FARP : Coloring Pencil Drawings With Photoshop
By (Unknown artist/writer: "keres"), Gallery 7
First off... you'll need to draw something with pencils. Get inspired.
If out of ideas, go to a gallery, open a book, or simply browse
lothlorien. The computer is only a tool. As is the pencil itself. But why
people think that it is still cheating to use it, is pretty simple. The
technics you practice with a pencil can be used anytime anywhere
with anything. Even with a piece of coal on the surface of a rock. The
technics you practice on a computer... well those skills can be used
only with a computer. And computers don't grow on trees, neither are
they cheap. So first, draw a picture. And make it good.
Now. Select a sketch out of the many. Make it one, that you are proud
of. Doesn't need to be flawless, only your personal best :-) Okay, this
rule i already misobeyed, my example will not contain my very best.
Just a decent picture. I mean, compared to my capabilities.
The most important part
Choose a drawing. Make it a good one, so you won't regret working
on it so much. Scan it, resize it to the maximum that you and/or your
machine can handle to work with. Here is my example:
Step 1
Open the file in Photoshop. Make sure that the color mode is set to
RGB. If not, make it so. This is necessary to do for you to be able to
access every color that computers can handle. Furthermore, the so
called Photoshop filters will not work otherwise.
Step 2
Now you'll need to select the exact area you want to work in. This
will be useful for two things. First: if you let the computer know, what
on the sheet actually NEEDS to be colored, you won't be able to go
overboard the parts you are painting on. A better way of putting it...
you will be able to go overboard, but the tools you are painting with
will not add color, just to the parts that are within the borders of the
selection. The selection is the selected area. For this you can use
whichever selection tool you like. I prefer the Polygonal Lasso Tool.
Select it.
Step 3
The more precise you draw the conturs, the better results you get
when using colors, or special effects (filters). Take your time, to trace
the outlines of the parts you want to color. This tool works as follows:
You click on the image, drag the cursor and with that move, you draw
a line onto the screen. If you click again, you can change directions. If
you double click, you can close the shape you were drawing. If you go
back to the starting point with the cursor and click on it, you close the
shape. Take it as a cutout, the tool is your scissor. The parts you snip,
will not be colored. The parts that are left, will.
You don't need to draw the outlines to your picture in only one try.
if you want to add parts to the shape you have selected so far, hold
down the SHIFT key, and with the same tool, draw it further. If you
want to take away from the selection ( remember, this is like a
cutout... my drawing had such parts, like the space between her
legs... don't ask me why that needed to be there :-/ ), all you have to
do is to hold down the ALT key, and select the area.
After finishing outlining the drawing, your selection should be
indicated by a flickering black & white line.
Step 4
Let's save the shape you drew. Click on SELECTION on the menu
bar, and select SAVE SELECTION...
...then choose "new channel", and name the outline you drew, so
that you can find it at some later time. Saved selections also get
saved when writing your images in Photoshop's PSD format. You'll
want to use that format for saving your files. Besides. Do backups as
often as possible. Data tends to get lost you know.
Step 5
And now onto the cheating stuff :-) Lets correct the error that so
many people commit when drawing with pencils... leaving the paper
white. With just a little trick, you can add, or improve the shading of a
picture, without altering the original graphite piece. Normally, anyone
could do all this on the paper itself, but for those who are not so
confidant in what they're after, neither what they're capable of, this
Photoshop filter called Gaussian Blur will do the trick.
Since you still have the part you want to work with selected, you
can get right to the point. Choose Gaussian Blur from the Blur menu
point under Filters.
Set the amout of blur you want. The preview won't tell you much of
the final version, so i better let you know what to look after. Make
sure that no space will be left white, but also, that the original shading
won't fall entirely out of place ( won't blur so much that it gets
unrecognizable ). The value i used to work with is between 1.5 and
2.0 .
Now you have a very blurry version of your drawing. Now you'll add
this to the original pencil work. Click on Filter again, and choose Fade
Gaussian Blur.
From the modes, select multiply, and set the value as desired. With
the preview function set on, you must be able to see the result
instantly on your screen in the background. In my case this was
around 50%... if i remember clearly :-)
My example :
Step 6
And now... Onto the Main Feature! Let's color the drawing! For both
better results and protection, use another layer for coloring each part
of the picture. Start with the biggest surfaces, in my case that will be
the skin of the girl. For starters, you'll need to create a new layer.
Choose New layer under the menu point Layer.
Set the mode of the new layer to Color. This will allow you to add
saturation and hue to the image without changing the luminance.
Which means in english... You will be able to add color to the graphite
drawing , but no matter what color you'll use to paint, you will not
change the balance of dark and light parts, therefore the shading will
not be damaged. This also means that coloring the picture with the
same kind of blue, only a darker one ( closer to black ) will not give
you any different results than using the same kind of blue, except
lighter.
Select the new layer.
Select a tool that you want to work with. I prefer Paintbrush. Since
i don't want, neither would be able to add any further shading, it is
better. This way no parts of the image will be left more gray than the
other. Since any parts that you won't cover with paint will be left as
grayscale as they are.
And now... color the picture. Because you selected the working
area, the area you want to color long before, you cannot go overboard
the outlines. However, inside the picture nothing is stopping you from
running into a different object. Those you simply must watch out for.
Using separate layers for every object is a good idea, but will not
solve your problem. You will still need to watch where you're going
with that brush. Choose different brush sizes to paint small/large parts
of the drawing.
Look how different a drawing looks just by adding only one color.
In case you run over some parts you wish not to color, you may use
the eraser. It works just the same as the paintbrush, if set so. Be
careful with that undo option. For your actions are counted from
mouse-click to mouse-click, if you colored an entire image with one
stroke, an undo command will negate everything ( but remember
there is a redo command as well ).
By clicking on the eye icon next to the layer you can turn on and
off their visibility. This example is when the original drawing itself, the
background layer is turned off:
Using many layers and colors, give life to the drawing. Remember,
you can always edit the graphite drawing itself by selecting its layer.
This way you can correct things that you did not notice while on
paper. But this is not recommended since it is really hard to make the
lines and textures that are drawn in Photoshop not to look artificial.
Anyways. After a few minutes ( or in my case, hours ) you can have a
very decent looking image on your screen. Take your time to color
every feature individually. You may try different colors and
combination of colors without the need of deleting any, just create
another layer, and turn off the one that it replaces.
Turning off the pencil layer gives you a chance to notice any gaps
between the colored areas. You may fill them in this way, and turn the
background layer, the graphite drawing back on afterwards.
Step 7
After you added color to each and every part of your picture you
wanted to, you may enhance the colors to a richer, less computer
matte, more realistic look. This too can be done without altering any
of the layers you already added. All you need to do is to copy the
layers that contain the color paint. To duplicate them. You'll have the
same color, at the same place. And by setting the mode of this new
layer, you can reach a combination that results in a more paintlike,
less metallic and vibrant effect. First off, duplicate the layer of the
cololred area you want to alter.
Then set the mode of this layer to something different than color
and normal. I used multiply and color burn modes. Adjusting the
transparency ( that percentage slidebar, yes ) of the layer might also
be a good idea. Especially when using dark colors. Don't let the new
layers overwhelm the pervious ones. You may also alter the order of
the layers. Making the color mode layer the upmost in the group is
good for keeping the hue that you originally set.
Step 8
Well, since your goal is to make it look real, and beautyful, you
mustn't forget of the light. My example features a highlight and a
shadow. I can't get into any scientific explanations on what is
highlight and where it should be exactly on the picture, due to my lack
of knowing the right english words. Let's just say that highlights are
where the the light falls on the body the nearest to 90 degrees, so it
drops off the most intensivly at that area. If you choose a simple light
source, let's say... upper right, you need to draw the highlights
around the edges of the upper right part of every shape. Head, hand,
chest, sword, whatever. You ought to look after how different
materials reflect light. Clothes for example usually won't shine as
bright as metal or the skin. Well hopefully they don't. If they do, they
need to be washed as soon as possible. You can create a new layer for
highlights. I prefer to set its mode to screen, and set its transparency
to around 30%.
Using the airbrush tool add some bright color that can be taken for
light. My example here is yellow.
Adding a shadow is facultative. Since you already added shading to
your drawing this feature is more like a reflected light, the reflection
of the ground or enviroment on the body. Where the ground, or the
objects around the body reflect much light, what i am going to show
you isn't applicable. In these cases use another highlight layer for the
reflected light. My example however shows the adding of a shadow.
For this use another layer. Set its mode to something that keeps you
from altering the bright parts. I prefer overlay.
Using the airbrush tool add some dark color that can be taken as
reflected light. My example here features dark bluish violet.
Step 9
And for the finishing touch, let's use one of the so-called filter plug-
ins of photoshop. You are going to add a black background with
outlining the figure with white. Of course this too could be done with
real ink, on real paper. First off, you'll need to load the selection, the
area you marked for the computer in which to work in. Now you'll
need to invert this, letting the computer to know that you're not into
messing up what you've done already. You just want to add a decent
background. Well... allright a decent background color :-) . Select
Load Selection under the menu point Select.
Go for the area you saved earlier. Given a talking name, you just
might be able to find it within 0.2 seconds instead of 1.9 .
Do not forget to select the layer of the original drawing, the pencil
work. If you are not sure of yourself, turn everything else off for the
duration of this step.
Invert the selection by selecting the Inverse under the menupoint
Select.
Now you'll need to loosen up the area, so there will be some space
left for the white outline. This you can do by selecting Contract under
the menupoint Modify in Select. Contract the selection in anz amout
you want but be careful. Leaving too much space out will result in
seeing too much of the original paper. Which is grayscale and noisy.
Not white. I prefer contracting 2 pixels.
And to make it look smoother, select Feather under the menupoint
Select. Make the feather equal to the amount you gave in Contract. In
my case this too was 2 pixels.
After doing so, your selection should wave around the area by a
few pixels. Now select the right filter to add a background. In case
you're not sure of yourself, you can either copy the original, the
Background layer, and use the copy, or simply save the file. For that
white outline/black background effect use the Glowing Edges filter in
the Stylize group under the menupoint Filter.
And that's it.
The End
Finished. A pencil drawing turned into a colorful picture. If you liked
the result, try to do it with conventional media. Not out of bigotry, but
for the improvement of your more universal skills. Here's the picture i
colored myself. I must say i was pleased with how it turned out.
Again.. compared to my own skills that is ;-) .
Cirmos girl goes hiking
...and some final words
In case you found my article helpful, or colored an image with the
help of it, please let me know. my e-mail is
. Thank
you for your time. Take care, and draw lots of beautyful pictures. :-)
Peter Keres
Comment boa
maybe you have a clue whats