Coloring

[Cronus]

There is no one right way.

 

Hi Kat

 

Process is everything. View the picture as a whole and approach it as a whole.

 

First I decided what color style should be used to color the picture. I decided on modern comic book style.

 

Then I create a layer. I named it junk color. Meaning here is where I put all the color down one shade for each area. That way you can see an over all view. I also know I can go back and adjust the image in any way so I am not worried about how bright the colors are or anything else. My only concern is what colors.

 

I call this laying down the color development phase. Don’t even try to stay in the lines and if you change you mind on a color select it via magic wand and paint in another. Or adjust hue saturation etc.

 

Using the magic wand tool set to 5 tolerance. I then select each area and make sure there are no holes. You can tell very quickly as any boo boo will not select. If I am happy with the color I will select the color I want to be right under the line art or first in layer order. I will go with his cap because I want any adjustments to the skin easy to manage.

 

 

Select the color and hit Ctrl j single color on a single layer. This is called jumping. I will then jump all the colors to separate layers.

 

Too be continued………………………

[Kat]

Oh wow, so much easier, no wonder it takes me hours to color :P

[Cronus]

Next clean it up a bit. This is simple and easy.

 

Make another copy of your line art. (Ctrl j) then make another layer under it. Fill that layer with solid white. Select the copy line art layer and hit

(Ctrl e) to merge the line art layer down with the solid white layer. If you have any gaps in the line art use any color to close them neatly so you can select the area you want.

 

See picture.

 

Set magic wand to tolerance 1 and make sure contiguous is checked off.

If you are working with a 600 dpi doc, go to the menu select/modify expand and input 3. this will grow the selecting just a little so the color is under the lines.

 

Make the junk color layer active. Use the eye dropper tool to grab the color. Now hit Alt backspace to fill the selected area, then Ctrl J to jump that selection to another layer. Wash rinse and repeat.

 

This might sound complicated at first, but it is easy and very fast when you get the hang of it.

[Cronus]

Ctrl left click each of the cleaned up color layers along with a solid white background. The layers you want should all be highlighted. Right click and select duplicate layers. Every layer selected will turn into a duplicate copy and should still be selected. Then merge them all by hiting Ctrl e. You can use this layer for making selections. Or if you are concerned about the documents size you can. Select the layer. Hit Ctrl a to select the whole area and Ctrl C to copy. Open the channels window. Create a new channel as you would a layer. Select that channel to make it active and hit Ctrl v, to paste the image into it. Make sure this layer is no longer visible and select the RGB master channel layer. At any time you can go into the channels layer and select the area you want. Now you can delete the merged layer you created and the document will be smaller.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doc: 232.3M /514.3M before deleting. Junk color layer and merged cleaned layer. Along with unnecessary background and line art layers’

 

Doc: 232.3M / 310.6M after deleting. And we still can make clean whole selections from our new alpha channel!

[Cronus]

Now it is time to start defining the image. Using the lasso tool I selected the areas where I felt basic shadows should go. I am only putting in the very basic shadows and making minor adjustments.

 

I Use mind mapping on the area I am currently working on. For instance when I did the skulls I asked what material (gold) they felt heavy and cold also smooth. I tried to feel what they felt like. Smell like and how they are shaped in three dimensions. You can practice this at any time by looking at an object around your home and then imagining what it feels like what it smell like etc as many details as you can muster. Then pick it up and compare. This is great practice. No bad jokes plz lol

 

 

I would do one layer at a time and then go to the selection menu and save the selection before I modified the selection. After it was saved I went back to the selection menu and picked Modify/feather and inputted a value I felt comfortable with. If you see part or all the selection disappear this is normal. It is still there no worries and if we mess up we can always reload the selection. That’s why I save it before I modify it.

 

Then I open ...... Image/ adjustments then Hue/saturation. Play with the sliders .. since it is the basic shadows we lower the lightness a little. I also tic down the saturation by -1 and sometimes adjust the hue.

 

I did not paint in a single color, all changes were done by adjusting the hue/Saturation for near perfectly pigmented shadows.

[Kat]

Wow man, than you so much for all the tips, I can't wait to try it out. This will take hours off of my work! Yay I'm s excited try this!

[Cronus]

oh I totaly forgot the psd file

 

i dropped it down from 600dpi to 300dpi. let me know if you want me to post the largerone also.

 

 

http://files.filefront.com/Joker+Linespsd/...;/fileinfo.html

[Cronus]

Added basic highlights With the dodge tool and a very soft brush. Not much to write about here.

[Kat]

Got it thank you. That looks fantastic!!

[Pic0o]

Nice work yo. :yar:

 

I'd move the othe doodle topic to this forum, but remote web shizi kinda blows, and well, it's Monday morning. :P

[Cronus]

The color was looking wased out so I adjusted. I will come back latter and write down the steps, no time now sorry.

[Pic0o]

Nice!

 

Not to be a prick, but I mentioned a tweak to Kat that might make the pic even more sick. :)

 

Would you mind / be able to replace the skulls on the Jester caps w/ Hatchet-men or Straight Hatchets? J0k3r R big ICP Fan. :P

[Cronus]

need more info Pico what exactly is that??????

 

 

 

Kat check this art out, this person is awsome!!!. i want to learn this style of coloring!!!!!!!! You tube, digital coloring in photoshop.

Edited September 30, 2008 by +Cronus+

[Pic0o]

Here's a clean one. The Hatchet itself might blend in tight, I figured we'd mention it. :)

[Cronus]

thx, will do pico!