Coloring tutorial, anyone?
Wrote this in my locked journal a few weeks ago for pectus_pectoris, so when starlinglove asked if I had a tutorial, I figured it would be best if I moved it here.
I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing, so writing a tutorial was a bit odd. My techniques were developed through reading several tutorials, taking bits and pieces and trying them out, and then trying things until I eventually found a process that gave me results that I thought looked good. You should do the same. :)
So pick your picture. The higher the quality, the better.
Don't let sex-face!Yama distract you too much as we go along. :P
Then you have to fix it up, so that it's all ready to color. In this case, I darkened it up, made the canvas size a bit bigger and drew in some new bits of hair and the collar of his shirt.
Also you should make sure that the picture is set to RGB mode and is set as a regular layer instead of a background, so you can set it to multiply. So yeah, do that and create a new layer underneath the original panel. Put down your first section of color.
Next lock the transparency of the layer. This is what the button looks like for me.
So pick out a darker color and start laying down splotches of color in places where there are shadows.
Then take the smudge tool and smudge around the edges of the splotches so it blends smoothly into the other color. Keep repeating this with different shades of the color. I usually do two darker colors and one lighter for skin and then just two or three colors for everything else.
So continue this process for the other colors. One layer per section of color. Sometimes it helps to put down a background color to help you see if you've missed a spot while laying down color.
This is my favorite part. It's optional though. I'm stupid and love blushing boys, so put down a splotch of color on the cheeks on a new layer on top of all the others (ignore the fact that I stupidly didn't put it on top).
Aaand Gaussian blur (find it in Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur--move the slider till it looks good).
Then you have to go in and erase in the spots where the blush overlaps the hair and eyes and such and change the opacity so that it isn't too dark.
Next I usually go in and add some white, shiny bits on a new top layer. Again this is optional, but I like it.
Now throw in whatever you want for a background if you haven't already. I usually use some random gradient 'cause I'm lazy.
This next bit I kind of got from this tutorial. Hide the background, the line art, the blush, and the shiny layer, and then merge the visible layers. Duplicate the new layer and set the resulting layer to overlay and lock the transparency.
Then go back into filters and Gaussian blur again. Then you change the opacity of the layer until it looks good to you. It just makes things a little brighter and stuff. I don't know. I like it. XD
Also, don't mind me adjusting the color on his shirt. I decided I didn't really care for the green...
So that's about it. Then you can apply various filters and things until you get the look you want. Tah dah?
Ask any questions. I know I probably didn't make things very clear. Good luck, my dears.
I feel like I don't really know what I'm doing, so writing a tutorial was a bit odd. My techniques were developed through reading several tutorials, taking bits and pieces and trying them out, and then trying things until I eventually found a process that gave me results that I thought looked good. You should do the same. :)
So pick your picture. The higher the quality, the better.
Don't let sex-face!Yama distract you too much as we go along. :P
Then you have to fix it up, so that it's all ready to color. In this case, I darkened it up, made the canvas size a bit bigger and drew in some new bits of hair and the collar of his shirt.
Also you should make sure that the picture is set to RGB mode and is set as a regular layer instead of a background, so you can set it to multiply. So yeah, do that and create a new layer underneath the original panel. Put down your first section of color.
Next lock the transparency of the layer. This is what the button looks like for me.
So pick out a darker color and start laying down splotches of color in places where there are shadows.
Then take the smudge tool and smudge around the edges of the splotches so it blends smoothly into the other color. Keep repeating this with different shades of the color. I usually do two darker colors and one lighter for skin and then just two or three colors for everything else.
So continue this process for the other colors. One layer per section of color. Sometimes it helps to put down a background color to help you see if you've missed a spot while laying down color.
This is my favorite part. It's optional though. I'm stupid and love blushing boys, so put down a splotch of color on the cheeks on a new layer on top of all the others (ignore the fact that I stupidly didn't put it on top).
Aaand Gaussian blur (find it in Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur--move the slider till it looks good).
Then you have to go in and erase in the spots where the blush overlaps the hair and eyes and such and change the opacity so that it isn't too dark.
Next I usually go in and add some white, shiny bits on a new top layer. Again this is optional, but I like it.
Now throw in whatever you want for a background if you haven't already. I usually use some random gradient 'cause I'm lazy.
This next bit I kind of got from this tutorial. Hide the background, the line art, the blush, and the shiny layer, and then merge the visible layers. Duplicate the new layer and set the resulting layer to overlay and lock the transparency.
Then go back into filters and Gaussian blur again. Then you change the opacity of the layer until it looks good to you. It just makes things a little brighter and stuff. I don't know. I like it. XD
Also, don't mind me adjusting the color on his shirt. I decided I didn't really care for the green...
So that's about it. Then you can apply various filters and things until you get the look you want. Tah dah?
Ask any questions. I know I probably didn't make things very clear. Good luck, my dears.