After PJ sent me a high res file of the Jango Fett sketch he drew for me, I had an immediate desire to do some Photoshop colouring in!
I imagine many people are already up to speed on this subject, but I thought I'd post my experiment in case it is of interest to anyone.
1. At first I simple created a new layer which I brought to the front and set to multiply so I could work underneath it.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4040/5142037773_9cf8e7c6d3_z.jpg)
2. I roughly blocked in the main colours with the lasso tool.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1086/5142037939_7dee985aeb_z.jpg)
3. I added a highlight and shadow to each colour.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1066/5142038113_5d8333830f_z.jpg)
4. I wanted to adjust the tint of the line work. So I copied and pasted it into a layer mask then inverted it. I could then fill the layer with whatever colour I wanted. I permanently applied the mask and locked the layer, that way I could change the colour of the line where ever I wanted without effecting the original line work.
Here's the tinted line work isolated.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1097/5142684240_d079615f74_z.jpg)
And here it is applied.
(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4147/5142038261_0f0c542c9b_z.jpg)
5. There a couple of useful filters in Photoshop which can sometimes be used to help give a more painterly look to colour work... sometimes.
Here is the colour work by itself.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1120/5142038389_24c8e6d641_z.jpg)
After a couple of subtle paint effects.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1425/5142642032_0f232e3e5d_z.jpg)
It's not that visable at this size, but it does help a little to lose the digital feel.
6. And here's the final thing.
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1081/5142642208_fbb6e010ae_z.jpg)
I went for quite a muted palate, but because everything is pretty much layered, it's easy to go back change specific colours later.
Just a bit of fun really.
Thanks again to PJ for the great sketch!
Steven
Nice work.
If I'd have to make a criticism, I'd say that taking back the inks to such an extent makes the drawing look a little flat and lose a little of it's impact.
Hmm... quite possibly.
And thanks to the wonder of Photoshop...
(http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1359/5143264184_bd70ea8b1e_z.jpg)
How I miss my photoshop right now. Brilliant how you've shown how PJ's work could be amalgamated.
Any one of those colour versions look good in it's own right. Like your colour palette too. Lovely stuff.
I'm very fond of that - what subtle paint effects did you use out of interest?
It looks a lot chunkier with the inks at their original level -
Nice.
I've been thinking of doing this with the digital version of my Dredd and Minty commission from PJ. I must get round to it sometime.
I won't be attacking the original with crayons and felt tip!
I think the b/w original is better without any colouring to be honest. When colouring my PLAY DREDD banner, I paused on completing the b/w portion, remembering the time when I used to rattle off dozens of illustrations each day. Now, to be considered attractive to a 'modern' audience, they have to be layered in colours, shades and filters. Takes hours and from a practical POV it doesn't add to the intent of the piece, what it is trying to communicate. Black and white art - when created with care and a proper use of shadows - is very powerful, more so than colour which more often than not is applied in a fashion that bloats and diffuses the b/w underlay.
That's a fair point. PJ's sketch was designed to be B&W, which is why it doesn't really need colour to work.
Creating artwork that is to be digitally coloured is sometimes credited in a completely different way, to allow for the colour.
Awesome,and i'm using photoshop in totally the wrong way in think?,can't do none of that fancy lasso buisiness or cool or cool other stuff,infact i didn't know you could? just been colouring in it in like an expensive colouring book...need to read that book i got from DC :o