Coloring Tutorial using Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0
1. So first I selected this lovely image of Gemma Ward, and opened it up.
2. To balance out the color a little, I did a few easy steps.
Enhance → Auto Smart Fix (Alt+Ctrl+M)
Enhance → Auto Color Correction (Shift+Ctrl+B)
Enhance → Auto Contrast (Alt+Shift+Ctrl+L)
Enhance → Auto Levels (Shift+Ctrl+L)
Of course, these steps (like any in here) are completely optional, but that’s just what I did. =]
4. Finally, I cropped it down to 100x100.
5. Thinking the picture lacked a little color, I upped the saturation a bit.
Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Hue/Saturation →
Hit OK
Master Saturation → +37
6. Duplicate the base layer, drag it to the top, and set it to Screen 36%
7. Add a new layer, and fill it with f5ea6c and set it to Soft Light 64%.
8. Add a new layer, and fill it with 07041e and set it to Exclusion 100%b>.
9. Add a new layer, and fill it with abe2ff and set it to Color Burn 100%b>.
10. Add a new layer, and fill it with ffa8d5 and set it to Soft Light 87%.
11. Depending on your image, you may want to add a Brightness/Contrast layer here, and turn up the contrast. I did for one of my images, but for this particular icon, I did not.
12. Go to Layer → New Adjustment Layer → Levels and set your settings like so (again, consider these as loose guidelines, all images are different!):
RGB
Input: 58, 1.18, 255
And Voila! There’s your final product! =]