Entry tags:

colouring, tutorial

tutorial 03
since some of you asked how i did the coloring for my new icon batch and i just can't refuse, i decided to make a little "tutorial-thingie" after all. but keep in mind that i'm not good at explaining. even if i don't explain it very well i hope it could at least give you some clues.
i use Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 but all of the steps should be translatable, i think...

we'll be making

this	into this	and then into this

now choose the lovely manga image we'll be coloring. i usually color them bigger and then resize them to 100x100. i think it's better this way but you can do it however you like.
so for this tutorial i chose this image:


step I -lines 1-
now i do the usual thing which is making the lines blue. the previous time there were some of you who got confused about how exactly this is done, so this time i'll try to explain it better.
let's make a new layer set to Color and fill it with #9a9ee0. THIS is what we get (i think it should be the same with other programs too). then we merge and copy it and delete the layer set to Color so that we have the same black-and-white image we started with. now we paste the blue thing we copied into a new layer and set it to Soft Light. The result should be something looking like this:

if you're confused about the layers see THIS.

step II -lines 2-
la~la~la... so now we have blue lines - cool. but i won't be keeping them blue. now i create a new layer between the Background and the other one. the new one is set to Screen and filled with #8a5455. our image should be looking like THIS now.
and after that we create another new layer set to Burn and filled with #b5ad97. which gives us this result:

the new order of the layers HERE

step III -coloring-
good news - no more playing around with the lines! it's time for some coloring now.
the next layer should be under Layer 1. we'll set it to Multiply and start coloring. i'll start from their skin and use #fbcba1. it's something like THIS now.
now let's make another layer (same blend mode) for their hair. for his hair i used #dce6e8 and for hers - #d09f82. my image looks like THIS now.
new layer (same blend mode) for her dress. the color for the dress is #99ace9. the result is THIS.
new layer (same blend mode) again. this time i'll use a gradient for the background (because i don't want to leave it empty). i suppose you know how they're made (too lazy to explain it now) and i'll only give you the colors i used for it. it's #ffe3a1 fading to white (#ffffff). after coloring everything around those two using it i got this:

the new order of the layers HERE.

step IV -making the icon-
no more coloring. now i merge everything and resize the image to 100x100.

i usually create some adjustment layers now but you can skip that part if you want. mainly because i'm not sure how they're made in other programs. i'll include them in the tutorial anyway because you might be able to understand them. if not, then just skip them or play around with the colors however you like (because it depends on the image after all).
the first one is a Color Balance layer. it's settings look like this: Shadows; Midtones; Highlights.
the change isn't very big but now the icon looks like this:

after that i create a new Curves layer with the following settings:
Channel: RGB → Input: 0, Output: 0
Channel: Red → Input: 20, Output: 0
Channel: Green → Input: 0, Output: 10
Channel: Blue → Input: 0, Output: 15
here's the outcome:

then new layer again. it's set to Darken and filled with #e6f8f0. the outcome is this:

now new layer set to Exclusion and filled with #38566e. now we have this:

then we copy this outcome (not just the layer but the whole merged thing) and paste it as a new layer set to Overlay. after that we go back to the Exclusion layer and fill it with another color - #0e1a29. this is what we get:

then i duplicate the Overlay layer and set its copy's blend mode to Hue (Legacy). which gives me this:

you could say we've finished now. i add just one more thing (sometimes) which doesn't change all that much the way the icon looks but who cares? xD skip it if you want.
i create a new layer set to Darken (Opacity: 40%) and fill it with very very light gray - #e7eced. not much different but it gives me this:

and that was the last layer.
final order of the layers HERE.

well, that's all. now we flatten the icon, save it and we're done.

you don't have to follow the steps exactly the same way i did them. you can skip or change any of them as long as you're satisfied with the final outcome. i'm saying this because it doesn't always come out nice. with some images it's even horrible. and i know most of you use Photoshop so i'm not sure if this will work for it.

and one more thing! the Hue (Legacy) layer tends to make some shades of the blue look completely green so don't be surprised if you get something of the sort. if it happens you can always erase these parts from the layer - i often do it. xD

i hope this helped or at least gave you some clues.

i'll be happy to see the results you got so feel free to post them here.