HOW TO: Coloring and other things.

In my last how to, I showed how I scan and do my line work. Not too complicated of stuff, which is why I wanted to share it. Photoshop can be complicated, but at the same time it can be so easy to use it's laughable. That's what I feel what turns most people off from it, is that they feel as though they should know how to use it but really don't. So, they feel dumb and don't really do anything with it. I can only hope that my tutorials help ease the frustration.

Anyhow, back to the "how to"

So when we last left off, we had just gotten done with doing the line work. After this, I make a new layer. Yea, yet another layer. Get used to it. After you've done this, make sure to go to the layer options like we did selecting "overlay". This time select "multiply".

 

This does exactly like it says, it "multiplys" the layer so it's almost as if you working in the same layer, BUT NOT. Crazy, right? After all that nonsense, I usually pick a neutral tone as my base layer. By doing this you can keep a coherent tone within the piece, plus you get rid of some the edges from when you were fixing the piece.

Then it's time for base colors! Aw yeah! Actually it's really not that exciting... but you are getting one step closer to it being done, so that's exciting, right? Anyways, try to pick neutral colors again. Not necessarily browns and tans, but something between the lightest light and darkest dark you want. Oh, heads up that all layers, unless specified, are all on the multiply layer mode.

Then it's shading time. Lots of shading. I didn't do too much for the sake of time, but I generally do a bit more than this. These are just the simple shadows. Make another layer for this process, since if you do, and you use the exact same color for the area you did before, because of the multiply mode that shade will automatically become darker when you apply it on your painting. This process usually has a lot of new layers depending how much shading you want to have.

Textures! I put a texture on the metal work in this next layer. I usually use pictures or textures i have scanned in, but you can find others on the internet. You just, again, make a new layer, place your texture, erase what you do not want, and set the opacity.

 

Ok at this point I'm fairly happy with all my textures and shading. Now its time for lighting! My favorite part since its usually the last one for me. Create a new layer and set it to "overlay" mode. Choose two colors for a gradient...

Tadaa! Instant light source! There is usually one last step, though. Just to add details like shiney eyes and other stuff. This layer is in "normal" mode by the way, so I generally set my brush to a lower opacity.

And now your really done!

Hope these tutorials were helpful, but most of all, HAVE FUN!