Tutorial: coloring in Photoshop
So why do a tutorial on computer coloring? well, I'd seen a few other ones around and while they were all very good, none of them were the way that I colored. I don't think that's a bad thing at all - just as each artist has their own style when it comes to drawing, I believe there are also many different styles of coloring - but I thought that maybe somebody out there would be interested in seeing how I go about it.
A few things to keep in mind with this tutorial:
* I suck as a teacher. I usually assume that everyone knows what I know. I tried to keep in mind that not everyone works with Photoshop as often as I do but there may be a few places where I could've gone into more detail.
* I meant for this to be a very basic guide to coloring so I *didn't* go into a lot of detail for most of it on purpose. I'm not trying so much to show you how I colored this piece as I am trying to show how to go about coloring any piece.
* I use Adobe Photoshop 7 on a PC. If you're on a Mac and/or using a different version of Photoshop, a few things may be a little different, such as shortcuts and where things are located, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. If you're using a completely different program, well...there's not much I can do about that, but I think I've left this basic enough that you can adapt it.
* I like to work in layers. Not as many as some, but I do like them. No matter how I'm coloring a piece - whether it's a simple cartoonish coloring style or a more detailed painterly one - each one has three basic layers that I work on: the flats, the shadows, and the highlights. Obviously, the more detailed and fancy I get with a drawing, the more layers I use. However many layers you use is up to you and how organized and anal-retentive you want to be. Another good reason to use layers is so if you mess up in one layer, you can erase it without worrying about screwing up everything else.
okay, I drew this picture completely on the computer but let's pretend that it had been drawn and inked on paper. Why? So I can show you a trick to getting nice, clean, and dark lineart from your scans.
First step, obviously, is to scan in the artwork. Personally, I like to scan everything at 200dpi because I find it a lot easier to color at a higher resolution. Once it's scanned in, you'll want to clean it up a little, make sure you get rid of any artifacts that might've come through when you scanned. Using the erase tool is the easiest way to do so, but you can also play with the Contrast in order to get it where you want.
Once you've got the scan ready to go, hit ctrl+A to select the entire image and copy it. Then you'll want to go into the Channels, create a new layer, and paste your artwork into there.
Then go back to Layer view and erase all your linework.
'But wait a minute? How am I going to color without my linework to guide me?'
Create another layer and go Select-->Load Selection.
Click on the drop-down for Channel and choose Alpha 1. Then check Invert and hit OK. Make sure that you're in your lineart layer and use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill the selection with black.
Now, if you've had any experience with scans before, you'll know that the blacks rarely ever scan in as dark as you'd like. So here's a little industry trick to make your lineart look darker without having to double up on layers (which can make the lines look too harsh in my opinion):
Create a new layer under your lineart layer and hit ctrl+shift+D to reload your selection. Then, instead of filling it with black again, change your foreground color to #64797D and fill it with that. This is the RGB equivalent of a standard underprinting grey color (for anyone interested, the actual CMYK formula would be 70C, 50M, 50Y, 0K).
original lineart, lineart with doubled layers, lineart with grey underprinting
Then merge the two layers together and name it 'lineart' or something similar. Then you're going to make that layer invisible.
'Hey, wait a minute! What--'
Just chill out for a second and let me explain. You now have a layer of nice and dark lineart, right? I'm going to show you how to color under that lineart without having to worry about messing it up. But the only problem with coloring under the nice, dark lineart is that - obviously - you can't see under it and in coloring you might miss a tiny spot. Now, if you're not completely anal retentive like I am, this is probably not a big deal. But if you are like me, then it's a very big deal because there's a very good chance that that one little spot will stick out like a sore thumb once you're done coloring. So if you're okay with that, just skip the next part.
Remember the Channels window? Go back to that and click the eye next to the Alpha 1 layer to make it visible. See that! Your outline is now visible enough for you to color, but not so dark that you can't see what you're doing under the lines (it should be a light red color).
Okay, now you're ready to color. Create a new layer and name it 'flats' or something similar. This is where all your basic coloring is going to go- like the name says, only flat colors; leave any sort of pattern for later. I've found that the easiest thing to do is to work from the back to the front of the picture. That is, I'll fill in the background color first - in this case, the sky - and work my way into the foreground, leaving little details like eye color and buttons for last. Use the pencil tool to outline the different areas of color and then the paint bucket tool to fill them in. Why do I use the pencil tool instead of the brush tool? Because it gives a cleaner edge, which will be very important once we get into shading and highlighting.
Create another layer above your flats and name it 'patterns'. This is where you'll put all your flat colors for any sort of patterns, scars, facial hair, or other sorts of things like that. Why have it on a separate layer from the regular flats? Because when you go to shade and highlight, you'll do so by using the wand tool to select the areas you want to work with. By keeping patterns separate, you'll save yourself a whole lot of headache. As you can see in the example, in the patterns layer for this picture I put the pattern of Remus's coat and Sirius's headband, Remus's scars, facial hair, and the little wisps of hair and feathers. When I want to shade and highlight those areas, I can just select the flat color underneath and go to work on them.
You'll need another layer above the flats and patterns layers; name it 'shadows' or something similar. Set the blending mode to multiply and use the wand tool in the flats layer to select an area to color.
IMPORTANT NOTE: after selecting the area you want to color, make sure that you go back to the shadows layer. Play around with the brush tool to find a type and size that you like, and also try changing the opacity to get the shading exactly how you want it. With this picture, I used the eye dropper tool to select the base color of each area and laid down a sort of base shadow. Then, using progressively darker shades of that color, I built up the shading.
But as you may notice, while the shading is starting to give form to the drawing, it's not really making anything pop out. For some styles of coloring, this is fine, but I want this picture to look a little more 'wow'. So my next step is to create another layer for shading, only this time I name it 'blues' and go over the shadows with a blue-grey color.
Why? Because in order to make the shadows look a more dynamic, you want to create something called a 'shadow condition'. This is a trick used by comic book colorists. You 'cool off' shadowed areas so they appear darker and more blue-toned than the surrounding areas. Since cool colors recede, the warmer areas will stand out more. Helpful hint - you don't want to use the same blue for everything. Experiment with different shades of blue on different areas until you find what works best.
Your next layer will be for highlights and it works pretty much the same as the shadows layer, except this time you'll set the blending mode to screen. And as with the shadows, play around with different combinations of brush type, opacity, and color to achieve an effect that you like.
Once you've got everything the way you want it, go to the Channels window, turn off the Alpha 1 layer, and then turn on your lineart layer and, ta da! You're all done.
see finished piece here
------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd love to hear some feedback on this, especially if you try coloring this way. And if there are any questions or other types of comments, please feel free to let me know and I'll answer as best as I can. I'm also thinking of doing a tutorial on some lighting and special effects tricks in Photoshop. Please let me know if that's something you'd be interested in. and, yes, Lori, I'll do the lineart one, too. :P
A few things to keep in mind with this tutorial:
* I suck as a teacher. I usually assume that everyone knows what I know. I tried to keep in mind that not everyone works with Photoshop as often as I do but there may be a few places where I could've gone into more detail.
* I meant for this to be a very basic guide to coloring so I *didn't* go into a lot of detail for most of it on purpose. I'm not trying so much to show you how I colored this piece as I am trying to show how to go about coloring any piece.
* I use Adobe Photoshop 7 on a PC. If you're on a Mac and/or using a different version of Photoshop, a few things may be a little different, such as shortcuts and where things are located, but it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. If you're using a completely different program, well...there's not much I can do about that, but I think I've left this basic enough that you can adapt it.
* I like to work in layers. Not as many as some, but I do like them. No matter how I'm coloring a piece - whether it's a simple cartoonish coloring style or a more detailed painterly one - each one has three basic layers that I work on: the flats, the shadows, and the highlights. Obviously, the more detailed and fancy I get with a drawing, the more layers I use. However many layers you use is up to you and how organized and anal-retentive you want to be. Another good reason to use layers is so if you mess up in one layer, you can erase it without worrying about screwing up everything else.
okay, I drew this picture completely on the computer but let's pretend that it had been drawn and inked on paper. Why? So I can show you a trick to getting nice, clean, and dark lineart from your scans.
First step, obviously, is to scan in the artwork. Personally, I like to scan everything at 200dpi because I find it a lot easier to color at a higher resolution. Once it's scanned in, you'll want to clean it up a little, make sure you get rid of any artifacts that might've come through when you scanned. Using the erase tool is the easiest way to do so, but you can also play with the Contrast in order to get it where you want.
Once you've got the scan ready to go, hit ctrl+A to select the entire image and copy it. Then you'll want to go into the Channels, create a new layer, and paste your artwork into there.
Then go back to Layer view and erase all your linework.
'But wait a minute? How am I going to color without my linework to guide me?'
Create another layer and go Select-->Load Selection.
Click on the drop-down for Channel and choose Alpha 1. Then check Invert and hit OK. Make sure that you're in your lineart layer and use the Paint Bucket Tool to fill the selection with black.
Now, if you've had any experience with scans before, you'll know that the blacks rarely ever scan in as dark as you'd like. So here's a little industry trick to make your lineart look darker without having to double up on layers (which can make the lines look too harsh in my opinion):
Create a new layer under your lineart layer and hit ctrl+shift+D to reload your selection. Then, instead of filling it with black again, change your foreground color to #64797D and fill it with that. This is the RGB equivalent of a standard underprinting grey color (for anyone interested, the actual CMYK formula would be 70C, 50M, 50Y, 0K).
original lineart, lineart with doubled layers, lineart with grey underprinting
Then merge the two layers together and name it 'lineart' or something similar. Then you're going to make that layer invisible.
'Hey, wait a minute! What--'
Just chill out for a second and let me explain. You now have a layer of nice and dark lineart, right? I'm going to show you how to color under that lineart without having to worry about messing it up. But the only problem with coloring under the nice, dark lineart is that - obviously - you can't see under it and in coloring you might miss a tiny spot. Now, if you're not completely anal retentive like I am, this is probably not a big deal. But if you are like me, then it's a very big deal because there's a very good chance that that one little spot will stick out like a sore thumb once you're done coloring. So if you're okay with that, just skip the next part.
Remember the Channels window? Go back to that and click the eye next to the Alpha 1 layer to make it visible. See that! Your outline is now visible enough for you to color, but not so dark that you can't see what you're doing under the lines (it should be a light red color).
Okay, now you're ready to color. Create a new layer and name it 'flats' or something similar. This is where all your basic coloring is going to go- like the name says, only flat colors; leave any sort of pattern for later. I've found that the easiest thing to do is to work from the back to the front of the picture. That is, I'll fill in the background color first - in this case, the sky - and work my way into the foreground, leaving little details like eye color and buttons for last. Use the pencil tool to outline the different areas of color and then the paint bucket tool to fill them in. Why do I use the pencil tool instead of the brush tool? Because it gives a cleaner edge, which will be very important once we get into shading and highlighting.
Create another layer above your flats and name it 'patterns'. This is where you'll put all your flat colors for any sort of patterns, scars, facial hair, or other sorts of things like that. Why have it on a separate layer from the regular flats? Because when you go to shade and highlight, you'll do so by using the wand tool to select the areas you want to work with. By keeping patterns separate, you'll save yourself a whole lot of headache. As you can see in the example, in the patterns layer for this picture I put the pattern of Remus's coat and Sirius's headband, Remus's scars, facial hair, and the little wisps of hair and feathers. When I want to shade and highlight those areas, I can just select the flat color underneath and go to work on them.
You'll need another layer above the flats and patterns layers; name it 'shadows' or something similar. Set the blending mode to multiply and use the wand tool in the flats layer to select an area to color.
IMPORTANT NOTE: after selecting the area you want to color, make sure that you go back to the shadows layer. Play around with the brush tool to find a type and size that you like, and also try changing the opacity to get the shading exactly how you want it. With this picture, I used the eye dropper tool to select the base color of each area and laid down a sort of base shadow. Then, using progressively darker shades of that color, I built up the shading.
But as you may notice, while the shading is starting to give form to the drawing, it's not really making anything pop out. For some styles of coloring, this is fine, but I want this picture to look a little more 'wow'. So my next step is to create another layer for shading, only this time I name it 'blues' and go over the shadows with a blue-grey color.
Why? Because in order to make the shadows look a more dynamic, you want to create something called a 'shadow condition'. This is a trick used by comic book colorists. You 'cool off' shadowed areas so they appear darker and more blue-toned than the surrounding areas. Since cool colors recede, the warmer areas will stand out more. Helpful hint - you don't want to use the same blue for everything. Experiment with different shades of blue on different areas until you find what works best.
Your next layer will be for highlights and it works pretty much the same as the shadows layer, except this time you'll set the blending mode to screen. And as with the shadows, play around with different combinations of brush type, opacity, and color to achieve an effect that you like.
Once you've got everything the way you want it, go to the Channels window, turn off the Alpha 1 layer, and then turn on your lineart layer and, ta da! You're all done.
see finished piece here
------------------------------------------------------------------
I'd love to hear some feedback on this, especially if you try coloring this way. And if there are any questions or other types of comments, please feel free to let me know and I'll answer as best as I can. I'm also thinking of doing a tutorial on some lighting and special effects tricks in Photoshop. Please let me know if that's something you'd be interested in. and, yes, Lori, I'll do the lineart one, too. :P