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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DMAC" data-source="post: 2131652" data-attributes="member: 20332">My Coloring Technique in 4 "Easy" Steps:Stage 1: Scan in Line ArtIn order for a later stage of this technique to work, you will need your pencil drawing to have some color to it instead of being grayscale.  In my case, this was easy since the drawing was done with colored pencils, but if you use regular graphite, you will need to convert your drawing to Duotone (Image>Mode>Duotone) and make it a dark shade of an appropriate color (dark brown, dark green, etc.), then convert the image to RGB (Image>Mode>RGB Color).<img src="http://www.darrencalvert.com/horsestage1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Stage 2: Create Color LayerTransform your background pencil layer into a regular layer by selecting it from the layers menu on the right then choosing Layers>New Layer From Background and set the Mode to Multiply.  Create a new layer (Layers>New Layer) and drag it beneath your pencils.  This will be your color layer.Using a hard-edged brush or the selection tools, fill in your color layer with the base colors you want to use for the piece (also called "flatting" since you're just laying down flat colors).<img src="http://www.darrencalvert.com/horsestage2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Here is the color layer with the pencil art hidden:<img src="http://www.darrencalvert.com/horsestage3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Stage 3: Shading, Highlighting, BlendingIf your flats have nice, clean, non-fuzzy edges to them, you can just select the color with the magic wand tool and then use brushes to bring in other colors, highlight, and shade without having to worry about "overspray" going beyond the contours of your subject.  In this case, I used a large, soft-edged brush to bring in yellows, oranges, reds, and a bit of green on the fins.  Then I used brighter colors and the dodge tool to add highlights and darker colors and the burn tool to add shadows to the piece.<img src="http://www.darrencalvert.com/horsestage4.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Here is the color layer with the pencil art hidden:<img src="http://www.darrencalvert.com/horsestage5.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Stage 4: Tinting the PencilsTo give the pencil layer subtle colors that match the colors beneath it, create a duplicate of your color layer (Layer>Duplicate Layer) and then drag it over top of the pencils and set the mode to Color.  This means that anywhere the pencils are over a green area, they will be dark green, over a red area, they will be dark red, etc.I usually tone it down a little from full strength by reducing the opacity of this layer (in this case to 30%).<img src="http://www.darrencalvert.com/horsestage6.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />That's about it!  You can play around with saturation, opacity, etc. to get the look you want at this point.The finished drawing again:<img src="http://www.darrencalvert.com/goldhorse.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Let me know if this makes sense or if there are any areas that need clarifying.  I'll probably post this on my site once I've ironed out any wrinkles.</blockquote>

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