A Build-Up Approach to Photoshop Coloring

There are many different approaches to coloring digitally. This one focuses on starting with a solid color, and building all the rest of the colors on top of it to give your painting a general color scheme. This tutorial is for Adobe Photoshop, although if you have another program that uses layers, you may have some luck with it.

Starting with a basic color and then painting on top of it is a great way to give your image a general feel and color scheme. It's also fun to try out if you're getting board coloring things the same old way.

To build up your painting on top of a solid color, you'll need your layers organized in this order. On top is your drawing layer. This contains the sketch or inking that you scanned in and want to color. Make sure that this layer's properties are set to "multiply". Underneath, you will have the color layer. This is the layer in which you will add additional color. On the very bottom, you will have the background color. I selected green because I want my picture to have a swampy feel to it.

I'm going to use a hard edged airbrush (not the paintbrush!) set at a flow of about 25%. The really soft brushes don't stay in the areas that I want as well as the hard edged ones, and the paintbrush is far to flat for building up color.

I'm going to start by building up her skin. I chose a peach color; since this color is lighter then the green background, I'm working in reverse - putting the paint down where I want the hightlights, and letting the paper (the green) show though for the shadows. If you remember to work on the color layer instead of the background, it makes life easier because you can erase mistakes easier without taking off all of the green.

I continue to use the same color throughtout the rest of the image. I do this because in the beginning, I'm still trying to keep the image unified in its color. The very last thing you're going to worry about is the true color of things. For now, concentrate on light and value.

I've worked the peach into just about all of the image.

I now move in with a darker brown. I work this into most of the image.

My color scheme is pretty well established. I can now work in some gold. I'm only going to put it where there would be gold color. It's now up to you to work color into the rest of your image. Keep working with the airbrush and build up your color.

The finished image. Note how even though I used a lot of colors, the peach and green really show through and make the image seem like it has a mood. This technique may be fun to give a try ^__^