ICON COLORING TUTORIAL
I've been asked a number of times how I've achieved the coloring on a certain icon of mine for a while now, so I decided to write up a tutorial. I don't usually write tutorials if just for the fact that I wing most of my icons as I go, but luckily I saved the .psp file for this one. 8D
This is a Paint Shop Pro 7 tutorial, but it's easily translatable. Requires basic knowledge of PSP7 tools. This is what we'll be learning to do:
to
Here's our base of the lovely Yasuaki from Harukanaru Toki no Naka de, cropped and resized fresh outta the scanner:
Not very impressive, is it? Let's fix that! First, duplicate the base layer and set the blend mode to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Duplicate the base layer again and bring it to the top, setting it to Burn at 90% opacity to get this:
Better! Now make a new layer (Layers -> New Raster Layer) and use the Flood Fill tool to fill it in with a beige/brown color. I used #D8CABA. Set it to Multiply at 70% opacity. It should now look like this:
Now here begins the coloring process, which you just have to be patient with for detailed images. It also takes a lot of layers depending on how much of the image you want to color, so bear with me!
Alright, make a new layer. Using the Freehand tool (Selection type: Point to Point, Feather: 0, Antialias checked) select Yasuaki's hair. Don't worry about getting it perfect, you can go back and erase or fill in imperfections later. With the Flood Fill tool, fill in the selected area with #089008 and set it to Multiply at 45% opacity.
On the same layer I went in with a 1px brush tool and colored in his eyes; one with the same green and the other with #F8BF24, a yellow color. Not a big step with this sort of icon, but I like to be thorough. This is what it should look like:
Use the same basic steps of making a new layer and using the Freehand tool to select the area you wish to color with the Flood Fill tool. For brevity's sake, here are all the separately colored layers I used with blend modes and opacity settings:
Skin: #EAD5BC, Burn, 80% opacity
Face tattoo: #B8EAB8, Darken, 100% opacity
Necklace: #F8BF24, Darken, 78% opacity (I went back with the eraser tool on a low opacity and erased some of the color on the smaller beads)
Plain kimono robe: #FFFFFF, Color, 65% opacity
Patterned under-robe: #800000, Lighten, 100% opacity
Now the hard part is over! Time to zest the icon up some. On top of all of your coloring, paste the following texture by gender set to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Now it should look like this:
->
Next, use this texture by gender again, set to Soft Light at 72% opacity:
->
Yet again, another texture by gender, set to Multiply at 50% opacity. Erase the areas of the texture around Yasuaki's face and arms so he doesn't blend in as much. This is what you get:
->
Last texture, I promise. This one is from colorfilter, and should be your topmost layer set to Soft Light at 100% opacity.
->
Now Yasuaki looks a little washed out, so to finish up duplicate the base layer twice and bring both to the very top. Set one to Burn at 45% opacity and the very top layer to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Here's what the final product should look like:
Of course, you don't have to stop there. Feel free to add borders, text, or other decorations to your icon! And don't be afraid to mess around with the layer opacities to get the colors just to your liking. That's half the fun, after all. ^_~
Please let me know if you found this helpful! And feel free to share your results, I'd love to see them.
This is a Paint Shop Pro 7 tutorial, but it's easily translatable. Requires basic knowledge of PSP7 tools. This is what we'll be learning to do:
to
Here's our base of the lovely Yasuaki from Harukanaru Toki no Naka de, cropped and resized fresh outta the scanner:
Not very impressive, is it? Let's fix that! First, duplicate the base layer and set the blend mode to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Duplicate the base layer again and bring it to the top, setting it to Burn at 90% opacity to get this:
Better! Now make a new layer (Layers -> New Raster Layer) and use the Flood Fill tool to fill it in with a beige/brown color. I used #D8CABA. Set it to Multiply at 70% opacity. It should now look like this:
Now here begins the coloring process, which you just have to be patient with for detailed images. It also takes a lot of layers depending on how much of the image you want to color, so bear with me!
Alright, make a new layer. Using the Freehand tool (Selection type: Point to Point, Feather: 0, Antialias checked) select Yasuaki's hair. Don't worry about getting it perfect, you can go back and erase or fill in imperfections later. With the Flood Fill tool, fill in the selected area with #089008 and set it to Multiply at 45% opacity.
On the same layer I went in with a 1px brush tool and colored in his eyes; one with the same green and the other with #F8BF24, a yellow color. Not a big step with this sort of icon, but I like to be thorough. This is what it should look like:
Use the same basic steps of making a new layer and using the Freehand tool to select the area you wish to color with the Flood Fill tool. For brevity's sake, here are all the separately colored layers I used with blend modes and opacity settings:
Skin: #EAD5BC, Burn, 80% opacity
Face tattoo: #B8EAB8, Darken, 100% opacity
Necklace: #F8BF24, Darken, 78% opacity (I went back with the eraser tool on a low opacity and erased some of the color on the smaller beads)
Plain kimono robe: #FFFFFF, Color, 65% opacity
Patterned under-robe: #800000, Lighten, 100% opacity
Now the hard part is over! Time to zest the icon up some. On top of all of your coloring, paste the following texture by gender set to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Now it should look like this:
->
Next, use this texture by gender again, set to Soft Light at 72% opacity:
->
Yet again, another texture by gender, set to Multiply at 50% opacity. Erase the areas of the texture around Yasuaki's face and arms so he doesn't blend in as much. This is what you get:
->
Last texture, I promise. This one is from colorfilter, and should be your topmost layer set to Soft Light at 100% opacity.
->
Now Yasuaki looks a little washed out, so to finish up duplicate the base layer twice and bring both to the very top. Set one to Burn at 45% opacity and the very top layer to Soft Light at 100% opacity. Here's what the final product should look like:
Of course, you don't have to stop there. Feel free to add borders, text, or other decorations to your icon! And don't be afraid to mess around with the layer opacities to get the colors just to your liking. That's half the fun, after all. ^_~
Please let me know if you found this helpful! And feel free to share your results, I'd love to see them.