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Making Labels - Part 2


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Last time we worked on the line art. Getting the line art cleaned up means that when you add color, you won't have to waste a lot of time working around smudges or broken lines. So with that done, it's time for...

 

 

Part 2 - Coloring

 

I use Photoshop for coloring almost everything, but many paint programs share some of the same features. There are a few key things that will make coloring much, much easier.

 

 

Layers

 

Using layers allows you to add color without affecting your line art. It also allows you to go back later and change colors, or add shading and other effects without affecting anything you've worked on earlier.

 

The way layers work, is that when you create a new layer, it's transparent by default. As you paint on it, the paint becomes opaque. This lets you paint over an existing layer, covering what you've worked on before. But we want our line art to stay visible. So to do that, we need to do a few things to it.

  1. First, I make a copy of the finished line art as a new layer, and move that layer to the top. This becomes the working copy of my line art.
     
  2. Then, I set that layer to "Multiply". What this does, is combines the values of the pixels in that layer with the ones below it. Sort of like printing something on a transparency. Most of the layer, being white, will just show through to the colors below it. The lines, being black, will multiply with the colors below them, and just appear black. The soft edges of the lines, which are gray, will take on the color of whatever is behind them, but at a darker value.
     
  3. After that, I'll turn off the original line art layers, and add a solid white layer above them. This prevents those line art layers from affecting any of the colors I'll be adding later. But it still keeps them around, in case I need them. For instance, if I accidentally paint on my new line art layer, I can just make another new copy the original.
     
  4. Finally, it's time to add a layer for coloring. I'll add this just below the new line art layer. Photoshop allows you to work on any layer that's visible and active - not just the top one.

This shows the layers as I've currently got them set up:

layers_1.gif

 

From the top down:

  • Outlines - final A merged copy of the bottom three layers. These make up the final, retouched line art. This is the currently active layer (shown as blue). You can also see it's set to "Multiply".
  • Goggles Color for the pilot's goggles. More on this layer later.
  • Color The color layer. This is where the basic colors are going to go.
  • White Background A layer to block out the layers below it, and give me a white "page" to work over.
  • Touch-up The touch-up layer shown in the comments of my previous tutorial.
  • Outlines levels This is a separate layer that's used to adjust the levels of the original artwork. This allows me to go back and change them later if I want.
  • Outlines - original The original, un-retouched scan.

An "eye" icon in the left column indicates if a layer is visible (on) or hidden (off). In order to work on a layer, it must be visible and active.

 

The two layers I'll be concerned with for the time being are the top Outlines layer, and the Color layer.

 

 

Selecting

 

Initially, I want to lay down flat colors, and I want these colors to overlap the outlines, so I don't have any white fringes around the edges. So to do this, I won't be using the Paint Bucket tool.

 

The problem with the Paint Bucket tool, is you don't really have enough control over its options to make it overlap the outlines. It will fill "most" of the way out, depending on the settings, but more often than not, it will fall short, and leave you with way too much touch-up work to do.

 

So the tool to use is the Magic Wand tool. This allows you to select an area by clicking in it, which is very similar to the Paint Bucket. But the Magic Wand won't fill the area, and we don't want it to... at least not yet.

 

These are the settings I start with, for the Magic Wand tool:

magic_wand.gif

  • The "Tolerance" setting determines how broad of a range of values gets selected. 32 is a good starting point, but if it's not selecting enough of an area, increase the value. 255 means it will select everything.
     
  • "Contiguous" means it's only going to select an area that's enclosed. If that was unchecked, it would select everything on screen that was the same color (which can come in handy, but not for now).
     
  • "Sample All Layers" allows me to work on the Color layer, but the selection will be defined by everything that's visible - even colors on another layer. So as I click on an area that's white, that's what gets selected, even though the lines that define that area are on a different layer.

To get started, I want to make sure that the active layer is the Color layer, since that's where I want the paint to go.

 

When I click on an area that I want to fill, the Magic Wand does pretty much what the Paint Bucket does. It almost overlaps the edge of the outline, but not far enough. (Cranking up the Magic Wand's Tolerance value can help some, but if you go too high, the selection will start spilling over into other areas you may not want it to.)

 

The dotted line around top of the left die* shows the area selected:

select_dice.gif

Line art by Jess Ragan

 

*Remember - "dice" is plural ;)

 

If I applied a fill at this point, I'd end up with something like this:

misfilled_dice.gif

 

This doesn't look too bad, but there's a light fringe around the edge of the color, so I'd need to go back and touch this up. I'd have to do this for every shape in the drawing. Dark colors are especially noticeable. This also depends a lot on your line art, and how much the gray edges bleed out into the white.

 

To avoid this, before I fill it, I have Photoshop expand the selection area. This can be done by 1 or more pixels, and how much depends on what works for your line art. In this case, I used 2. In the menus, choose Select > Modify > Expand, and enter a 2:

expand.gif

 

Now the selection looks like this:

expand_dice.gif

 

So now, I can apply a fill to it. I pick a color I want to use, and choose Edit > Fill from the menus, and "Use Foreground Color".

fill_foreground.gif

 

I then end up with this:

layer_order_dice.gif

 

Remember - the color is on a separate layer below the outlines.

 

If I temporarily move the color layer to the top, you can see what the fill actually did:

filled_dice.gif

 

So this completely fills the area, overlaps the outline, and eliminates any fringe around the edges.

 

One other big advantage that the Magic Wand has over the Paint Bucket, is that I can select multiple areas (by holding the Shift key while clicking on them), and fill them with the same color all at once. We'll be using the Magic Wand for quite a few other things, too - it's an extremely flexible and powerful tool.

 

The key to all of this is to use layers. Before you select "Fill", make sure the that your Color layer is the active one! If you accidentally fill the outline layer, you'll end up with something that looks like the picture above. The paint will eat into your outlines and wreck them. But even at that point, you can still hit "Undo", or at worst, make a new copy of your original outline layer. Just be sure to save your work often. My rule-of-thumb is, every time I do something I don't want to re-do, I hit "Save".

 

This coloring method probably seems like a big chore, compared to using the Paint Bucket. The Paint Bucket is one click - and you're done. Using the Magic Wand/Expand Selection/Choose Fill/Click OK method is certainly more involved. But Photoshop offers a shortcut.

 

 

Actions

 

Photoshop has the ability to record a series of steps, then trigger them with a single key. This is called an Action. So for my filling method, here's what I do to set up an Action:

  1. Choose any color.
  2. Use the Magic Wand to pick an area (it doesn't matter which one).
  3. Create a new Action called "Expand and Fill". The Action will begin recording.
  4. Go to Select > Modify > Expand, and set it for the value you want.
  5. Go to Edit > Fill, and select "Use Foreground Color". Click OK.
  6. Go to Select > Deselect.
  7. Stop recording.

You can assign an F key or key combination of your choice to this Action. Now when you're ready to fill an area, all you have to do is:

  1. Choose a color.
  2. Use the Magic Wand to pick an area.
  3. Hit the key to trigger the Action.

The Action will then expand the selection, fill it with the foreground color, and deselect the area when it's done so you can move right on to the next fill.

 

So now we've reduced it to just one more step than the Paint Bucket (hitting a key on the keyboard), and it will work much better.

 

Up next: More coloring!

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