| Step 10: Soft
Color |
 |
Now that we have some basic flat colors down, we can add some detail soft colors. For what we are
doing here, our cartoon character only needs one layer of soft color because her fur really only has
two tones, but if you're doing something more complicated you can repeat the actions
in this step to
make many layers for soft colors. On the other hand, if the images you do in the future have no
color details like this, you can skip this step (in the future...not now!).
We need another version of Catgirl with just the black lines and a transparent
background, so let's get that set up first...
- Make sure the Ink layer is turned off - we need to be able to see
clearly what we're doing
- Select the Color layer
- Make a duplicate of the Color layer (if you don't remember how,
go back to Step 3)
- Name the duplicate layer Soft Color
- Select the new Soft Color layer
We need to get rid of the color on the Soft Color layer so we can add in the
new color. The easiest way at this point to get rid of all the color on our Soft
Color layer and get back to only black is to select the color and delete it. To
do this we will first select all the black and then invert our selection so that
we have everything but black selected (I know, clever, huh?). If this is a little confusing, work the
steps below and it will become clear...
- Select the Magic Wand Tool (it looks like
this:
)
- Make sure the tool options bar reads like this:
New Selection icon activated (it is that first box in the graphic below
just to the right of little magic wand picture)
Tolerance: 0
Anti-aliased not checked
Contiguous not checked
Use All Layers not checked
so it should match the following graphic...
Tolerance needs to be low so that we don't select a large number of
pixels adjacent to the black lines. Anti-aliased need to be unchecked
because if it is checked we will be leaving behind a lightly colored line of
pixels around our black line (anti-aliasing refers to the placing of gradually
fading colors next to a main color so that it appears as if the line is fading
into the background)...and that's bad. Contiguous need to be
unchecked because if it is checked Photoshop will only select the areas of
black that touch where we click, which will leave out any areas that are just
hanging out by themselves such as the lines on her chest. Use All
Layers needs to be unchecked because if it is checked it will select the
black lines on all layers and not just on this one...again, bad.
- With the Magic Wand, click on the black line
(it doesn't matter where on the black line you click, Photoshop should select
all the black in the picture...if it does not you did something wrong...fix
it)
- The black line should now be selected (outlined with
marching ants)
- We want to remove everything but black, so click
Select on the menu bar and then click Inverse to select everything
but black
- Click Edit then Clear, or simply press
Delete on the keyboard
- All the color except black should have just vanished
(again, if it didn't you did something wrong...fix it)
- Press Ctrl+D to deselect the black lines
Once
your Soft Color layer is just black and transparent, turn the Color
layer back on. Make sure your Soft Color layer is above your Color layer. If is
is not...
- Click the Soft Color layer and drag it up in
the Layer palette until it is above the Color layer (but below the
Ink layer) and drop it
We will need the Soft Color
on top for what we are doing next. We will now use the Magic Wand to select a
specific area of our graphic so that when we make changes it does not affect any
other part of the image.
- Make sure the Magic Wand tool is still
selected
- We need to make some small adjustments to the
options bar
- Make sure it reads like this:
New Selection icon activated (it is that first box in the graphic above
just to the right of little magic wand picture)
Tolerance: 0
Anti-aliased not checked
Contiguous checked
Use All Layers not checked
so it should match the following graphic
We can now work with various areas of the graphic and be confident that we are
only going to affect the areas we have selected.
Let's begin with her face and body...
FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS BELOW EXACTLY OR YOUR CATGIRL WILL NOT WORK CORRECTLY!!
- Make only the Soft Color and Color
layers visible
- Make the Color layer active - we need to make
the Color layer active so we can add soft color to the correct area of Catgirl
- Use the Magic Wand and Click inside
of the lines of her face- Photoshop should select only that area and
nothing else (look at the graphic below) so that when you make changes it does
not affect any other part of the image. Hold down the shift key and select any other parts of her face that were not selected (in my copy her eyelid was not selected. Yours may be different.)
- Make the Soft Color layer active
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU ARE WORKING WITH THE SOFT COLOR LAYER HERE
AND NOT THE COLOR LAYER - THE SOFT COLOR LAYER SHOULD BE HIGHLIGHTED
Notice that only the face is selected and not her neck or hand- if all of those areas are selected it is likely because you
did not check Continuous on the option bar; use Ctrl+D to deselect the selection and
do it again. If you wanted to color her neck along with her face, hold down Shift and click on her neck as well. I didn't select it on mine because I only wanted to color her face.
This process works well for what we are doing because it allows us to mess
around with only the color areas we have selected. In other words, if we were to
use the Eraser tool on our character at this point (don't do it! I just said if
we were to...) the only color that will be removed will be the brown areas of
his face. If this concept is a little confusing, hold on a second and the next
thing we do will make it clearer...
- Select the Brush tool
- Go to the Brush Preset picker and choose the
Soft Round 17 pixels brush:
By the way, don't freak out if your brushes are tapered and not round like above. It doesn't really matter which way your brushes display, they will work the
same way. (You can change the size of the brush tool if it's too small or large for your tastes.)
- Activate the Airbrush tool (the button looks
like this:
and is located at the right end of the Brush tool option bar)
- Select an appropriate color for her face
(it does not have to be the exact same color I used, pick something that looks good)
- Color in the appropriate area of your character's
face (she should look something like the graphic below, but you can always change the markings to your liking. Again, you can change the size of the brush tool. Brush sizes aren't mandatory.)
Note: I used the eraser tool to sharpen the transition of the two colors on the bridge of her nose. You don't have to do that.
Most of the areas you select while working with this graphic will require you
to only click once to select it. There may be occasions, however, when you need to select
more than one area at a time. When this occurs, simply hold down the Shift
key while clicking on the additional areas to add them to your selection.
It is always a good idea to keep detail color such as what we did in this
step on a separate layer just in case we need to alter the colors at some point.
Additionally, we may need to make some minor adjustments after we have completed
the next step: Shading.
Save your Cartoon file!
At this point, you will need to save a separate version of your
Catgirl so that your progress up to now can be graded. Follow these steps:
- Click File then click Save As... [be sure the Format:
box reads: Photoshop (*.PSD;*.PDD)]
- Surf to your Cartoon folder within your
main folder
- Name the file Progress-2 (be sure you
name it correctly - if you name it wrong you will loose points!)
- Click Save
- Close the Progress-2 file
- Remember NOT to work with this file in
the future - it should be left with your Catgirl soft colored - when you
move on to Step 11 you will need to open the Cartoon file back up
and continue working with it
Now move on to the next step...