Problems colouring pencil lines in photoshop.

[Jri]

Hello everybody,

I've been making a couple of pencil illustrations and scanning them into photoshop, just the line art - no rendering or shading, just simple outlines of shapes.

I then use photoshop to colour the lines digitally (first by treating the contrast/levels on the line art itself to make it a little bolder, then by setting the line art layer blending option to "Multiply" and colouring on layers beneath the line art one).

Now, I am using this method (instead of making the line art with a tablet) to preserve the tangible, naturally textured feel of the illustrations - however; I am running into two problems.

> The 'Multiply' blending option seems to take anything that isn't 100% black and make it transparent to a certain degree (opacity varying, depending on the colour's proximity to 100% black). This means that through my grey pencil lines, which are separating two different colours - you can see the border between the coloured sections, instead of the border being neatly obscured by the pencil line.

> I also would like to colour the lines themselves, but the more colour I add - the more transparent they tend to become (as many of the line colours I have in mind are quite light). I would trace around the lines, and then fill over them - but this would defeat the idea of having that nice gritty pencil texture to it.

Wait... ...I just thought maybe if I put a coloured trace of the line, directly below to Multiplied line art' layer - that might help. Perhaps if I lower the opacity on the line art layer also.

Might work, might not. In the mean time, while I am experimenting - does anyone have any better ways of doing it? (In case my way fails miserably!).

[B-nine]

I wrote out how to do it once, but it wouldn't let me reply for some reason.

I glanced over this tutorial and it's the general idea I was passing along.
Let me know if there's anything you need help with.

http://www.huzeyk.blogspot.com/2006/...-coloring.html

[ArtZealot]

If your problem is being able to see through the lines you pencil over in photoshop, maybe try tracing your lines over in multiply mode, then turn the multiply mode into "normal" after you are done tracing, and put it above your color layer so nothing passes through the line layer, and thus your color borders can't be seen.

I'd also recommend using a standard brush with flow set to pen pressure to ink them. To me, that one has always felt more like a pencil.

[Kailaan]

Hi, I don't have photoshop open right now so I may miss a step but what I do is open the original file then in Channels I select one (usually blue and make a duplicate. I invert it so that the lines are now white. Then on a new layer I choose from the select menu load selection and then you will get a dialog box that allows you to choose 'blue copy' or what ever you named your new channel. You can then fill the selected area in with the paintbucket.
I don't know if that's what you are looking for but I find that if an area isn't opaque enough I can go over it a few times with the paintbrush and fill it in more.
Good luck.

[Mat Kaminski]

Here's what I do, keep in mind I'm no expert by far, but this is my method for digital painting:

1) Scan in pencil linework.
2) Adjust as neccessary in photoshop.
3) Set the layer with pencils on it's own layer and set that layer to multiply.
4) Create a new layer below your line art layer.
5) Begin painting on the layer you just created.

Viola. It works for me at least.

Another hint that I suggest is to try and maintain 100% opacity on your brushes initially and then slowly lower opacity after you've gotten base colors down to blend the two colors together. Add highlights/shadows afterward, etc.

Have fun, hope that helps. If need be I can make a visual version of this tutorial for you to see it in action later, just PM me or e-mail me.

[Jri]

Thanks everyone.

Matte_Art:

The problem isn't really about getting colour onto the line art, that part's fine.

The issue is that I can see the colours through the lines themselves when I simply set the line layer to multiply.

B-Nine: I'll give that link a loo, Cheers!

[TJDesigns]

I've found that if I take my pencil layer and make a copy and set them both in multiply, then group them to keep them neatly out of the way, it creates a nice line where I can keep the grittiness. It is also dark enough so that you cannot see the lines underneath.

[feral714]

I'm not 100% sure this is the answer you're looking for but the easiest way for me is to take your original scan and adjust it as best you can then make it a brush. Then stamp it down on a new layer in whatever color you want. There is a 2500 pixel limit for brush size (as far as I know) but since you're going for a grainy look I think you can up-rez quite a bit and it'll look fine. I guess you could even make several brushes from really large images and try to line them up if don't want to resize. I don't usually work larger then 4000x3000 so this method works for me with a little up-rezing.

Other ways that don't have a size limit:

PS plugin --I haven't tried this, but I'm going to install it now, maybe it's the best way

another tutorial--I don't really like this method but I learned something new reading it--
http://www.cgtextures.com/content.ph...l&name=blendif

[Portus]

I use clipping mask, simple and effective. In Ps first Level up the pencils so that the lines are nice and dark with the negative space pure white, now use the Ghost plugin to erase the white from the image, call a new layer then you have to click on the space between the two layers while holding the Alt key, it will change icon and an arrow on the top layer will appear, then bucket/ select or use the pencil tool to color the lines, when you're done you can drop it resulting in a clean layer with your pencils colored.

Actually it was in SAI that I found out about clipping layers since it has an option right in the layers menu, in PS you have to click while holding Alt, how would I ever find it?