Comic Book Coloring

[seleneheart]

To go from this to this

	Crop image, sharpen, etc. Duplicate the file and leave it on your workspace for a color reference later.
	Create a new file, 100px x 100px, white. Get rid of the background, whatever method you choose, and put the image in the white background. Merge layers, and I sharpened once.
	Duplicate the base, set to soft light, 100%, merge, and sharpen it twice. (don't worry!)
	Duplicate the base again, (you have a new one since you merged), set to color dodge, 100%, go to filter > adjustments > invert.
	Now filter > blur > blur. And repeat 5-6 times. Merge layers.
	You can do this next step in a couple of ways. For Elements, you can choose enhance > adjust color > remove color, or for other programs you can adjust your hue and saturation until the image is black and white.
	Duplicate background again, set to multiply, 100%. Sharpen once. Erase any stay marks on the skin. (you may need to click on the background layer to get them all.) I left his chin sorta scraggily on purpose.
	Now comes the part that's a pain for Elements. Make a new file, white background, set it to high resolution for the pixels, (200 px/inch for this) and make the file a large size, bigger than 100x100. Use the eye dropper tool and pick out a skin color from the duplicate file you made in step 1. Fill your new file with it.
	Filter > pixelate > colorhalftone. In Elements, the lowest setting you can have is 4 pixels, set it as low as it will go, and click OK. Looks bad, I know.
	Now resize it, using the pixels only. Image > resize > image size. Set the pixels to 72px/inch. Much better!
	Copy that and paste it over your black and white image, set to multiply, 100%. On mine you can see that my big image wasn't quite big enough, but that's okay, cause it just has to cover the skin parts.
	Erase all this layer that isn't covering skin. If you have to reduce the opacity to see what you're doing, just bring it back to 100% when you're finished.
	Make a new layer, set it to multiply, 100%. Go back to your color reference file and pick out the lip color. Paint the lip area in your comic with that color.
	Make a new layer, set to multiply, 100%. Pick the hair color and paint that in.
	Continue making new layers, setting to multiply, 100%, until you have colored all the elements of your original picture.
	To add a background, make a new 100x100 file, and fill it with your background color. Paste it over your image, lower the opacity, and erase. Bring opacity back to 100%.
	Finish off with text, or anything else you like. (I actually flipped this horizontally for the thinking bubble). Done!

Comments

[gonecouture.livejournal.com]

aha! that is so cool!

[seleneheart]

Thanks!

[psychobiddy.livejournal.com]

Fun & easy! What a great effect. Added to memories, thanks!

[seleneheart]

Thanks for the mem!

[hp-icon-mkr19.livejournal.com]

nice you should post this tutorial in
ps_elements

[seleneheart]

Didn't know that comm existed, but I will post there. Thanks!

[doctorevel.livejournal.com]

Wow... awesome. So much easier than some of the tuts I've seen!

[seleneheart]

Thanks, glad to help!

[silvercaladan.livejournal.com]

This is an extremely simple method to make comicbook icons; it make take a while for the perfectionists among us, but its got relatively few steps, and gives you a good skin tone XP. Have you tried the middle steps for anything other than skin? Like perhaps for the shirt?

[seleneheart]

I've done the hair . . .

And it is pretty simple, unless your original is complicated . . . like I wouldn't want to do this on someone wearing a Hawaiian shirt. :)

[marseb.livejournal.com]

oh my god! that is so cool!! I'll memm!!!

[seleneheart]

Cool!! Thanks for the mem!