3rd Tutorial: Coloring Black and White Images
Find out how to get this coloring.
Comments will be most greatly appreciated and welcomed.
First we start with a black and white picture like this.
Create a New Raster Layer and color in the skin with your Airbrush tool (
). With the color #FDEDD5. But erase his eyes and teeth, but not his lips. So now you have this. Set to Color, Opacity 42%. Name the layer "Skin 1", when coloring it's easier to name the layers in order to go back and to change or correct something in them.
to
Next create another New Raster Layer and color the sweater red with the color #FF4040. Erase any red that goes beyond the sweater set to Color, Opacity 50%. Name that Layer "Red Sweater".
to
Create another New Raster Layer and name this one "Outside Window" you can name it whatever you want, but this is just what I chose. So then you can either use the fill bucket because it's a larger space or just use your brush tool. I decided to use my fill bucket because it was easier to erase in my opinion. Using the color #6BFD6B set to Color Opacity 27%.
to
Then we again create another New Raster Layer and color it with #40FFFF. Color in only the shirt collar and name it "Blue Shirt" and set to Color Opacity 32%.
to
Right, now we're going to color his hair. Using the Airbrush tool color it using a light brown color #9D5719 and set to Color Opacity 56%. Name the Layer "Hair 1"
to
Now I didn't really need to color this because it's looks okay, but when you coloring things details matter. So yes again we make another New Raster Layer and color #404040 and we color the horizontal bar in the background on the window and set to Color Opacity 58%. I realized I coul've gone higher on the opacity and it woul've looked fine, but sublety is key. :) Named this layer "Window Pane", btw.
to
Yay, we're almost halfway done! Hang in there. (patient people get cookies! ♥)
Next we move on to the eyes. I chose a really bright almost neon blue #40FFFF same as in the shirt. When coloring black and white photos I find it's best to choose really strong, bold and bright colors, that way when you change the opacity they look natural and good instead of if you choose light colors they wouldn't even show on the black and white photos. So yeah color in his eyes and name the eye layer "Eyes" and set to Color Opacity 18%.
to
Alright so far the picture looks fine and we can leave it at that and finish it here. But again it's all about the details so I choose to continue and just polish it up a bit, so we color his lips with the airbrush tool but this time I chose a low color because I don't want his lips to stand out. I just want them to be there just a bit pale color, because I don't want it to look like lipstick. (because he's a man but if you were coloring a woman obviously you'd go higher on the Opacity) So I chose this color #FFC0C0 and set it to Color Opacity 8% and name the layer "Lips". Yes subtle and unncessary but I like the effect it gives.
to
Now the next thing that brought my attention was his skin it's too pale and has no life. So to spice it up a bit I make another layer and take my Paintbrush tool(
)(with the settings of size 55, hardness 0, step 10, density and thickness both 100 and rotations 0) and set the color at #FFC0C0. For this I did things a little backwards I set the layer to Color and lowered the Opacity to 12% and then using the paintbrush tool I colored in certain places I thought needed life, such as his the sides of his neck, cheeks, and forehead.
to
Okay, now we're going to whiten his teeth. For this I duplicate the original image(the black and white one) bring it to the top of all the layers and erase everything but the teeth and set that to Screen Opacity 22%. Name this layer "Teeth".
to
Now go to Edit>Copy Merged or (right click on the image>copy merged), then right click on the image and Paste as new Layer and set that layer to Soft Light Opacity 26%
to
I initially stopped after this step but then I noticed something was wrong. I realized Prince William has blondish/brownish hair not chesnut brown hair *headdesk*. So I had to go back and again make another New Raster Layer and color his hair #FFFF40 and set that to Color Opacity 26% and name the layer "Hair 2".
to
Next I noticed his skin was also again too pale and had no life, I mean it had dimension to it due to the Paintbrushing I did eariler but it was still I don't know just something was off. I mean skin isn't only just one color it's multi dimensional. So I make a New Raster Layer and using the Airbrush tool color his skin like before only this time with a different color #F58929. Name this layer "Skin 2" and set it to Color Opacity 10%.
to
Right now this is the last step. Create a New Raster Layer and using your Airbrush tool (
) color in his gums but only the ones on top of his mouth with this color #FF8080. Name layer "Gums" and set to Color Opacity 20%. And Voila! Your done! (gives cookies ♥) At the end your Layers Palette should look like this.
to
Using the same/similar technique
Extra Notes:
-I used PSP 8 to make this icon.
-Comments are appreciated.
-Love to see what you come up with. =D
-Feel free to ask questions.
-For more of my icons, banners and general graphics see cristal_graphix
Comments will be most greatly appreciated and welcomed.
First we start with a black and white picture like this.
Create a New Raster Layer and color in the skin with your Airbrush tool (
). With the color #FDEDD5. But erase his eyes and teeth, but not his lips. So now you have this. Set to Color, Opacity 42%. Name the layer "Skin 1", when coloring it's easier to name the layers in order to go back and to change or correct something in them.
to
Next create another New Raster Layer and color the sweater red with the color #FF4040. Erase any red that goes beyond the sweater set to Color, Opacity 50%. Name that Layer "Red Sweater".
to
Create another New Raster Layer and name this one "Outside Window" you can name it whatever you want, but this is just what I chose. So then you can either use the fill bucket because it's a larger space or just use your brush tool. I decided to use my fill bucket because it was easier to erase in my opinion. Using the color #6BFD6B set to Color Opacity 27%.
to
Then we again create another New Raster Layer and color it with #40FFFF. Color in only the shirt collar and name it "Blue Shirt" and set to Color Opacity 32%.
to
Right, now we're going to color his hair. Using the Airbrush tool color it using a light brown color #9D5719 and set to Color Opacity 56%. Name the Layer "Hair 1"
to
Now I didn't really need to color this because it's looks okay, but when you coloring things details matter. So yes again we make another New Raster Layer and color #404040 and we color the horizontal bar in the background on the window and set to Color Opacity 58%. I realized I coul've gone higher on the opacity and it woul've looked fine, but sublety is key. :) Named this layer "Window Pane", btw.
to
Yay, we're almost halfway done! Hang in there. (patient people get cookies! ♥)
Next we move on to the eyes. I chose a really bright almost neon blue #40FFFF same as in the shirt. When coloring black and white photos I find it's best to choose really strong, bold and bright colors, that way when you change the opacity they look natural and good instead of if you choose light colors they wouldn't even show on the black and white photos. So yeah color in his eyes and name the eye layer "Eyes" and set to Color Opacity 18%.
to
Alright so far the picture looks fine and we can leave it at that and finish it here. But again it's all about the details so I choose to continue and just polish it up a bit, so we color his lips with the airbrush tool but this time I chose a low color because I don't want his lips to stand out. I just want them to be there just a bit pale color, because I don't want it to look like lipstick. (because he's a man but if you were coloring a woman obviously you'd go higher on the Opacity) So I chose this color #FFC0C0 and set it to Color Opacity 8% and name the layer "Lips". Yes subtle and unncessary but I like the effect it gives.
to
Now the next thing that brought my attention was his skin it's too pale and has no life. So to spice it up a bit I make another layer and take my Paintbrush tool(
)(with the settings of size 55, hardness 0, step 10, density and thickness both 100 and rotations 0) and set the color at #FFC0C0. For this I did things a little backwards I set the layer to Color and lowered the Opacity to 12% and then using the paintbrush tool I colored in certain places I thought needed life, such as his the sides of his neck, cheeks, and forehead.
to
Okay, now we're going to whiten his teeth. For this I duplicate the original image(the black and white one) bring it to the top of all the layers and erase everything but the teeth and set that to Screen Opacity 22%. Name this layer "Teeth".
to
Now go to Edit>Copy Merged or (right click on the image>copy merged), then right click on the image and Paste as new Layer and set that layer to Soft Light Opacity 26%
to
I initially stopped after this step but then I noticed something was wrong. I realized Prince William has blondish/brownish hair not chesnut brown hair *headdesk*. So I had to go back and again make another New Raster Layer and color his hair #FFFF40 and set that to Color Opacity 26% and name the layer "Hair 2".
to
Next I noticed his skin was also again too pale and had no life, I mean it had dimension to it due to the Paintbrushing I did eariler but it was still I don't know just something was off. I mean skin isn't only just one color it's multi dimensional. So I make a New Raster Layer and using the Airbrush tool color his skin like before only this time with a different color #F58929. Name this layer "Skin 2" and set it to Color Opacity 10%.
to
Right now this is the last step. Create a New Raster Layer and using your Airbrush tool (
) color in his gums but only the ones on top of his mouth with this color #FF8080. Name layer "Gums" and set to Color Opacity 20%. And Voila! Your done! (gives cookies ♥) At the end your Layers Palette should look like this.
to
Using the same/similar technique
Extra Notes:
-I used PSP 8 to make this icon.
-Comments are appreciated.
-Love to see what you come up with. =D
-Feel free to ask questions.
-For more of my icons, banners and general graphics see cristal_graphix