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Hi! This is a basic tutorial for coloring images in Photoshop. I'm using Photoshop 6.0 in this tutorial, but all of these steps should also work in 7.0. This is put together for anyone who is rather new to the idea of coloring their scanned image in Photoshop. It will take you through cleaning up your image all the way to coloring it. I hope that you can use this to get started and then someday be able to have your own special technique. Anyway, on with the show...
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First of all, open up your image. The image on the right is the one I'm going to color. The picture was donated by my good friend Toby. You can visit her website here.
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The very first thing you want to do is make sure your image is not in grayscale mode. To do that, click open the Image menu and go to Mode. You will see different modes listed just like on the right. Make sure RGB Color is selected and NOT Greyscale.
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Next, go to the Layers box. If you don't see your Layers box, go to the Window menu and select Show Layers. Now when you look at your Layers box, you should see a layer named Background. You want to change that so you can do cool layers stuff to it. Double-click the Background layer and a box like the one on the right will pop up. Since this layer will be the one to hold only the outlines and no colors, I named it Line Art. Press OK.
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Before we start coloring away, we want to make sure that your lines are nice and crips. In my case, I'm using a sketch so I won't have those solid black lines like I would if I used an inked picture. Aside from the black lines, you also want your whites to be pure. Sometimes when you scan the whites can look dark and messy. There are many ways to fix these problems, but today I'm just going to show you a quick down and dirty method using the Brightness/Contrast option. Click open the Image menu and then go to adjust. It should look like the picture on the right. Select Brightness/Contrast.
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The Brightness/Contrast box should have opened. It looks like the picture on the right. Mess with the brightness and contrast sliders until you see that your whites look clean and your lines look dark. I mess with this several times before I'm usually satisfied. If you mess up and dislike how it looks, you can hold the Alt key and the cancel button will turn into a Reset button. That comes in handy. =) When you're happy with the results, press OK.
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We're getting close to the coloring part, I promise! Anyway, now we need to set the line art layer to Multiply. This will allow any layers below the line art to show through but not draw over our nice outline. To do this, double-click the line art layer and a Layer Style box will open. It should look something like the image on the right. Change the Blend Mode to multiply and press OK. Don't forget to save frequently.
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Now the fun begins. I like to keep each color I use on a seperate layer so that it's easier to fix my mess ups. In order to do this, we will make a layer for each color we use on a character. Go to the Layer Box and create a new layer. There is a New Layer button on the box just like the one to the right. Make sure it's below the line art layer. That way when we color on it, it will be underneath the pencil lines. Right click the new layer you just made and open the Layer Properties box. This is where you can change the Layer's name. I'm naming it red, because that's what color I'm going to use first.
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