Coloring Tutorial Part 1:How to Photoshop

Coloring Tutorial Part 1:How to Photoshop
« on: Mar 04, 2015, 05:35 PM »
Just starting out with Photoshop and want to learn how to color lineart? Or are you familiar with Photoshop but need some tips and tricks on how to improve your color speed? I'm here to help! This is part 1 to an in depth guide on how to color using Adobe Photoshop! The material that will be covered was likely covered in my old coloring topic, but I'm making a fresh one due to all the old broken photos.

Coloring Tutorial Part 1:How to Photoshop

The program I'll primarily be using is Adobe Photoshop. I have used Photoshop 5, 7, CS3, and CC and can say for coloring, they're pretty much all the same. There's a few extra bells and whistles in terms of filters and appearance in newer versions, but for what we're doing that won't matter. I can't really provide you any information on using free programs like Sai or GIMP as I have little experience with them.

1.Obtaining Photoshop
It's now easier than ever to get a legal copy of Photoshop without having to crawl through the depths of shady torrents on pirating websites, Photoshop CC can be had for $10 a month through Adobe at http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopfamily.html

2.Tools/Terms we'll be using and what settings to have

Flatting-to lay flat colors on an image

Anti-Aliasing- Webopedia defines it as "In computer graphics, antialiasing is a software technique for diminishing jaggies - stairstep-like lines that should be smooth. Jaggies occur because the output device, the monitor or printer, doesn't have a high enough resolution to represent a smooth line. Antialiasing reduces the prominence of jaggies by surrounding the stairsteps with intermediate shades of gray (for gray-scaling devices) or color (for color devices). Although this reduces the jagged appearance of the lines, it also makes them fuzzier."

In the image below the top is something with anti-aliasing, the bottom one has it turned off.



While anti-aliasing has its uses, when laying down flats we want to turn off the check mark here for all of our selection tools.



This includes
lasso tool
rectangular marquee tool
magic wand
paint bucket


So right now you need to go through and select all these tools and make sure that the box next to anti aliasing isn't checked. We want optimal selections for quick and easy flatting.

Here are the tools we will primarily be using across all these tutorials:
Lasso Tool
Magic Wand
Pencil/Paint Brush Tool
Paint Bucket/Gradient Tool

3.Photoshop Actions

Photoshop has the handy ability to record certain actions you do and bind them to a certain keyboard shortcut. The action we will be using for these tutorials is for making flats.

If the Actions window is not already on your screen go to Window:Actions and turn it on.

Click on "Create New Action"

Name it whatever you want, preferably something you'll remember. Now choose Function Key, which is going to be the F1, F2, F3, etc. keys at the top of your keyboard along with shift or control. What you're doing is choosing what key binding will activate your action. For flats I personally use F2+CTRL because it's easy to get to, choose whichever is most comfortable for you.

Select record.

Now using the magic wand tool click on a white area of your lineart like so.

Now here's the fun part. Go to the top of the screen to Select:Modify:Expand and then choose 1-3 pixels. (I prefer 2 but if your lineart is very thin you may want to stick with 1)

Then simply go back to the Actions window and click on "stop recording" at the bottom.

Now every time we're flatting our images we can make selections, then hit CTRL+F2 and then paint bucket things to our heart's content without having nasty unclean edges like so.

A is when we try to do flats without the shortcut. B is flats with the shortcut.

Now you officially know all the tools we will be using for future steps! Please let me know if you need me to clarify something.
« Last Edit: Mar 05, 2015, 07:43 PM by Angie Duke of Cat Loaves »
Kittens wearins mittens

Re: Coloring Tutorial Part 1:How to Photoshop
« Reply #1 on: Mar 05, 2015, 08:12 PM »
If you have adobe photoshop, I made a simple photoshop action that converts your lineart picture into a black lineart + transparent layer (as long as the file was originally black and white and was the background layer)
download here: https://www.mediafire.com/?a18xhykyfsuqqn1
i use adobe 5.5, so not sure if older versions work. It's a HUGE timesaver!
To put into photoshop, look up the tutorial online: http://youtu.be/AZ2OR6gtl-0?t=51s
« Last Edit: Mar 05, 2015, 08:14 PM by pineapple pocky »
just browsing here and there

 

Newest Comments -


Newest Characters -

 
KingAugustus ThomasTheakonRod ChirpwoodHuskMizz BonzaiSpidella WidowsMyrmidonGhoulArcher Heart MercuryDuncan Dealbhaoth
 

Open Challenges -



Latest Topics -

 
All News, All The Time 
Last updated: Staff Bot - Today at 05:49 AM
Clown Jam 
Last updated: Radji - Feb 11, 2024, 04:51 AM
INTRODUCE YOURSELF 
Last updated: Maz - Nov 06, 2023, 04:13 PM
FAQ: Questions About Void? Post Yours Here! 
Last updated: Darius Corry - Sep 09, 2023, 03:15 PM
Art Diary of an Eternal Student 
Last updated: BoogidiBzdo - Aug 22, 2023, 09:17 PM
 

Latest Members -


Users online -

 
287 Guests, 2 Users


[]

Most Online Today: 351.
Most Online Ever: 1,184 (Jan 13, 2020, 06:21 PM)

 

About Us

We exist to provide an environment for artists to learn and improve their sequential art skills competitively. Our community is designed to give critical feedback and encouragement to our many members the world over, at all skill levels.

Follow Us