Photoshop colouring

[Genesis93]

I'm really interested in drawing pictures in real life, then transferring it to my computer to work on it, im a pretty decent graphic artist but i don't know how to go about it, what techniques are used, the skill, i wanna do things like this:

http://johnbecaro.deviantart.com/art/Collab-Superman-Phoenix-86731479

advice appreciated thanks

btw i use photoshop

[Butcher]

I don't have any experience with what you're talking about but I have some experience with photoshop, the only advice I can really give you is start small, don't go for complex gradients and shading like in that picture, start simple with mostly just fills and small details with the brush. I don't know how good you are with photoshop but if you are just beginning take some time to learn the shortcuts, and search for tutorials to learn some tips.

[Siu3d]

It's actually quite simple but at the same time, it can be tedious. This kind of work can go by a lot faster if you own a PC tablet. They can get kind of expensive, but are worth it.

If you want to know the specific technique that goes with this, there are plenty of tutorials out there that can help. Just google "lineart coloring..."

[hooloovoo]

It's really a learn as you go technique, so Mutinous Butcher's idea of starting small is a good one. Like practice on a simple drawing that would be pretty straight forward- like a rose or something. You'll learn what techniques work best for you as you play with layering brush strokes of different translucency, size and color. I might start off with trying to copy a real photo just so you can check how effective what you're doing is at getting the colors and textures right.

[Silverfuck]

It's really simple and easy, but extremely time consuming. There are a lot of different ways to do it, though, so it's important to find a style that works for you.

If you want to take your drawings and colour them in PS, the best thing to do is the scan them and then use a tablet to trace over them for the lineart, and then colour them in a different layer. If you don't have access to a tablet then it also works to scan it, and then on a separate layer trace over it with the pen tool and make a vector shape for the lineart. It's extremely time consuming to do it that way, but the results are awesome because as a vector shape you can expand it to any size you'd like.

[chilldo]

if youre serious about it definately get a tablet, otherwise youre limited to either tracing your pencil outlines into solid colours, or importing youre pencil work and reall really slowly blocking in colours and shading with a mouse.

unless you want to take it into illustrator and start using gradient meshes, but imo thats more technical work than artistic

[chilldo]

then agian, if you get a tablet, you wouldnt really need to draw the pictures in "real life" youd just draw them strait onto the computer. lol

[mr.4our2wenty]

you can also scan - adjust levels - and use the smudge tool to clean up the lines or shading.
You can also use Illustrator's livetrace if you have it.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDq426DMC04&feature=related

[AsylumSeaker]

A simple tip I would give is after you've coloured the image, duplicate all the colour layers (merged into one layer), gaussian blur that layer a little and change its layer style to 'hue'.. maybe turn it down to 50% or less. This will give a bit of radiosity to the image, like this:

http://www.artoolkit.org/Gallery/Radiosity/Base/CornellScene.jpg

Objects bleed colours onto their surroundings.

This is just the lazy way, you'll get more realistic effects doing it manually. Well done radiosity will make you're images as awesome as an obsidian greathelm of the mongoose.

[Apodyopsis]

Um, for scanned artwork, I'd say the best way to do it would be to scan in your picture, load it onto photoshop, adjust the levels so that the lines are defined enough, take out a graphics tablet and then create a new layer, change its opacity type to multiply, select a brush and colour then begin painting on it... and yeah it is very time consuming!

[whimsi]

Apodyopsis has it about right. Coloring on one layer with the layer set to multiply is a good quick and dirty way to do it.

You can also, if you prefer having more well defined and obviously digital line art, trace your image once you open it in PS and digitally do the line art, then on a layer below the line art commence coloring. This is the method I most use, because I end up editing the image about 20 times before I finish it once it's scanned anyway, so I often end up having to edit the line art more than once :/

[doofy1001]

anyone know how to make fake ids?

[ratfrink]

A simple tip I would give is after you've coloured the image, duplicate all the colour layers (merged into one layer), gaussian blur that layer a little and change its layer style to 'hue'.. maybe turn it down to 50% or less. This will give a bit of radiosity to the image, like this:

http://www.artoolkit.org/Gallery/Radiosity/Base/CornellScene.jpg

Objects bleed colours onto their surroundings.

This is just the lazy way, you'll get more realistic effects doing it manually. Well done radiosity will make you're images as awesome as an obsidian greathelm of the mongoose.

That works so well! Thanks.

I'm just starting with photoshop rendering (literally first time I used photoshop was this morning, I'll maybe post pics later depending on how well things go). I've got a cheap wacom tablet which I don't like (it's like drawing on polished marble) and at the moment I'm faster using the mouse, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Anyone got any recommendations on half-decent tablets? I'm looking to spend less than £100.