose.

Now the image is ready for the final step - rendering shading and textures using the Photoshop brushes. 

This is a follow-up to these 2 posts below:

1 digital inking painting

2 Filling Inks with Flat Colors 

Norm McGary Golden Book Paintings and HB Nerd Time

Norm McGary is one of my favorite Golden Book painters.He has a slick style and puts just enough detail into the backgrounds and characters to give you a different experience than what you get from watching the cartoons.The cartoons have the advantage of sound and motion but are limited in how the characters can be rendered, so good Golden Books like McGary's give you extra treats in the rendering.
I like when he does the 2 color limited palette pages too.
Hawley Pratt drew these and he was lucky guy to get so many great painters to polish his rushed drawings. I think more people know his name than the painters who spent must have more time on the books.

I always wondered what the pay rates were for each job. Does the layout artist get as much as the painter? Even though the painter does the most work?
And how much does the writer get who spends half an hour writing a whole book in retarded baby-talk? I love how the writer gets top billing - as if that's what anyone buys a Golden Book for.
This Huck and Friends book has everything an HB fan could want- a bunch of favorite characters in a rocket.

And such a beautifully rendered rocket too! I used to fake sick, skip school and stare at this picture for hours and wonder how many years of intense schooling, whippings and study it would take to become a giant of the Golden Book world of painters.Sometimes McGary would use more grays and neutral colors than most cartoon painters (who tend to use too much primary and secondary colors.)
He used darker colors than the typical Golden Book.
I sometimes confuse his work with another good GB painter - whose name escapes me right now. (I think he did the Beany and Cecil Book)



I also like the way he painted all the humans' noses red, like they went around drunk everywhere.
Aww, how cute...

http://goldengems.blogspot.com/search/label/Norm%20McGary

With so many ways there used to be to paint cartoon characters, you have to wonder why this terrible style is the only one left. Does anyone like this??
I also wonder why CG films have settled on making once cute characters as ugly as possible, when there is so much reference on how to render cartoon characters as appealing as their original designs and cartoons.
Like is there a law that says if you revive a classic character, you have to make him look uglier than real life?

When do you think it was decided that cartoons should no longer appeal to the eyes and whose idea was it?

Uncle Remus by Mary Blair

They should have made some cartoons in this style.

and more Disney Friendssuch a happy style!

Hey There It's Yogi Bear 2

Hey There It's Yogi Bear by Mel Crawford

There are at least 3 different Golden book adaptations of this Yogi Bear animated feature film.
Here are some pages from the Mel Crawford version.
Mel really has a great combination of design and color.
If only the movie looked this good! (There are actually a couple good things in the movie)

Last Bamm Bamm and the Beauty Of Variations Upon A Style

Here are the last paintings from the Norm McGary book.


I love how old cartoon paintings have so many varieties of styles and approaches.Each painter will take the basic studio style-in this case Hanna Barbera, and do his own own particular variation on it.
These last 3 are Mel Crawford and use a very different approach to design and painting than the Bamm Bamm comic.

Nowadays we only have 2 cartoon illustration painting styles - the video box airbrush style, which is not a style at all, and the faux Mel Crawford Golden book style that started in the last decade and a half.

I'll post more of those Crawford books soon.

More Bamm Bamm Paintings