Tutorial
Well, here it is... my CG tutorial. I tried to save a picture from as many steps as possible because most of the tutorials that I see are geared toward people who already know how to use certain tools. Grr... in other words, I basically had to teach myself. Hope this helps anyone who's struggling with CG coloring.
Programs used:
Wacom tablet, Photoshop Elements 2.0 and Paint Shop Pro
Step 1:
First, scan your sketch into the computer at 100%. The bigger your image is, the better your final result will look. Also, your sketch should have fairly clean lines. Mine usually aren't very clean, but I pay for this later... Make sure you save your picture at the same large size it was scanned in as.
Step 2.1
Load your picture into the program you wish to color it in. For mine, I used Photoshop Elements 2.0, which works great... but other programs such as Paint Shop Pro will work, too.
Step 2.2
Create a new layer over the background layer and color the entire layer white. Set the opacity of this layer to something around 40 or 50 percent so that you can see your sketch through the white layer.
Step 2.3
This is where the Wacom tablet comes in. Change your tool to pencil, 3 pixel width, and trace your lines (on the white layer) using your wacom tablet. (Hopefully you already have one... if you don't, I would just darken the lines. This is what I did before I had the wacom tablet. Or, instead of using the sketch as your background, you could trace your sketch in pen and erase the pencil lines... then scan it into the computer.)
Step 3
Once you have the entire sketch traced, set the white layer to 100% opacity.
Step 4.1
When putting the main colors on the image, I usually make a layer for each color. If there is more than one character in the picture (especially if their skin is touching, like Ranma and Akane's arms) I would make a layer for each character's skin. This is helpful for highlighting and shading, plus, if I decide to vary their skin tones slightly, I can do so easily. For very dark colors, especially BLACK, like Ranma's hair, I usually don't use BLACK black, but a dark shade of gray. If you use full black, then you won't be able to do any shadows.
Step 4.2
Be sure to set each layer on "multiply" so that you can see your black lines through the layer. (This is something that took me FOREVER to figure out on my own.)
Step 4.3
When coloring, I hear that a "magnetic pen(or lasso, can't remember which) tool" is great... however, I don't have one, so I resort to the LONG WAY of doing things. I take my old regular lasso tool and trace around the area I'm coloring, then once my area is selected, I fill in the area with the color. I unselect the area, then, using my wacom tablet (because it's easier to erase with varying pressures)I erase around the lines so that the color is in the exact area I want it to be.
Step 5.1
This is my favorite part of the whole thing... highlights and shadows. I've just discovered the "dodge" tool, and let me tell you... it's AWESOME. If you don't have this tool, you can just select a lighter shade of your color and use the airbrush tool... but the dodge tool is FAR better, plus there's NO ERASING when you're done.
Step 5.2
Highlighting is really hard for me to explain. I guess I would recommend to figure out where your light source is coming from in the picture and then just highlight that side on every color. I don't always follow this rule, but make sure you have some sort of system and aren't just highlighting everywhere.
Step 5.3
Be sure to be on the right layer when you're doing your highlighting. Like, if you were highlighting Akane's hair, and then went to do Ranma's, if the two colors are on separate layers, then you would have to select the correct layer before you did the highlighting. This might sound obvious to you, but if I was just starting out and knew nothing about layers I wouldn't have any idea, so I just thought I'd point it out :)
Step 6
Shadows are almost the same as highlights, except you use the Burn tool instead of the Dodge tool, and usually the underside of every color is shaded in. Again, if you don't have the Burn tool, airbrushing is fine. Just pick a color darker than the base color.
Step 7.1
Here comes my absolute least favorite part of the whole thing... the BACKGROUND. I hate backgrounds, but it's just something that has to be there, unfortunately. I'm horrible at backgrounds because I just don't have the patience for them, so if you already know how to make your own background, completely disreguard everything I'm about to say.
Step 7.2
Remember the layer with the original sketch on it? The one you can't see anymore? Well, that's where your background is gonna go. First, go to the layer with your black lines on it, and change the opacity to 0%. Then, select the background layer and fill the entire thing with a color (preferably one that's close to your background. However, if you're planning on having a darker background, change the color to a light one for the time being)
Step 8
Go back to your lined layer and change the opacity back to 100%. Now, you can erase the white background on the lined layer around your characters revealing the color that was on your original sketch layer.
Step 9.1
Once all of the white is gone, you can work on your background, see the entire thing, AND now draw at all over your characters since the color is BEHIND them. Select the background layer again, and make your background.
Step 9.2
The first time I looked at a tutorial and it said, "make a background" my eyes widened and I thought, "yeah, right," as I looked at the SUPER awesome background that the artist had drawn. Lucky for you, I suck at backgrounds. Basically, what I did was select a color slightly darker than the base color and use the airbrush to scrible over the lighter blue. Then I used the burn and dodge tools to darken and lighten areas, giving my blue background more depth.
Step 10
I decided that it looked too plain, and none of the filters did much for it but make it look even more dull... so I put some more colors in it. I kinda mimicked a sunset, putting some purple on the bottom and pink and orange at the top, using the airbrush tool. Then, I used the Burn and Dodge tools again to put some highlights and lowlights to add even more depth.
Step 11
Still, I didn't think that there was enough depth, so I went back and added more shadow using the airbrush tool around 30% opacity and a dark gray. This can be done on any layer above the base colors. I think I did all of my final shadows on the layer that Akane's skin color was on. I also added some more shadows to the bottom of the picture.
Step 12
Almost done!!!! To my knowledge, a sunburst tool isn't available in Photoshop Elements 2.0, so I pulled out the old Paint Shop Pro program and put a little sunburst at the top, righthand corner of the picture. Then, I added my name at the bottom. Here's the finished picture:
