color inside the lines?

I have a scanned black & white drawing where I want to paint color in the white parts without painting over the black lines. What’s the easiest way to do this?

(The latest Macworld had an article about a similar idea, except they showed how to paint over the black lines & leave the white space intact. I tried skipping the step where they inverted the selection created by loading the gray channel as a selection but that didn’t seem to work.)

Select the area you want to colour and paint away. If you’re on the wrong side of the selection, invert the selection [select > inverse]. Next time don’t skip steps : )

JMR wrote:

I have a scanned black & white drawing where I want to paint color in the white parts without painting over the black lines. What’s the easiest way to do this?

(The latest Macworld had an article about a similar idea, except they showed how to paint over the black lines & leave the white space intact. I tried skipping the step where they inverted the selection created by loading the gray channel as a selection but that didn’t seem to work.)

Magic Wand, set it to add to the selection each time you click and if the line is close to the other color lower the tolerance. Once selected, just paint over the selected area with the color(s) of your choice.

g-w

g-w wrote:

JMR wrote:

I have a scanned black & white drawing where I want to paint color in the white parts without painting over the black lines. What’s the easiest way to do this?

(The latest Macworld had an article about a similar idea, except they showed how to paint over the black lines & leave the white space intact. I tried skipping the step where they inverted the selection created by loading the gray channel as a selection but that didn’t seem to work.)

Magic Wand, set it to add to the selection each time you click and if the line is close to the other color lower the tolerance. Once selected, just paint over the selected area with the color(s) of your choice.

Or even simpler: Don’t select anything. Just take a brush. Set the mode from "Normal" to "Darken" and start painting.

—
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

On 6/8/04 11:55 AM, in article
, "JMR"
wrote:

I have a scanned black & white drawing where I want to paint color in the white parts without painting over the black lines. What’s the easiest way to do this?

(The latest Macworld had an article about a similar idea, except they showed how to paint over the black lines & leave the white space intact. I tried skipping the step where they inverted the selection created by loading the gray channel as a selection but that didn’t seem to work.)

1. Set your lineart layer mode to ‘multiply’.

2. Create a layer beneath your lineart layer.

3. Paint on the bottom layer.
—
Jeff ‘The Wizard of Draws’ Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic
www.wizardofdraws.com
www.cartoonclipart.com

1. Set your lineart layer mode to ‘multiply’.

2. Create a layer beneath your lineart layer.

3. Paint on the bottom layer.
—
Jeff ‘The Wizard of Draws’ Bucchino

Brilliant! I like it.
Thanks Jeff,
Keith.

Thnaks for the tips everyone!

Jeff–can you explain to a PS novice the advantage of your technique veersus painting with the brush set to darken mode?

In article <BCEBC8BD.121E5%>,
Wizard of Draws wrote:

On 6/8/04 11:55 AM, in article
, "JMR"
wrote:

I have a scanned black & white drawing where I want to paint color in the white parts without painting over the black lines. What’s the easiest way to do this?

(The latest Macworld had an article about a similar idea, except they showed how to paint over the black lines & leave the white space intact. I tried skipping the step where they inverted the selection created by loading the gray channel as a selection but that didn’t seem to work.)

1. Set your lineart layer mode to ‘multiply’.

2. Create a layer beneath your lineart layer.

3. Paint on the bottom layer.

In article ,
JMR wrote:

[top-posting fixed]

In article <BCEBC8BD.121E5%>,
Wizard of Draws wrote:

1. Set your lineart layer mode to ‘multiply’.

2. Create a layer beneath your lineart layer.

3. Paint on the bottom layer.

Thnaks for the tips everyone!

Jeff–can you explain to a PS novice the advantage of your technique veersus painting with the brush set to darken mode?

What occurs to me is that it keeps the ‘paint’ separate from the ‘ink’, so you can use any selection & painting tools, filters, &c., on it that you like. (It also allows the two kinds of artwork to be handled independently as may be required to get the best or most efficient results in certain kinds of output.) For example, when using a darken-mode brush on the same layer, if you notice long after the fact that a darkish colour ‘leaked’ into an area that should have been filled with a paler one, it would be rather tricky to effect repairs without altering the original outlines, but if done on an independent layer would be very easy to fix.

(Painting in a layer set to darken mode and *above* the linework would provide very similar advantages and results.)

—
Odysseus

On 6/8/04 10:09 PM, in article
, "JMR"
wrote:

Thnaks for the tips everyone!

Jeff–can you explain to a PS novice the advantage of your technique veersus painting with the brush set to darken mode?

The object is simply to keep your color and lineart separate. You could use ‘darken’ mode and paint on a layer above the lineart and end up with the same result, but I’ve chosen layer below and multiply as my method. It seems to be the most logical in my mind.

Most of my cartoons have at least 3 layers: line, color, background. But the complicated ones have any number of layers when you add things like text, shadows or glows, etc.
Each one gets a separate layer to make it as easy as possible for me to alter at a later date if needed. Over the years I’ve found that the easy way to save yourself time and aggravation with Photoshop is to build in safety nets so that you can change anything you do. For example, I’ve developed a method for taking a 72dpi 100×100 pixel logo that I may have created for a fantasy sports team, and within just a few minutes, have a 8"x10" print quality version suitable for t-shirts or a glossy color brochure…no plug-ins or special filters required. 🙂
—
Jeff ‘The Wizard of Draws’ Bucchino
Cartoons with a Touch of Magic
www.wizardofdraws.com
www.cartoonclipart.com