Scripts 2D>> Photoshop>> Actions>> preparing lineart for colouring

artmunki
artmunki
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Artist's Comments

 I just made up a wee photoshop action for the technique I use for preparing finished lineart for colouring. This technique works equally well whether you're using stark black & white finished inks, or full greyscale pencil/paint artwork, but it's important the art should not be coloured at all.

Drop this action into you Photoshop Actions folder, then open your artwork and make whatever basic value adjustments you'd normally do (I prefer levels, but other folk do things differently). Then just run the action - you'll end up with 4 layers - (from the top) lines, tones, flats and the background layer (switched off). The background is the original artwork, so you can always refer back to that if you screw anything up.

The beauty of this technique is that the linework is actually a layer mask - it allows you to paint in colour on the black field of the lines layer, so you can do all sorts of interesting colour-hold effects, without ever actually interfering with the lines themselves. If you're not happy with the colour hold, just paint that part black again. Just be sure you don't do it on the mask part of the lines layer!

I made the action in CS2, but it seems to work fine in PS7 too - let me know if you get it working in any earlier versions.
Script details
Script title: preparing lineart for colouring
Script version:
Date added: Oct 24, 2008
Views: 13922
Downloads: 4079
Category: 2D
Software: Photoshop
Software version: tested on CS2 and PS7
Favorites: 20 members
File size: 1 KB

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Script comments

  • BogzRayco

  • BogzRayco

    Apr 26, 2013

    wowowowowowowowowowowoooooooooooooooooooooooow! I think i need to buy a new mouse dude. thanks a lot! By the way how can i use this. i dunno pls help me guys. pls pls pls

  • ddymond41

  • ddymond41

    Apr 20, 2009

    this is great, use it all the time now. thanks

    • artmunki

    • artmunki

      Apr 20, 2009

      I'm glad some other folk have found it useful - I still use it myself for every page I colour.  ^_^

  • MartinRedmond

  • MartinRedmond

    Dec 12, 2008

    SHIFT CTRL N
    CTRL ALT 1
    SHIFT CTRL I
    Fill with Black

    Tada!!!

    • artmunki

    • artmunki

      Dec 13, 2008

      Hhmmm ... I quite like that method, actually. Very simple & effective. Ah, but it doesn't give you quite the same freedom for colour holds as the layer mask. Still, I might play with is a bit and see how it feels to work with. Cheers!