Tutorial : Colorization of Tubes (Page 2)

Back to Page One.

Ok... Let's keep this going....

At this point, you want to repeat all of those steps for each part of the tube you want on a separate layer. I do everything I can, so I have more options.

Steps to Repeat for each new piece :

Duplicate "Copy of Original"
Rename the Layer to the part you are working on.
Colorize to Black and White
Lasso Tool out the parts that you do not need. (Feather 2)
Eraser Brush any extra bits and bobs. (Small circles work best)
Test with color to make sure it looks good over the Original Tube.

Then Repeat and Repeat for each part.

Once you have separated all the parts into Layers that you want you can do some touch ups. This is where the smudge brush comes in.  Really simple...

These are the smudge Brush Settings that I use.

Now sometimes on various layers you will find issues like this :

Where maybe you went over the edge a little too much. This happens... and it's no big deal. I told you... Steady hands aren't really that necessary.

Take your smudge brush and just push the yellow (in this case) down over the black a little at a time. It will dull up the harshness of the black line.

Small areas will work best. Push and smoosh.

When you are zoomed in, you're gonna notice every flaw. But go to 100%, which is the biggest that you can use the tube anyway... and a lot of those little flaws meld in quite nicely and they are much less noticeable.

When you have all your layers colorized the way you want... you need to merge them with your "Copy of Original"  I usually just do EDIT - COPY MERGED so that I don't have to worry about accidentally saving the file merged and lose all my work.

Now some things to keep in mind... and some additional tips and tricks. :)

I keep all my layers in Grayscale. It works wonderful for using the Colorize option. Blacks stay black and whites stay white. So you don't have to worry about those things changing color.

Now to go one step beyond.... I like to make 2 layers of each piece. Why you ask? (It's ok if you didn't ask lol) because colorization gives you different shades depending on how dark or light the original image is that you are colorizing.

Here's an example of what my layers look like when I'm all done :
(They are all X'd out so I can choose layer as needed)

So in my sample here, I am showing you the pants. On the right are the original Gray Pants and on the left, pants that I darkened.  Underneath each you can see the colorized versions. Both were colorized with the exact same settings. But the base made them look completely different. This is why I chose to darken and lighten some pieces in grayscale.

You don't want to go TOO dark or TOO light because then you can lose some of the details that were done by the artist.

Completely black hair is kind of tricky if you want to get a different color. As you can see in my list of layers, I did different hair colors and kept them as separate layers so I wouldn't have to do the process again. It's really only Black Hair that you will have a struggle with. Other hair colors should work fine with the regular colorizing method.

The trick is not to overly lighten it. It will take on a horrible look if you go too light. So I am sharing my settings in case you want to use them.


Make sure your Hair is on a separate layer of course.


Go to ADJUST - BRIGHTNESS AND CONTRAST

BRIGHTNESS 73 - CONTRAST 9

It really doesn't look that great does it? Not horrible, but the idea is... it will now colorize to other hues. So at this point, you can choose all sorts of colors. Play around with the settings.

But you will be better off in my opinion if you take it to brown from this point. These are the settings that will help you get there.

ADJUST
HUE AND SATURATION
COLORIZE

HUE - 18
SATURATION - 134







There are other ways as well. For example you can Use new layers and overlay colors etc. But it really is best if you have a medium tone to work with to start. Just play around with it. Undo when you need to. Work in small areas at a time.

Your patience will pay off.... The possibilities are endless!

IN CLOSING......

This was my first tutorial. I tried to write it for people of most levels of PSP. Like I said, you can use this tut for PhotoShop as well, just different looking tools... but the same basic idea.  I can colorize and cut apart a whole tube with lots of elements in a matter of an hour now. Once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. Do it once and from then on all you have to do is colorize layers. Just remember... DONT save the file merged!! I learned that the hard way. LOL

I am sure there are better and easier ways... but I am sharing my way. It works... at least for me. :)

I welcome constructive criticism and feedback.. As long as you are nice about it. I have a thick skin.

Jaided Dreamah