Coloring in photoshop - Part 1/3

Tutorial info is below - written steps explaining everything in the video.

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Second Video (shading basics) here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFPukM08xdM

Third/Final Part Video (texturing) here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm6fVkLFcrI

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Hi~

First, someone asked me about the line-art. The primary drawing, the line-art i've used, was done with hand drawn inking. Lires from deviantart made it. I make my own line-arts with the pen tool, it's exact and easy to use. It's easier than inking by hand like Lires did, but you gain that with experience which i think he does since he/she's awesome, so if you practice by hand, it'll be easier with time, for you too.

If you want to scan a drawing and use it to make a line-art, you scan it and import it to Photoshop where you use the Pen Tool, it's right above the Text Tool in the bar (left side of the program)

You make 2 dots with the mouse (pen tool selected), you press Ctrl+click for a third one (or more) in the middle of those dots (doesn't matter how far they are) and you pull them aside to make curves. it's really easy.
You just have to make an empty layer over your scanned sketch and make the line-art on it.
Just remember to make the brush the size you want the lines thickness to be like. For example, for really smooth, good lines, you should select a 2 or 3 pixels size brush in the brush panel, without any transparency on the sides (a hard brush).

---------------- Info about this video's progress --------------
Together we're going to learn a simple but good coloring technique in Adobe Photoshop.

Tutorial will be made out of 3 parts:

- Base coloring
- Shading
- Texturing

First, you should start with the lowest color, the one under the clothes.

You should choose a more neutral color so you can find darker and lighter color tones once you start shading.

You could paint the base for each part of the body and clothes and select each outside part to delete extra paint BUT that would be taking a lot of time and you would have to keep repeating it with each body/clothing part every time you add a new shade.

You shouldn't choose this version since, as you can see, it's simply time consuming and will probably bug you.

So, what should you do to make everything even easier? It's simple.

You can keep watching or just jump to minute 2.30 for how you should start, since this is all the progress without video cuts.

Select all the inside of your lineart over a Fill layer, preferably white.

To do this, go to "Layer" - "New Fill Layer" in the blue taskbar above.

Select around the outer lines (with the fill layer selected), inverse selection and delete everything outside leaving white only for your character and objects.

Select each body and clothing parts INDIVIDUALLY in that Fill Layer so you
can later use the "Create Clipping Mask" option on the color layers and shadows, without always having to cut out the extra paint on the edges.

This way, although it will take half an hour to cut all the pieces separately, you will only have to do it once and after that, use colors freely, without worrying that you'll go over the lines.

Make the cut layers offline so you can remember what else is still in need of being separated from the rest.

After you finish cutting the pieces, make an empty layer over
your "flats" and for each one, right click the empty layer, choose "Create Clipping Mask" and color on it over the piece.

Unless you want to watch the rest of the cutting in my video, i suggest you move on to the next Part, Shading.

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Recently, i started drawing because i enjoy it and learning more programs is always a thrill for me.

I'm loving every second of video editing, drawing and animation programs and this is a video tutorial on how i colored one of my drawings so others can see the progress and maybe learn something, anything.

I've used the Sachi line-art from Lires on D.A. but you can also check out my own colored line-arts (fan-art but not only) or Naruto manga my deviantart account here:

annyaonweb.deviantart.com

I'm also taking commissions so if you're interested, there's more information on my D.A. page.

This is the First Part of my tutorial. There will be 3 steps:

1. Coloring basics - Easier and less time consuming techniques
2. Shading
3. Texturing & easy tricks to make everything cooler

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• video
• tutorial
• how
• to
• color
• in
• photoshop
• cs3
• shadows
• shadowing
• textures
• texturing
• easy
• less
• time
• consuming
• technique
• fast

[Gravesyte]

I have a question i do my line art in adobe illustrator then bring it in photoshop is it better to do my line art in photoshop instead?

[Annyonweb]

@Gravesyte i don't really use adobe illustrator so i wouldn't know how hard/easy it is in photoshop but i highly recommend photoshop for linearting, it's pretty easy once you get used to it

[Fallen56348]

So then we would lock the layer with the selected area still selected and then create the middle layer and set it on clipping mask. But that allows us to color solely on the selected areas so the skin? Or the areas not the skin? So basically after doing the layer underneath the sketch and coloring the skin tone in, what are we using the lasso tool to outline and how does it affect the clipping mask? PLEASE HELP!!! Lol

[Annyonweb]

@Fallen56348 well, the clipping mask does that for us. when you clip a layer over the already sliced flat layer, you practically bind them together. so for as many layers you bind over that one, you can color on them and you cannot, at all, color outside of it, like the skin here. i made a layer over the cut skin layer then i colored on that new one and did not go out over the skin's edge lines. i wouldn't suggest using the lasso tool because that's not precise. (continuing in another reply)

[Annyonweb]

@Fallen56348 what i suggest using for cutting edges for your flat layers like you see in this project, i would highly recommend the polygonal lasso tool, not the simple one. it's just a tad slower but far more precise i think, at least for me. it helps me a ton because you cut straight lines over the lineart and you avoid escaping any loose pixels around the lines otherwise you'd get a grungy edge to it, ya know? that for me is the best reason to avoid it. in time it gets faster using it, too.

[Annyonweb]

@Fallen56348 next to the layer modes (next to Channels & Paths, above your regular layer), you have the option of locking the pixels inside or outside the already cut flats (ex. skin, hair, wtv) . if you choose the squared, small looking box where it says Lock: .. under layer modes, your cut flat will be easily colored without needing to add any new layers (if you prefer to only use one layer but i wouldn't recommend it until later on, you need to be able to Undo if you do any small mistakes)

[sonicandspidermanrul]

lets say im drawing sonic the hedgehog do i color his whole body blue?

[Fallen56348]

@Annyonweb Sorry this is a continuation to my other post. So then we would lock the layer with the selected area still selected and then create the middle layer and set it on clipping mask. But that allows us to color solely on the selected areas so the skin? Or the areas not the skin? So basically after doing the layer underneath the sketch and coloring the skin tone in, what are we using the lasso tool to outline and how does it affect the clipping mask? PLEASE HELP!!! Lol

[Fallen56348]

Do you send the fill layer to the back? Because mine covers the entire picture? And when you say "start cutting around the body to trap the skin parts separately of the rest" do you mean cut around the skin pieces as though you only wanted to color that part (i.e. color in the face) or color around everything else but the skin?

[Derka33]

@Annyonweb xD thanks for the reply, but in the time since my comment ive given up on art via photoshop.

I could do it, though making the line art was killing me. I was always overcritical of what i was making and it drove me insane @_@. Thats why I was watching videos, trying to find out why it was taking me 20 + hours just to do 1/8 of what others could do.

At any rate, thx again for replying.