Tutorial : Colorization of Tubes (Page 1)

On April 7, 2014 CDO (Creative Design Outlet) announced that ©PINUPTOONS now allows colorization of their tubes. This applies to CDO pinuptoons tubes only. Naturally this has a lot of people interested in learning how to do a colorization. There are all sorts of methods... I am going to show you mine.

I have never written a tutorial before... so I have no idea if this is going to help you or not, but I hope it does. :)  You may know of an easier way to do the things I am about to show you... feel free to do your own methods. This is just to give you an idea to start with. I also suggest you check out other colorizing tutorials as well and see which one is best for you.

It's easier than you think! I use Paint Shop Pro 9.0 but the tools I use are in pretty much every version... and same methods apply to PhotoShop etc. 

The only tools I use are all part of the program.
Lasso Tool, Eraser, Smudge Brush and Layers.

Let's get started.....

First thing you want to do is open the tube you want to work with then save it with a new file name. This way your original stays in tact. Usually I save it with the same file name but add the word "COLOR" at the end of the original file name.

Now that you have your new file, ADD A NEW LAYER and call it BACKGROUND.  Move the background layer to the bottom. I flood fill with the color Pink.  The reason why I do this is because it will show you things you might miss. The background is not too light, nor too dark.  Choose any medium color you want... this is just what I use.

 

The next thing you want to do is DUPLICATE the tube layer. Name the bottom one "ORIGINAL" and the copy "COPY OF ORIGINAL" I then drag the original layer below the background layer to keep it safe. Truth is... this is just another back up plan, but you will need the original tube in this file for any colorization you do.

Now decide which part of the tube you want to work on first. On the tube I am using I chose the Sleeves. I duplicated the copy of original tube and renamed that layer "SLEEVES".  X Out the "Copy of Original" layer.

Once you have your new layer with the tube, you need to colorize the whole tube.

ADJUST - HUE & SATURATION - COLORIZE

I colorize it to black and white using the following settings :
(The reason why I grayscale it this way is so that it doesn't reduce the amount of colors for the whole file.)

 

Now we only want to work with the sleeves right now, so we want to remove everything that isn't part of the sleeves. I use the Lasso Tool to get as close as I can. These are the settings I use for the Lasso Tool.

 
IMPORTANT TIPS : I know a lot of people worry because they don't have steady hands. Don't let that stop you! Truth is... it is better to remove a little bit at a time anyway. Some spaces are pretty tight. Using the "Feather" with the lasso tool gives you a little give. Drag the tool along an area of the edge. Then hit the delete key on your keyboard. You can hit the delete key more than once to remove a little more if you need to without having to reselect that part. Give it a try... and remember... there is always UNDO!

I also use the eraser brush a lot. It's really all about the settings.  The best tip I have (aside from the settings) is to make very small circles in the area you are working when using the eraser brush. Take your finger off the mouse button often to set what you have done. This way, if you erase too much, it will go back to the last time you took your finger off the mouse and not all the way back to the beginning

When you get to a point that you think you got everything you needed... Double check by SELECTION - SELECT ALL - FLOAT and you can see if there are any pixels you may have missed. If you have some... just remove them using the lasso tool or eraser. This way your piece is clean.

When using the Feather option as I suggested, sometimes it will add some width to the area you used it in. Don't let that worry you. If it is transparent it will be fine.

So now that you have removed all the bits and bobs and extra pixels on your black and white layer. All you should see are your sleeves. This is a good time to give it a quick test and see if you got everything.

Make your "Copy of Original" layer visible. Click on your Sleeves layer and choose Colorize again like we did to make it black and white. Roll the dice and see how it looks with an actual color. If it looks good... then you can move on. Remember to Undo the colorization you just did. It's best to keep pieces in black and white. You will find out why later.

ONTO PAGE TWO