Kez's Koloring Tutankham...Tutorial. *cough*

This tutorial is about how I color. It's nothing special, but some people have asked that I make one. The image I've chosen to use for this tutorial can be found in Chapter 5 page 28, and is an example of my normal method of coloring that I use for any normal page. This ain't fancy-schmancy colorin' people. If you want that, I suggest you look here, here, or here.

1) Sketch to Ink:

I sketch and ink on separate sheets of paper, NEVER on top of each other. For this, I use a light table, bought at a craft store for $25. Due to this wonderful investment (alright, fine, so it was a birthday present), when I scan linework it is usually very clean. I scan normal pages at 200dpi RGB mode. Then in photoshop I up the contrast on the scale to 40 and play with the Levels. If you want your image to be print worthy, DO NOT SCAN AT LESS THAN 300 DPI.

As a comic artist always trying to save time, I color all panels with the same characters in it in the same file. Later on, each panel becomes a separate file.

2) Layering

Once the scan is imported to Photoshop and then cleaned, I duplicate the bottom layer and set it to multiply. Then, between the two layers, I create a new, transparent layer. For those n00bs reading this, DO NOT COLOR ON YOUR LINEWORK. Color beneath it. That is why love photoshop, because of layers. "Multiply" means that anything white becomes transparent, so only the dark lines will be visible in the final image. "Screen" is the opposite of multiply, and it makes black transparent. I urge you to experiment with these layer settings when you have the time. You can get some really awesome effects.

3) Flats

In the middle transparent layer I start putting in the flat colors. I use multiple layers for flats because I don't want colors touching each other. If all my flats are on the same layer, then fixing mistakes is just that much harder. So, multiple layers with two or three non-touching colors on each. I select what I want using the magic wand tool, which is beneath the top right button on your PS toolbar. Then, I go to the menu and find select--modify--expand by 1 pixel. Then I fill using the paint bucket tool.

There is one more very important step after filling. I create one more layer beneath all the flats. Using the magic wand tool I select the white AROUND the character. Then I go to the menu--select--inverse and fill it with black. This means that all those annoying white spaces you may have missed with the wand on the colored layers get filled in. On this layer, I also color back in the eyes and mouths white, but don't finish them until later.

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