Step 09: Flat Coloring

This step may seem simplistic at first, but it can quickly become a big headache, so pay attention. In this step, we'll just be dealing with large chunks of color and some minor pixel-pushing.

Begin by choosing a dark brown color similar to the one you see in the graphics below (don't choose one that is too dark, your Catgirl will loose a great amount of the detail you worked hard to include). This will be the color of her body fur. Don't waste a lot of time trying to choose the exact color you see below, just grab a brown and move on...

1. Be sure the Color layer is selected
2. Click the Paint Bucket Tool (it is under the Gradient Tool...not underneath it, but on the same button - right-click the gradient button and choose Paint Bucket)
3. Look up at the Paint Bucket Tool's Options Bar and make sure it reads like this:
   Fill: Foreground
   Mode: Normal
   Opacity: 100%
   Tolerance: 0
   Anti-aliased not checked
   Contiguous checked
   All Layers not checked
4. Click the parts of the image that make up his body fur

Be careful with just clicking away as you may encounter two major problems...

Gaps: These can be dangerous, so keep your fingers on the undo keys just in case they pop up. If there is a gap in one of the lines surrounding the area you're trying to fill, the color you're filling with will spill out into adjoining areas (this is a little like trying to pour Mountain Dew into a cup with a hole in it...it will spill out everywhere ruining perfectly good, delicious Mountain Dew). Here is how we fix these...

5. Undo the fill!
6. Zoom in and look for the gap in the lines that allowed the spill over (notice the hole in the graphic at right)
7. Select the Pencil Tool (this is located under the Brush Tool)
8. Use a width of 1 pixel and color of black
9. Draw in the line so that a gap no longer exists
10. Try the Fill again

Keep in mind that when dealing with large areas of the image (such as her head or torso) that there may be several gaps. You may have to fill in several lines before you can complete this process.

Stray Pixels: There may be some small areas that may be isolated from the bulk of the colored areas (take a look at the graphic to the right). You may be tempted to just fill these in with color, but don't! They will still be separated from the rest of the color, and this will cause you problems in the steps to come. This is how we want to fix these...

11. Select the Pencil Tool
12. Set the width of the Pencil to 1 pixel
13. Zoom WAY in on the stray pixel
14. You have the choice at this point of either using the fill color to connect the stray pixels to the rest of the fill area, or of simply coloring the pixels black - what you do is up to you

Once you have the skin complete, go ahead and fill in the rest of the areas. It is not necessary for you to choose the exact same colors that I have used, feel free to choose ones that you like.

Now that we have completed our inking and filling, we need to make sure our layers are set up correctly. Take a look at the three images below...

Ink is off

Ink is behind color

Ink is in front of color

The one on the left has the ink layer invisible; all you see are the jagged edges of the color layer. The one in the middle has the ink layer on, but it is behind the color layer. Notice that there are smooth edges between the character and the background, but not between the areas of color. We don't want either of these two, but instead want what you see in the third image. In that one, the Ink layer is above the Color layer on the Layer palette. This allows our nice, smooth black lines to cover up the sharp, blocky ones on the color layer.

15. If your Ink is not on top of your Color layer, move it there now.

Save your Cartoon file!