Cging Anime hair in Gimp with a Mouse! Part 1/3

Hi all!
Merry (late) Christmas! :D :D

I have made a video tutorial of my method of CGing anime-style pictures with a MOUSE.

This is part one out of three videos! The others are coming :D

NOTE I DID NOT DRAW THIS. I SIMPLY COLORED IT. THE ORIGINAL LINEART CAN BE FOUND HERE: http://a-bell-of-luminosity.deviantart.com/art/Fashionable-Ski-Lab-Goggles-13...
THE ORIGINAL ARTIST: http://a-bell-of-luminosity.deviantart.com
AND THE FINISHED PRODUCT (my coloring): http://beankun.deviantart.com/art/Fashionable-Ski-Goggles-D-148148595

Here is a step-by-step process for this video.

First and foremost: how to set the layers up in Gimp!
For the first three basic layers (lines, Skin (or whatever part you want to start with), and the back ground):
1: Layer one: Linework layer. Make sure it is set to MULTIPLY. (VERY important)
2: Layer two: Skin/ whatever you start with first (hair, eyes, etc.). MAKE SURE THIS IS ON A TRANSPARENT BACKGROUND! THIS IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT.
3: Last layer: Background. Make sure it is a a bright color that you WILL NOT BE USING IN THE PICTURE. Then, once your picture is finished, before all the layers are merged, you can decorate it, or whatever you people do for backgrounds :D

Now, on to the coloring!

1: First, you have your flat/base colors down, like always.
2: Once your have the flat/base colors down, click the LOCK TRANSPARENCY BUTTON (a checkered square with a white box next to it) This will keep everything inside your colors :D
3: Then, begin to cell shade where your shadows are, depend on your light source.
4: Once your shades are in, select the smudge tool. Smudge the shadows like strands of hair (or clothes threads, skin, etc etc)
5: Once the shadows are in, create a new TRANSPARENT layer above the hair. This is the layer for the hair shines! :D.
6: Select one to two highlight colors of the hair and put them in streaks together, along with a small bit of white, horizontally across the hair.
7: Take the smudge tool and smudge it in the direction of the hair! :D

And there you have it!
You can also use this same method with clothes or skin (but without the shine layer). But for a more natural look to the skin, I recommend use the airbrush tool and lightly going on the outside of your cell shades.

The song is
Tsukiakari by Rie Fu (AKA Darker than BLACK ending 1)

I OWN NOTHING (EXCEPT MY COLORS AND COLORING METHOD).
EVERYTHING IS COPYRIGHTED TO THEIR RIGHTFUL OWNERS AND THIS VIDEO IS FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY!

Feel free to comment and ask questions! I will answer them all :D

Category:

Education

Tags:

• anime
• gimp
• cg
• color
• mouse
• tutorial
• darker
• than
• black
• ending
• tsukiakari
• rie
• fu
• deviantart
• art
• colors
• colorful
• colorfull
• bean
• beankun
• muffin
• muffinbaka
• baka
• kun

[XxLightNTheDarknessX]

do we have to set the lineart to multiply all the time cuz i just have my lines on a transparent layer

[MuffinBaka]

@XxLightNTheDarknessX No, I don't think so. Its been awhile..But what I've done here isn't the only way of doing things in Gimp, just my way of doing it. If you find something that works better for you, then by all means use it! :)

[AnoNeko100]

Do you know how to add backgrounds to anime pictures??

Like for example, I drew an anime girl on a blank white canvas, now i wanna add a background without drawing OVER her, how do i make one where it appearsto be behind her?? i know you must use layers but how should the be set up?? ? The anime girl has already been coloured.

[MuffinBaka]

@AnoNeko100

Well, it would have been TONS easier to do if you had originally drawn her on a transparent canvas, then the put the background on a layer under her, then merged the two when you were finished. There's two things I can think of you can do. I'll put them in separate replies because I'm running out of room XD

[MuffinBaka]

@AnoNeko100

1.) 1.) Create a new, transparent below your character layer, but above the background layer. Select the lasso tool and select around her (get against her lines as best you can, it will make it easier in the long run). Then right click -> edit -> copy. Got to the new transparent layer right click -> edit -> paste. Move her back to her original location, then click the anchor icon to put her on the transparent layer. If there's any white spaces, you can erase them, BUT BE CAREFUL!

[MuffinBaka]

@AnoNeko100

2.) You can try using layer masks. Have your background on the layer below your character. On the layer with your character, right click the layer in the layer box -> add layer mask. Select black (full transparency). Select the paintbrush and set the main color to WHITE. Color around the general area of the character. Once you've 'uncovered' most of your character, change the main color to black and paint over any white spaces or anything else you don't want on the back ground :)

[XxLightNTheDarknessX]

@MuffinBaka right, i guess i should've known that. my bad

[MuffinBaka]

@f1atfeet

2: then you draw it around the area you want to color, but make sure to get it SPECIFIC, anything outside of the dotted lines will get colored. Anyway, then you connect the ends to make a closed shape, and it'll automatically select that area, and you can only color within that are. Then I think to turn it off to re-select, you press CTRL+A, but I'm not sure! I hope that helps! And I'm SO SORRY for the misunderstanding XD;;

[MuffinBaka]

@f1atfeet Oh its fine XD

But I see what you're saying now! So sorry for the misunderstanding! But anyway, what i think you're wanting is the select tool, I think its called (I have been on Gimp in a while, and I switched computers a while ago and I can't get it to work well on this one :/) Or maybe its called the lasso tool? But its the third one in top left corner. I'll continue this in the next comment XD sorry!

[f1atfeet]

@MuffinBaka Sorry about the late reply back, I just remembered that youtube can send messages. >_> I don't usually check them. And I think I figured out a way, sort of. I wanted to learn how to color without having it go out of what I want it to. Like how you can run your mouse all over the picture but if you only want it to do a certain area, it only fills that part in. That was a long time ago so I think I figured it out anyway. I always learn something new when I go on GIMP....