Deleting the white from a drawing

[pikachugirl16]

can you make basic tutorial how cleaning lineart by using sketch in scanner on photoshop CS5?

[SeoJinnn]

omg thank you so much.

this was so helpful ! 

[Serelie]

what is it in elements 10? ):

ctrl alt ~ does nothing.

[dumiinfo]

CTRL+ALT+2 on CS5

[Morbenadic]

Best white removal tutorial I've ever seen.

[FreakRHW]

I know this is probably a bit sad but this just blew my mind! I have have messed about with this stuff for ages!! Never knew it was so simple....thank you!!!

[SirScoot85]

you can't ask steve jobs! :'(

[xcrosspictures]

When I hit backspace my later get deleted :/

[okamichamploo]

@ifckdyogurlfrend You are so awesome! I was looking forever to figure out how to do this on CS4.

Thanks so much.

P.S. Hope you enjoyed my gf.

[uberAdamC]

Is there any way to make the lines not transparent?

[TacoTomodachi]

I think I spent 10 min trying to find out why ctrl+alt+~ wasn't working until I saw ifckdyogurlfrend's comment -___- Thank you!

[pseudowok]

This is great. Thanks!

[IndependentDesign123]

Just what I was looking for!! Thanks so much, you saved me so much time!! :)

[sanderreynders]

"this is wrong" is just wrong to say...

[BrandiMuffin]

Actually you are wrong, if you select the multiply layer and go to "merge down", the white doesn't come back at all :)

[ShaheenShine123]

Dude this is great I used GIMP and it works the same way,Thank you so much for helping my line art look more neat and professional.

[iamcarpetpython]

what is ctrl+alt+2(selecting white pixels or whatever) the keyboard shortcut FOR? like: select>loadselection>?, select>color selection>?

[sprattoo]

I have this video embedded onto my desktop. INVALUABLE info for digital artists who carry a sketch pad.

I occasionally forget how to do this, and keep coming back. I hope this video stays in place forever... Maybe I should writ these steps down....

[KandiSOUL]

this culd prove useful to me thnk u for upload!

[DryBONESreborn]

how would you do this via without the hot keys If you're forgetful XD

[Lordrex1st]

Wonderful tutorial! Thanks a lot!

[CartoonyCartoons]

click on your address bar, type in the word "win" between "you" and "tube", so it looks like "youwintube

[AriesShado]

bad ass

[heyxavierilikeyouok]

ok ignore that comment, i got the lines to come back because i listened to the rest of the video like i should have, but when i do this, there is still a faint gray overlay on the image from the paper(i'm left handed so my pictures smear a lot so i can't get the levels to make it completely white)

[heyxavierilikeyouok]

when i do this, it deletes my lines as well, any reason as to why?

[wfsk8r7]

6 people disliked because they invented the crappy multiply method

[jordy5889]

ON A MAC!!!!! ITS APPLE+ALT+2

[WolfenAmphithere]

@jordy5889 , are you using CS4? on CS3 it works with Apple+Alt+~

Perhaps they changed the shortcut in CS4?

[Xplict911]

I have a question, When doing this there any way to make the lines more crisp? or more full?

[thethirdkibeth]

@Xplict911 This is just a theory but perhaps Contrast/Brightness adjustment would help? I haven't tried this myself though

[luposto]

it was very nice tip

[BDxCrazyazian]

Ive been using the line drawing on multiply for a while now and I've merged my layers before with no problem. I tcould just be that you switched you tonal background to multiply that caused this problem. Thank you very much for showing this method though. Very much appreciated.

[BC1nos]

ok for cs4 or cs5 what's the command you you do fill the lines in black. every time I try it just ends up making the picture fade away.

[paramoretwilight101]

Thank you so so so much this was greatly helpfull

[AvatarTTfan]

@ifckdyogurlfrend and for gimp? O.O exalcy what the name of the thing that pushing the buttonis doing i cant find it on gimp

[MrKibagami]

ok everything worked for me except when i lock the transparent pixels backspace just makes the lines fade instead of fill, im using cs3 on a mac...any help??

[Shoulderfriends]

Your videos are extremely helpful! thanks so much!

[loIipz]

As always one-vox. Thank you for the tut

[envodas]

backspace makes the drawing fade even more, instead of it getting darker

[jcole60brit]

Or You could just set the linework as multiply.

[tsalapbeew]

very nice tut! its very helpful!

btw you sound like marc crillley!

[cixiblue]

This is a fantastic method, my friend! But it was the Steve Jobs comment that really sold it, hahahaha!

[cixiblue]

This is a fantastic method, my friend! But it was the Steve Jobs comment that really sold it, hahahaha!

[sim725]

Thank you you have now sped up my process which takes ages

[iamthechavster]

by the way, it does work on Macs. You just have to use the Apple button instead of CTRL. Apple+Alt+2.

[ResponsLive]

@iamthechavster The Apple button? Sorry for being a noob.....do you mean the command button?:O

[iamthechavster]

@ResponsLive heh - yes. that's what i meant. sorry for the brain lapse. :)

[sifi41]

How would you do this in Photoshop Elements 6?

[DougGirard]

Any suggestions for people drawing on sketch pads which, when scanned, aren't exactly white? I am having trouble with this.

[i8fiveZigZagz]

Mac fails.lol

[baxter2036]

@i8fiveZigZagz nah dude took me a while u gotta listen carefully theres parts where he sounds like he is saying hold but he means alt, to fill hold alt delete took me a while

[yourthebhoy]

♫♫♫Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda

Who'll come a-Waltzing Matilda with me? ♫♫♫♫

have never used that key in my life thanks :)

[ro8oto]

hey thx :) dude

u r great!

[plasma4ce]

it doesn't work for CS1 on the mac T^T (and yes i've tried apple+alt+tilde)

[skaruts]

If you set it to multiply, the white will only come back if you merge those two layers. If you merge all the three (or more) it will be hidden anyway.

[eelexa]

So, I have a Mac and I don't know how to fill the lines after locking the transparent layers. Help?

[ultratog1028]

wish i knew this a year ago

[Doridachi]

ARGH. I have photoshop elements and it isn't working D : Help, please?

[eelexa]

So what's the alternative to ctrl alt ~? I've got a mac.

[zigze1]

Really useful! it does work on a Mac Photoshop CS3.....command+option+tilde

Hope to see more videos from you...thanks

[Choc0Chu]

Oh! thankx! i was wondering why it won`t work

[Raius1]

What do you do to end the dynamic selection (the marching ants) after you've deleted the white?

[173fake]

select the "lock" box under the layers tab (that locks the clear section) then press alt and the back space arrow to fill the non clear sections (your artwork lines)

Works a treat, thanks!

[000gabu000]

It doesnt work for me, maybe wrong photoshop...

[Thatlankydude1232]

cool, thats really useful!

[Peteru69]

Urgh, do need an updated version for Photoshop CS3 all the hotkeys are wrong because the tutorial was made for ps7 (I believe) worth mentioning in the description, but still a nice tutorial

[DarkChii77]

great tutorial!!! thank you very much!! :D

[3dmundo]

You guys can always avoid it by starting a painting on a new layer(empty layer), not on a background

[KebleTar]

Only if it's a digital painting, not if it's a scanned image

[Peteru69]

@3dmundo well, the tutorial is for people who have to remove it, ect if you have something laying around as jpg fil and you want it to be clean for layering, or if you scan something in with your scanner and it saves it as jpg (or any other file type that doesn't support layers).

[3dmundo]

@Petru69, I know, I just made that comment for total newbies, in case they were wasting their time:)

[MajasWolf]

but if it's a scanned image...

[ICON9INE]

HI. I just wanted to chime in for us Macintosh users, You Absolutely CAN do the same thing with a Mac. Just use the COMMAND key (on the mac) In the place of the CONTROL key (on the PC). AS a general rule: the COMMAND key on a Mac

is the same as the CONTROL key on a PC. For Everything!

and yes I know it's about 2 years too late for this comment,but, Meh.

[sealedpaladin]

not working for me man, does the image have to be sumin like a raster or jpg first?

[morningPMshow]

Tyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy sooooooooooo much lmao. Do more!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MarkP0rter]

i dont know why ask steve jobs. haha i love you! also good to finally know. i always did the multiply option - oh dear me.

[nakariri]

for default CS4, ctrl +L for level adjustments ,ctrl+alt+2 for selection and then ctrl+shift+i to inverse the selection and alt or ctrl+bckspace to fill. thanks bugmeyer

[6x3zetsubou]

Does this work in CS3?

[Zeldarocks42]

yes

[dragopede]

Thank you to the people who have mentioned the CS4 shortcut. Just got it and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get it to work.

[brennig2]

You can do multiply and still merge well, you make the layers you want to merge the only ones visible and press merge visible or ctrl+alt+e i think

[439454ted]

I mad about that Photoshop cost $700-$1,000, but I gues its the real deal. Nice video as well. Thnx

[439454ted]

No Ctrl+Alt+~? Its "Ctrl +Alt+2" for CS4 version

[ilysesshy]

omg TY lmao i was trying to delete the white for like 30mins now and i couldnt then i seen this comment

[brennig2]

get Gimp then, its free

[Crimm]

This is probably one of my favorites of your videos. I like to scan in my pen drawings, and I always used the multiply, or just tried to magic wand everything out XD But I'd always end up with the stupid weird transparent remnants... This is really helpful.

[kogi04]

You could use the Multiply Blending Mode method you showed, then just make a New Layer on top and use the Image > Apply Image.

[RashidulThePlumber]

thanks dude.

[aswakassyaramag]

thx it works fine with me :)

[Vonika]

i know you said the shortcut doesnt work on a mac but is there any alternative way i can do that

[jordanpolly]

EXCELLENT you are a GOD!!!!

[csdust]

There is a simpler way

Photoshop CS2 and above only need an added .dll plugin but

Macs Remove White filter is the best out there afaik that does all of this without any extra steps as long as you are in RGB mode

[Animechick021]

thank you so much

[nessiebreath]

Control alt tilde is Command Alt tilde on mac.

In CS4 this has been changed - the tilde key has been changed to the 1 key - so now this shortcut is Command alt 1 or Control alt 1 on PCeeee

[KodakII]

Hmm...I did this and it didn't work. Is there something I would be missing in CS4? Does the document have to be a certain type?

[wolfcry91196]

i am using photoshop elements and the ctrl alt ~ doesn't work for me, is there another way for me to do it?

[crandrew1242]

you use command alt ~ instead... thats pretty much the general rule for mac

command instead of control

[bloodtruffle]

Thank you so much for this awesome tutorial!

[zehebiltwin]

the CTRL-ALT-~ isnt working for me, maybe because im using Photoshop Elements 7

so what do i do?

[downtimelg]

incredibly helpful tutorial, really well done.

[GOSTEON3]

dam this helps bro. thanx.

[erick103]

IF anyone is using CS4

it's not

CTRL+ ALT (Titlda)

its.. CTRL+ALT+2

That was giving me trouble!

Just a heads up!

[ShawnGlory]

thumbs up to u

it gave me troubles too

[bubetube01]

OMG!!! thank you sooo much. for a while there when the CTRL+ALT+~ wasn't working i thought that i was going to have to have a copy of cs3 photoshop installed as well as cs4 just to easily get me line art. thanks a bunch!!

[eelexa]

@erick103 Thanks, that's exactly what I revisited the video for!

[skaruts]

@erick103

I got CS2 and Ctrl-Alt-Tilde didn't work too. Good thing I saw your comment. I did work now.

[beetmash]

@erick103 is it the same on a mac?

[antdude93]

@erick103 omg thx so much XD

i was trying for like an hour and it wasn't working

thanks alot :P

[mrslink2]

@erick103 thanks for this info, it was driving me crazy. How did you figure it out? Is there a site we can go to for this? Just wondering because there are a couple of others shortcuts I hear in tutorials that don't work in cs5. Anyway, thanks again!!!

[Tifasjk]

whta layer is it that you paint on though? sorry i'm so new to digital art and i'm just trying to have a better understanding of it, when you paint do you paint over your lines? or do you have it so the lines show through? would you paint on a middle layer between the two and then merge itd own as one image?

[dieseledge]

If you want your lines to be visible, you paint on a layer below your llayer containing your line art. Personally, I usually have a background layer that stays untouched so I don't paint on it. I usually have a layer above the background and below the line art layer.

[jcjamlig]

tnx allotzzz!

[TurtleSensei]

Thank you so much! This has helped me immensely!

[lonelyqwerty]

i have been fussing with it for like an hour and nothing is working. I can get to the level adjust thing and get the background of the drawing completely white and then select and delete it, but then i get the boxes so i turn em off in preferences??

so now i have a trans background but if i draw over the lines they disappear from opacity? HOW DO YOU GET IT SO THAT YOUR PENCIL SKETCH LINES ARE DARKER THEN EVERYTHING ELSE? so that i could go over in 100% opac blue and still see my sketch?

[Wisker73]

You do the colours on layers behind the lineart.

[luvcornflakes]

thank you very much <3

[mariahechidna]

I like your tutorials but you seem to use the short-cut keys and its hard to remember all those when trying to apply this into my own drawings later on. Is there any way you can show how to do these from the menu bars and such. Maybe show both ways. Like the Fill (Alt + Backspace), is there another way to fill?

[ratbutcher]

thank you SO much! there are so many times when I start drawing on the background, and don't realize until I am done, so I do not want to delete it!

[deluxedookie]

most pain in the ass part of scanning in a drawing.

[Zinferbuddy]

this has helped me sooo much!!

[BlueSkyfish]

I'm unable to make my background white with the levels and such. I don't have a scanner atm and have to use a camera to take a picture of the lineart, and it looks very weak. Tweaking the levels cause the lines to dissapear too.

[iluvmylips4372]

Im on PS Elements 5 can this work on that?

[OIIIlllIIIO]

Excellent tutorial - Clear and consise, just what I was looking for too.

Well done Bugmeyer!

[gino454]

i find the grid annoying i changed mine to none in preferences ...is this a problem? how do u draw on a blank layer with out affecting a layer with ur subject on it? for example i have a figure i want in the foreground and want to create a background with being so careful not to disturb my figure...how do i do that? any help would be great

[AllPowerfulMitch]

you hit the new layer button on the bottom of the layers palette (next to the trash can). move the new blank layer behind the one you do not want to disturb. do this by clicking on it and holding then dragging it beneath your subject layer.

[Nirklars]

Control+Tilde isnt working for me. Swedish keyboard layout. Anyone who knows how to reach this option through the menu?

[evilagram]

In photoshop CS4 the ctrl + alt + ~ method did not work at first. Apparently the key command was bound to ctrl + alt + 2. I am using the default configuration, you might want to include a note about this somewhere. The rest of the tutorial functioned as expected.

[puppypaw3]

for CS4 on mac its command+alt+2.

lower than CS4 its Command+alt+1.

just in case someone needs that info...

[puppypaw3]

On mac the hotkeys to find the white are command+Alt+1

it worked for me.

[eraburg]

I hit D + backspace and it did not fill. so I filled it with the lock transparency and it filled half the line and part of the white. What am I doing wrong?

thanks

[houstandy]

gr8 explanation. ty

[eraburg]

You are a life saver!!!!

I've been looking for something like this. Usually I just either erase the white. Or redraw on a new transparent layer. But now I can actually use the original lines. I tried using the Layers and or Curves but I always get mad that I loose some lines. It looks like you did too, In the shoulder. Is that just my eyes? Also, did you pen this in or is it pencil? It looks like fine pencil.

[eatmyshit00]

with your art do you draw them in pen? if so what type of pen? because i use Unipin fineline and the lines appear terrible on screen, all jagged and messy

[oMA3LSTROMo]

Dude I freakin' love you.

[SteevDragon67]

do you have to click "shift" to get the ~ to work?

[SteevDragon67]

so does this mean after you do this, you can paint behind the black lines?

[darondevil]

you nice vid, though you should upload it in DA:P

[Zetera]

Thanks so much for this - your tutorials are great. I'm definitely going to try that out. :D

[Togusa]

Those silly silly Macs.

[AethericDayStar]

Fantastic technique! Thanks for sharing!

[Rafzorz1]

noobs like me really benefit from guys like you, thanks for taking the time to explain the important basics of software like this.

This goes for all your tutorials!

Thank you so much!

[Ps3koolKid]

did u draw that¿?

[Purdyart]

Fantastic bit of educating there, much appreciated, cheers :)

[cantrainalltime]

Easier method without destroying your image,

go to your Layers palette

Change Blending Mode from "Normal" to "Multiply"

works in any version of Photoshop. :]

[PieJesuG]

You clearly didn't listen to ANYTHING he said.

[SuicidalWaltDisney]

MAC SUCKS!!!!!

[LordIouis]

I dont get this working.

Lock transparent pixels, then press D and then hold backspace to fill? What excactly is he doing?

How does he fill? I mean you cant fill anything by pressing backspace Oo

[LordIouis]

ah, now I got it. ALT + backspace.

[Xneuz]

Thanks very much, that's such a good technique :D I myself was using the multiply technique before I saw this :D

[NostalgicLink]

Lol! You are awesome. I haven't even gotten my Intuos in the mail yet, nor have I ever used PS, but you make this so clear. Love it, great videos.

[kcow]

I can't thank you enough....I was going insane using the erase tool.

[tennesseeg4]

To get it work for mac- After level adjustment, switch from layers to channels tab in the layers pallet, click the broken circle icon at bottom left(load channel as selection), hit delete, then deselect the pixels. Switch back to layers. Then follow the rest of the tutorial, lock pixels, d for default color, alt delete, and unlock pixels.

[SPU7N1K]

Thanks that helped me!

[roscishewska]

thanks tennesseeg4,

took me for ever to get the commands right & than i just saw this that made it faster & easier....

[GoddaM777]

I will have to employ this method, which is apparently superior to the way I've been doing it---which is select color range and delete.

way too many artifacts to deal with my way. thanks for the tips, man

[omixzoplex]

What a Hep of none sense. I wouldnt be a little pissed if u did'nt use the word "wrong".

Now

the technique of using a gray layer under the mutiply and color layers was developed for game creators to avoid producing any excessive data, And it works like a charm.

Furter more, This technuque was also intended 4 FINISHED ART! Not a crapy sketch!

PLUS- if u finish coloring the whole sketch their will be no white space. i personaly use both ways depending on situation

[RoxxieT]

Thanks so much for this tutorial! Very helpful.

[tirathmistry]

awesome trick thanks for putting useful trick

please add more trick

God bless

[Zinferbuddy]

AHHHHHHHH!! THANKYOUUU!!!! XD dreams do come true T_T

[spongebobisverygay]

There was another tutorial on this subject that produced what looks to be the same thing, but I'm not sure you took the same steps:

1. Adjust levels to delete extra grey.

2. Create a new layer.

3. CTRL + ALT + 1 on the new layer.

4. CTRL + Shift + I on the new layer.

5. ALT + Backspace to fill new layer.

I've experimented with both, but I can't see any obvious differences in outcome. Would you toy with it as well? Maybe having someone more savvy use it would help.

Great help like always!

[painting]

its the same technique, I just don't know why he made it more complicated. Basically you're making a selection of a channel as mask, i.e black is nothing, white is something, this is why you have to invert the selection before you fill the background. it doesnt matter if its ~ 1 2 3, oh and you can do cmd shift ~ on a mac.

[richey97]

Awesome tutorial! One thing though on the newer macs, the command alt tilda does work now. So every body else knows, I just tried it and it works.

[josephknightcom]

Actually....

Multiply is an easier method. Bugmeyer is rejecting it here as "wrong" because the white comes back when you merge down. But it doesn't come back if you group the layers to be merged and then merge the entire group.

Bugmeyer you're a good artist but with as complex a piece of software as Photoshop is, it's pretty difficult to outright declare any method as absolutely wrong. Especially since you don't know everything about Photoshop.

[starshock12]

Deleting the white makes it that you can edit the color of the lineart later, if you want it to be a certain shade of bright red instead of black and gray. If you use layer multiply, this becomes /extra/ tricky.

Of course, layer multiply is definitely recommended if you just want a quick fix of things.

[TwilightCouple]

ur aware the the multiply method is used becuz - deleting the white will ALWAYS screw up the original linear penciling.

[stickyjoe131]

This is why when ppl give tutorials that they shouldn't appear cocky. You knew more than he did TwilightCouple.

[TwilightCouple]

I appreciate that - and he usually is quite modest sadly.

[DevilShroom]

To be honest I never really noticed the deletion of the white screwing my pencil lines in the slightest. It may be because I sketch lightly though and when I resize my images at the end you can never clearly see the lines regardless so I don't really see why this matters personally.

[painting]

did you even try the technique, in reality you're not deleting anything. If you put a white bg behind under it, it would be as if you never did a single thing, then again your knowledge of selecting things probably stops at the magic wand tool.

[TravonS88]

That was amazing! The method I used took a lot longer because I had to go through the channel pallet to and do some other stuff to separate the lineart from the BG or delete the white. Now it will only take me couple of minutes to do it.

dude, iv been searchig tutorials forever to learn how to do that and i can honestly say that you explained it in the best way