Line Art to Colouring

[Different_Directions]

Hi all, so yeah im very new to PS art work and im really pushing to learn the program, whats annoying me though i when i have done my line art, and i want to do base colouring, i create new layer below my lineart and try to start selecting sections of my drawing with magic wand, its selecting it as a whole, i tried making the line art 'multiply' as i thought that would solve it, but it didnt, then i change it bakc to normal and made the base colours layer Multiply but that didnt help either, can sombody help pls? its driving me crazy!

[Senira]

Make sure that the "contiguous" and "all layers" boxes are checked on the options bar that appears when you select the magic wand tool. This will allow you to select any closed sections and/or color blocks in an artwork regardless of the layer it resides on.

EDIT: Alternatively, you could just use the fill bucket with the same settings. It'd save you a step. Just make sure to click twice with the bucket so that it fills to the line and you don't end up with the fuzzy white border between your colors and the lineart.

[Different_Directions]

Thankyou, love ya >.<

[QueenGwenevere]

Or you could make the selection on the line art layer, then click the base color layer while keeping your selection active, and then fill.

If you do this it also helps if you expand your selection by a couple of pixels so it goes under your lines and doesn't have fuzzy white edges. (Select > Modify > Expand)

You could also make selections and save them as channels so they're re-usable.

[JJacks]

I just don't use the magic wand tool because it is not as consistently reliable as I would like it to be. I use the lasso or the pencil tool to outline what I want to color and then use the paint bucket. I also keep flats on one layer.

[Different_Directions]

thanks guys and you naswered my 2nd question about how to expand pixels, but i did it and im still getting it, and yes i tried expanding more than 1 pixel...

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1211/examplep.jpg

[Different_Directions]

any ideas how to get rid of the rest anybody? :)

[Arshes Nei]

I just don't use the magic wand tool because it is not as consistently reliable as I would like it to be. I use the lasso or the pencil tool to outline what I want to color and then use the paint bucket. I also keep flats on one layer.

I actually frequently will switch between masking mode and selection because Masking mode gives me a pretty good idea of how my selections were handled and feathered. Being able to see the edges of how you masked/selected things helps immensely.

OP you're getting that because of Anti-Alias mode too (you need to change the settings).
http://www.phong.com/tutorials/anti-alias/

Create a new layer and set the lineart to Multiply. Fill your colors underneath it.

[Different_Directions]

i dont full understand how that tutorial expalins how to do it as its doing it on a cirlce and not just telling me how to edit mine to make it look 'better'

is there any chance anyboyd could explain, maybe in bulletpoints eg

1-
2-
3-

sorry, im very new to PS, thanks for having patience..

[Arshes Nei]

http://www.ehow.com/how_2090880_use-paint-bucket-tool-adobe.html

If you're using the paint bucket tool in PS you need to see if the anti-alias option is checked on/off.

[Different_Directions]

hmm ok i tried redoing it with it checked, thanks again, it looks MUCH better on 'actual pixel' but still looks iffy on 'full image on screen' is that always going to happen?

[Senira]

What resolution is the original image? If it's low-res then it'll always look awful when you zoom in. If it's high-res then the problem is likely that you haven't filled the color up to and including the lines; if you aren't careful about hitting the lines when you fill, you'll get a white halo that may not be visible at a distance, but is very visible when you zoom in.

[Arshes Nei]

If you're doing by magic wand selections play with the tolerance settings too.

[LuckyDevil]

I think the easiest most underrated tool for these type of jobs is the pen tool.

Use the pen tool then modify the curves to your liking than you can turn your curves to selection by right clicking and selecting the option on the menu. I use pen tools for cleaning, filling, selecting, and inking.

I find the wand tool often useless to the speed of the pen tool unless the colors are super clean.

[chillyhead]

Hi there, what kind of brush are you using to do your linework with? if you are using one of the soft edged brushes then they can be a real pain to fill to the edge. Try a hard edged brush, much easier to fill.

If you have painter at all, do your inking with the scratchboard tool, save it then open photoshop to fill. You can fill in Painter, but I find it quicker in Photoshop.

Also I always duplicate my ink layer, fill in the duplicate and keep the original layer on top. This keeps your lines crisp, and saves having to draw out your fill shapes with the pen tool or the lassoo.

Also as Arshes Nei suggested, adjust the tolerance settings for the paintbucket tool. It's on the top menu bar when paintbucket is selected. The higher the number the deeper it will fill, to put it basically. Have a play and you'll see what can happen. I always use around 10 with painter inks.

I hope this helps and I'm not teaching you to suck eggs.

Good luck

Onwards and upwards..

[Senira]

Recently, I've started doing all of my inking using the brush tool in Flash. I find it's the best marriage between the flexibility of Photoshop/Painter brush tools and the crispness of vector. I inked in Illustrator for a while, but adjusting/erasing lines was too tedious; I gave it up.