Any Color You Like so Long as it's Black

Here's a reason to use and save color swatches, rather than relying on eyedropping colors when coloring a comic page.

When you add a color to you color swatches, it never changes. It is constant. However, when you eyedrop colors to brush over other colors, you aren't getting the same color you started with.

To illustrate, below is an image with color blobs. Each blob starts with the same base tone. The top one had a cut airbrushed with a color selected from a swatch. The ones on the bottom row had their cuts airbrushed by eyedropping the color from the highlight of the previous blob (working left to right).

On the bottom is the original first one, side-by-side with the last one. Even when using an airbrush with 100% Opacity and 100% flow, you can see the difference between the first highlight, and the last version done by picking highlights from previous blobs.

In the info palette, at the bottom, you can see the percentages of the highlight. In the original, done by picking a color from a color swatch, you have 37C 9M 4Y. In the last one you have 67C 29M 9Y. A difference of more than double the value of the original.

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By constantly eyedropping colors from previous panels and pages, you're losing contrast and color, and things won't be consistent from page to page.

So when you're coloring, and you find a highlight/midtone/shadow color you like, add it to your color swatches, and use the swatches in your coloring! Otherwise you end up with an effect that is like watering down your paints.

As always, when you add colors to your color swatches, don't forget to save your color swatches! Just because you added a swatch doesn't mean it's permanent. It's stored temporarily, and if Photoshop or your computer crashes, all those swatches you've added will be lost.