TUTORIAL: How to make colored manga icons!
In under 10 steps! Oh boy!
First, I use photoshop, so if you have another program I'm sorry. You should know the basics of photoshop as well (creating layers, cropping, etc.). Coloring manga can take awhile, so pick an easy image. There are many ways to color, but I find this the best for me.
Lasso out the part you don't want. I usually don't keep scenery, since I use texture and brushes. Don't worry about getting all that other stuff out, we'll solve that problem later.
Delete the lasso'd area, try to fit it a good size you can see with. You're going to lasso a lot more, and you DON'T want to have a big picture, or a 100x100 pixel icon just yet.
Go to image, adjustments, and brightness/contrast. This should help clear up that junk in the back. You most likely will tinker with this, since each image is different. If you're lucky, and the manga you have is "cleaned", you can skip this step.
Create a new layer, then lasso the part you want to color. Use the fill bucket. Don't worry about getting it perfect, you can fix things later. A great tip is having a reference picture to help with correct coloring.
On the layers "window", right click the later and select blending options. Use the drop down box to select multiply. You could also do linear burn, depends on your taste. Try other blend options if you like.
When coloring skin, you might need to change the opacity. Skin can be tough since the shade you select DOESN'T equal the same color. You can lasso out a part that isn't supposed to be colored.
Make sure for each color, you use a different layer.
Now, I cropped a bit more to make the icon fit better. Resize picture to 100x100, then go to image, adjustments, brightness/contrast. MAKE SURE... you are selecting your "first" layer, or the original. This will help bring out the lines more, since they faded during resizing. If you don't really need to shrink your image much, you can skip this. Remember, you most likely have to tinker with this. There isn't a set brightness/contrast.
You could stop before this step, but to make it look better I add one extra layer. I use the fill bucket from a light brown/yellow on the image, then did what I did last time. Right click the layer in the layer window, and go to blending options. You can either select multiply or linear burn. You most likely will need to lower the opacity if you picked a dark color.
That's it! Easy huh? I ended up adding a bit more to mine and made it into this:
Good luck with your coloring adventure! Comments are lovely, since this is my first tutorial. I don't mind helping you if you need extra assistance. :]