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Now that our image is cropped and looks nice, we want to erase those extra sketches on the side that aren't part of our picture. Select the airbrush tool from the tool box and select the color white. Make the line art layer active and color over the unwanted drawings. Be careful not to erase the line art you need. =)
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Now we get to add a background to our picture. For this image, I decided to find a nice picture from Webshots. I saved it to my desktop, opened it in Photoshop, and copy and pasted it into my image. Make sure you paste it onto that long lost background layer that we made blue awhile back. Use the move tool to position the image where you want it. If the image is too big, use the Transform tool (Ctrl and T) to resize it. If you'd rather paint your own background, then grab an airbrush and paint the background layer. I'll use a photo in this example.
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I could leave the picture as it is right now, but I think that the real life photo contrasts with my soft style so I'm gonna change it. My first step is to make it very blurry. I'll do this using two filters. The first filter I'm going to use is called Median. Find that in the Filter Menu under Noise.
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Mess around with the settings until you're satisfied with the distortion of the background. I don't like it to be very distinct, but that's just my taste. When you're done, press OK.
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Now I'm going to blur it some more. I think this makes the background step back a bit, which lets your art stand out. That's what you want, right? ^_^ Go back to the Filter menu and look under Blur. I always use the Gaussian Blur because you have the most control over it.
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Just like with the Median, you get to muck around with the Blur setting. I try not to blur things so much that you can't tell what they are. This once again depends on your own taste.
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Now that I'm done blurring the background, I'm going to go to my next step. I'm going to lighten it. This also knocks the background back a bit and puts the focus on your art. I'm going to use the Lighten feature found in the Hue and Saturation box. You can find that in the Image menu under Adjust or you can press Ctrl and U.
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Once again, mess around with the slider. Don't lighten the background too much or it'll look pastel and ruin your image. Use your best judgement and when you're done press OK.
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Aaaand, you're finished!!! This is what my image ended up looking like, layers and all. Now that wasn't so hard, was it?
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Check out your before and after pictures and pat yourself on the back. That was a lot of work! Now it's time to celebrate. Show your image to all your friends and brag a lot, then go buy yourself some ice cream and be proud. But don't celebrate too long because now that you know how to color an image, you're gonna do lots more, right? That's what I thought. ^_^
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