2012 - guide: colouring - ways to make it happen.
Requested in part by twinstrike, rocketgirl2, spiderlin & fouroux.
Warning: Unfortunately, pretty image heavy.
The Basics:
As a preface, here are the things I always generally do:
Base Prep Note: the opacity of all the layers can be changed according to the image in question, and Smart Blur can be substituted for Surface Blur if the option is available.
COLOURING: Soft but Bright
Tip: Vibrance.
Already breaking the sharing is caring code. Never fear, adjustments are on the way.
Left: Vibrance (Vibrance: +50 | Saturation: +15)
Centre: Image after base prep + yellow variations layer + brightness/contrast layer.
Right: Hue/Saturation
Master Saturation: +30, Lightness: -5 | Reds Saturation: -25
Yellows Saturation: +15, Lightness: -5
What we have here is the power of the pop. In an image such as this where lots of colours already exist, a simple vibrance layer can add a beautiful pop to the colours and begin drawing them out easily. You can see there is a different in the contrast between the Hue/Saturation and the Vibrance as well, but I feel a Soft Light layer on low opacity could easily fix that up, so it is achievable without vibrance, just a little more fiddly.
Tip: Channel Mixer.
Having purposefully added in a yellow variation layer at the very beginning, I then decided I wanted the image be both brighter and slightly lighter blue in overall tone.
Left: Blue Channel: Blue +110 (repeated once immediately after the Vibrance layer, and once after several texture layers).
Centre: Where we left our image previously.
Right: Our continuing version using Hue/Saturation, now including a copy merged layer set to Soft Light at 50% immediately after the Hue/Saturation layer.
In both cases the whiteness of Cher's shirt as well as the wall behind her have worked in the favour of this icon to create a lovely stark contrast between the colours of the clothes and the rest of the icon. I used the Blue channel her because it was the yellow I wanted to take away, and generally it does tend to help when I amp up yellows and want to draw them back in skin tones. Had I wanted to take some red/green/cyan/magenta away, I would have played with the other channels to explore what they could do.
Tip: Textures to balance colour.
Apparently I still wanted to draw back the yellows, so I played with a couple of textures on very low opacity until I wound up using this one by midnightroad on Soft Light at 70% opacity.
Left: Our Vibranced up icon including texture.
Centre: Where we were before this.
Right: Our Hue/Saturation icon including the texture.
Often in the "icon" phase of the icon I find myself using textures to add colour, take it away (in this case the yellow has been generally taken from everywhere except Cher's clothes) and generally play with the shading of the icon. Which I imagine isn't unusual, but in the case of this icon it worked to pack the punch that was needed to sort of draw out the soft look again.
Bonus Tip: Filters are your friends
In the last layers of that icon I used a Paint Daubs layer (with the Brush Size at 4) and set the layer to 5% opacity, and a Cross Hatch layer with the Stroke Length at 10 and the Strength at 2, and set this to Soft Light at 50%. Filters such as this can add a sort of soft finishing glow to the icon which doesn't necessary take away from the contrast.
Final Icon
Vibrance | Hue/Saturation
COLOURING: Lighting
Tip: Variations/Painting Colours In.
When you want to add colour into an image to highlight, deepen or actually introduce colour, these are the two techniques I think I generally use.
Left: A merged copy of everything that came before it (Ctrl + Shift + C) pasted into a new layer. The first layer of variations (more yellow +1, more red +1, darker +1) and applied layer mask.
Centre: The beginnings of the icon.
Right: The second layer of variations (darker +1), which is also a merged copy pasted above the other layer of variations, and applied layer mask.
In this step I aimed to deepen the colours that were already existing within the image. I wanted to contrast the natural reds and yellows of Rory and his clothing against the lovely blues that were situated on either side of him. While there isn't a remarkable difference yet, the deepening of the colours helps when you come back to add more to them later.
Left: The very initial areas painted in - blue painted into the sky and green over the hills.
Centre: The beginnings of the icon.
Right: A layer of variations (more yellow +1) and applied layer mask. This took place after the base prep that occurred with the image on the left.
From the beginning this image kind of lacked the colour I wanted, so before the base prep even happened I added in that little hint of colour. Not much, and not intensely, but enough to put that little bit more into the image. After this (and the base prep), I wanted to make the natural yellow tones pop a little more, which is where the variation layer came in. It's lowered to 50%, however the intensity is something I could have also kept. I did mask away the variation layer from the sky, because I wanted to try and maintain the blue.
Tip: Light Splodges. On normal then screen then normal then screen. Over and over...
Left: Where we got to using textures/and several adjustment layers to lighten and contrast the image.
Centre: Where we were with our variation layers added.
Right: The 10 layers of light splodges used, including 2 red (on normal and screen), 4 blue (on screen), 1 yellow (on screen), 1 deep green/blue/brown (on screen) and 1 tan (on screen). Between the two red layers and the rest of the layers a Soft Light layer occurs I believe, as well as a couple of other adjustment layers.
Really, this is my default method for adding colour. See something you want to highlight in an image? Pick a colour near it -> New layer -> Paintbrush over the area -> blur the painting, set to normal or screen (or copy the layer and have both) on whatever opacity you wish. In this case, there happened to be a fair bit of colour that I wanted to either highlight, or in the case of the murky browns in the top corner, hide. So I went a little colour splodge mad.
Left: Where we got to using textures/and several adjustment layers to lighten and contrast the image.
Centre: Where we were with our variation layers added.
Right: Only 3 layers of splodges this time - two blue, one set to normal at 20% opacity then one to soft light at 20% opacity, and one green.
Here I used the splodges to decrease the contrast slightly, especially in the sky, and of course to up the colour of the background, particularly the grass... and in all honesty, again because I wanted more colour in the icon.
Tip: Soft Light + Blur.
I think this is a basic fall back technique for anyone who wants to bring a little contrast and a little shine into their icon, which isn't a bad thing at all. Sometimes it's those basic things that can make the different in an icon.
Left: Pre-Soft light Rory. Pretty glowy.
Right: Post-Soft light Rory. Contrasty and glowy.
Left: Rory after his first soft light experience.
Centre: Rory after his second soft light experience.
Right: Bonus!Lightblobs, another couple of layers in icon form because I really just like colours.
So the changes are generally minimal, but I enjoy soft light because you can manipulate the layer settings to make it as extreme or minimal as you want. I think here it added that little bit of contrast and smoothness I wanted from the image, without adding too much into it and blowing the colours out too far.
Left: Bran pre-Soft Light layer.
Right: Bran post-Soft Light layer, set to 50% opacity. This was with the Cross-Hatch filter I believe.
Left: Another Soft Light layer, set to 50% opacity. Cross hatch (on a very low setting) was used again I think.
Centre: Several texture layers, and a vibrance layer later, we have arrived here.
Right: Soft Light layer, set to 20% opacity.
Really, the vibrance layer made the difference, but the Soft Light layers worked to add contrast where necessary, and the slight blurriness and softness to the icon. Beyond that we have basic resizing and ta-da!
Final Icon
COLOURING: Textures
Tip: Vibrance.
Once again, I just want to reiterate the power of a well used vibrance (or hue/saturation) layer in drawing out colours in an icon.
Left: Vibrance (Vibrance +50 | Saturation + 10)
Centre: After a base prep and a brightness/contrast layer, this is where I land with the image.
Right: Hue/Saturation Layer
Master: Hue +7 | Saturation +20
Reds: Hue -5 | Saturation +25 | Lightness -10
Yellows: Hue +3 | Saturation +25 | Lightness -10
Very little explanation needed here: the bolder colours are pretty evident, and the reasoning behind the use of vibrance remains the same. I think the only distinct difference between the vibrance and hue/saturation layers is the depth of the yellow, but generally that's something that can be altered by masking, or kept as is because yellow is just that fantastic a colour!
Tip: Textures - Part 1
This icon has two levels of textures to work in the colours, one to add depth to the colour that is already in the image (the yellow and reds) and one to change the blacks that will come out in this phase to purple. Part 1 is as follows.
The top(ish) right corner of this texture (by exposed), blurred and set to Overlay at 100% opacity.
The lower-middle part of this texture (by colormayfade), where the green is evident but fades mostly into red, blurred and set to Overlay at 20% opacity.
Any part of this texture (by colormayfade) where blue is on the left side and runs into white/cream on the right side, blurred and set to Overlay at 100% opacity.
Left: Vibrance + textures.
Centre: Where we left our image previously.
Right: Hue/Saturation + textures.
Bonus Tip:
I wasn't convinced by the lighting in the top right corner (there were murky greens and yellows that didn't agree with me) so I put a color blob (#855c0c) into the corner and set it to Screen at 100% opacity.
Left: Vibrance + lighting.
Right: Hue/Saturation + lighting.
This added some shadows and contrast to the image, and gave it a nice sort of segmented effect, where the light was shining onto Santana from one side of the image, but she was moving into shadows in the second half. Also, Overlay was a stronger layer option that pushed the shadows to a little extreme. It was effective here, but can also be too much with some other texture usage, so be cautious when exploring how wonderful it can be!
Left: Vibrance
Right: Hue/Saturation
After added a Color Balance layer, a Selective Colour layer (to deepen yellows and blacks), another use of this texture, on Soft Light at 50% and a copy merged layer, blurred and set to Soft Light at 30%, we resize our images and here we are.
Tip: Textures - Part 2
Now icon-sized, I felt that instead of black I wanted a purple/yellow combination. So - textures!
This texture (by midnightroad) was resized, blurred, and set to Screen at 100% opacity.
This texture (by mm3butterfly) was inverted, moved so the white bars weren't visible, copied so the texture covered the icon, and set to Overlay at 26% opacity.
I then copy-merged the icon, went to Filter > Artistic > Paint Daubs (Brush size: 5), and set the layer to Hard Light at 10% opacity. A RGB curves layer was then added to generally add slightly more lightness and contrast.
This texture (by basrtr7) was stretched out so the white was not visible, then set to Screen at 100% opacity.
This texture (by raiindust) was set to Screen at 20% opacity.
I then added a Colour Balance layer, and a Selective Colour layer, both with the yellows manipulated to add more vibrancy to the yellow in the icon.
This texture (by lumsx) was added, the brighter areas were painted over with a similar colour to the darker areas, and set to Soft Light at 50% opacity.
Left: Vibrance icon with textures added.
Centre: Our initial icon.
Right: Hue/Saturation icon with textures added.
Bonus Tip:
Once again, I wasn't completely sold on the final product. So the final element is another layer of light blobs, this time some yellow in upper right corner, and some purple in the lower left corner. This layer was set to Screen at 50% opacity.
Final Icon
Vibrance | Hue/Saturation
COLOURING: Monochrome
Tip: Solid Fill Layers
Solid fill layers aren't something I use often - they were used in this case to draw similar soft colours into the image, without overwhelming it. Basically, beginning the monochromatic process.
Left: Beginnings of the icon with base prep.
Centre: After an auto-adjustment layer, giving the image a little more depth.
Right: One fill layer (#eed1a7) set to Multiply at 20% opacity, a second fill layer (#eed1a7) set to Soft Light ato 20% opacity.
Essentially the Auto adjustment layer too away the intensity of the orange colours, and the solid fill layers worked a slightly more pastel look into the image.
Tip: Textures - Part 1
Again, there are two ways textures have been used in this icon. The first is a general softening of the colours, and removal of contrast. This was done when the image was bigger, but unfortunately I didn't save the psd for a 200x200 canvas.
This texture (by elli) was set to Screen at 20% opacity.
This texture (by elli) was inverted, and set to Screen at 50% opacity. The same texture was used again (inverted), and this time was set to Soft Light at 50% opacity.
This texture was blurred, then set to Exclusion at 30% opacity.
A curves layer was added to brighten the image, and then I added this texture (by blueymcphluey), using the top left part where there is green and a murky yellow colour combination, and set the layer to Soft Light at 50% opacity.
Left: Where we left our icon, with a brightness/contrast layer added, and a curves layer added to lighten the icon.
Centre: Texture work using elli's textures.
Right: Texture work using bluemcphluey's texture.
We've now lightened the icon up, and moved from our blueish tone into a greenish yellowish tone. I then emphasised the yellows with a Hue/Saturation layer, a blurred Soft Light layer, before minimising the icon.
Tip: Textures - Part 2
Now to add some icon-sized textures to create a more pastel, soft icon.
First, we add this texture (unknown, please let me know if you recognise it!) to Multiply at 20% opacity.
Next we add this texture (by 12feethigh) and set to it Screen at 30% opacity.
Then we add this texture (by 12feethigh) and set it to Screen at 50% opacity.
Finally we add this texture (by windsonnetss), drag it out a little and set it to Screen at 100% opacity.
Left: Our re-sized image.
Centre: Adding the textures to the icon.
Right: With a brightness/contrast layer, our icon is complete.
When picking textures like this, I think I wanted to further dull down the image, and begin to remove even more of the contrast. I was also very interested in that natural pastel colour, and so the tones of the chosen textures were used to compliment each other.
The End
No seriously, if you have any follow up questions or regards to getting from point a to point b where it's been skipped, please let me know. I'm very happy to answer anything about in between bits, or anything about other processes I may have. Otherwise, I hope you have enjoyed the rambles.