So I watched your speed paint video and wanted to try out your coloring style as I am currently easing around with photoshop. But when I tried using your method it didn't look right and came out all weird T.T can you please explain how you use the layers and their settings? I'm just a little lost , sorry that if I bothered you ^^
it takes some practice i think! things tend to look a bit off when u try something for the first time, especially when ur fairly new to a program like photoshop (the important thing is to keep practicing and trying things out!)
i’ve gone over that process a bit in these tutorials
but basically:
u got ur thing
new layer (on top of ur thing)
and then u go up here to the blending mode options
and then set it to something (i usually use overlay, soft light and/or hard light for this method of coloring)
this layer was set to hard light (i would recommend experimenting with different settings tho, especially if ur new to this method)
then u go to ur swatches and then pick a color (any color, it doesnt matter bc the color can be edited later but picking something somewhat close to the color ur looking for can help)
then u paint it on and it usually looks something like this
thats definitely way too bright and not the hue i want so what u can do is hit control+uand then this window should pop up
and all u do is move the sliders around until the colors r sort of what ur looking for and hit ok
then u just rinse and repeat (new layer, color, edit hue/saturation, new layer..) with different colors and blending mode settings
(i like to put each color on separate layers so if i want to edit the color of something i can just go to its layer and edit it without worrying about changing the colors of anything else)
boop
at this point, coloring-wise this is almost done but one last thing u can do is add adjustment layers and edit the colors even further
to do that u just go down here and click the black and white circle icon
something like this should pop up. theres a lot of different adjustment layers u can choose from but i usually go with a hue/saturation layer so i selected that
(i sometimes do a curves layer too but i didnt feel that it was necessary w this drawing and editing colors with that can be a bit difficult if ur new to it and dont rly get how it works so ill save that for another tutorial mayb lol)
and ur thing should look something like this
tick off colorize and change the blending mode to something other than normal (i used soft light for this but overlay is ok too. it rly depends on ur image and what ur looking for but i use those two settings the most. try experimenting with different things and see what works for u!)
and then again, move the sliders around until u get the colors ur looking for
the change can be pretty drastic sometimes, like with this one the contrast and saturation are a bit higher than i would like and her hair ended up a bit too dark and her skin a bit too light
so what you can do is lower the opacity of the adjustment layer a bit (or a lot, its up to you)
i lowered mine to 80%
so now the changes are slightly less intense
and then from there its just painting over what you have and cleaning up the edges and brush strokes and adding details and stuff lol
and that’s basically it i think!
a couple final tips tho:
-like with the adjustment layers, if ur blending mode color layers are too intense it can help to lower their opacities
-when u put in the colors its not always a solid blob. it helps to paint the colors in with a painterly brush, or a brush that has pressure opacity (like the thing where the brush strokes’ opacities correspond with how hard u press)
like here for example, if u change the blending mode back to normal u can see that her hair is colored solid
whereas the highlights on her face fade out more to sort of give a softer texture
-the smudge tool can help blend and smooth things out but if u want to use it in this coloring process make sure ‘sample all layers’ is /not/ ticked off
otherwise all you’ll get is something like this
instead of this
-having an ok understanding of fundamentals like color and light/shadow can help a lot with choosing colors and painting them in
yeah thats about it lol
it takes some time and practice to be familiar with this method to a point where you can easily discern which settings/opacities/colors/etc to choose to get the results you’re looking for and its normal for things to not meet your expectations in the beginning, so dont get discouraged! the important thing is to just keep practicing and experimenting :>














