how to make a colorization
Alright, here we go. In this tutorial we'll be making this:
full size
The picture can be found at Arwen-Undomiel.com. Start out by making a new layer.
Always make a new layer. It is a lifesaver in this process. It's also good to name the layers. I didn't on this one simply because it was one subject, but sometimes you have four people or something and then naming them "pippin shirt" or such is a good idea.
I always start with the face, just because their skin tone sets the feel for the rest of it. Use the
paintbrush tool and set it to some skin-like, peachy color. Then (on the new layer) color in the area where the face is (and any other skin that's showing). It's okay if you go over into other areas, because the
smudge tool is your best friend. Set this layer on
color.
Now, most likely, the skin color doesn't look right. Probably a bit yellow/orangeish. That's okay. Go to
Colors>Hue and Saturation. Then just adjust the color until it looks right. Sometimes, you'll need to
duplicate the layer, lower the opacity, and put a reddish color so that it looks more lifelike. If there is any color hanging off into clothing or background, you can take the
smudge tool on a low opacity/rate and push the color back into the face. If you want to give them rosier cheeks (usually a good idea), then on a new layer smudge some reddish color. Make sure it's blurry. Set it on color with a low opacity.
The lips are important, and hard to get right. On girls, it's pretty easy. Just have some brighter pinkish/reddish color. It's okay if they look like they have lipstick. The more natural look is harder. Again, new layer. Choose some light pink color, something closer to the yellow end of the colors than the purples. This is tricky. Sometimes having it on low opacity color works fine, but sometimes you need to fiddle with it more Overlay can also work. At any rate, using the Hue/Saturation tool will help a lot to get it looking natural.
For the eyes, just take a color and put it on. Lower the opacity to 50% so that the people don't look like they're wearing contacts. Just a note, it's usually good to go with colors that are kind of greyish. Except brown, but I tend to avoid brown anyway as you shall see.
The hair is always a problem for me because it usually is brown.
Try and find some brownish color. Again, it's okay if the coloring goes outside of the hair, that's what the smudge is for. When this brown is put on color, it looks orange. And not like an orange/red hair, but a nasty orange. So, my brown hair usually involves a lot of layers on
overlay, grain merge, hard light, really whatever combination of layers seems to work. Definitely do more than one layer, and vary the hue of it. Hair isn't all one tone. Sorry I can't offer more, but it always changes from time to time for me.
Clothing is nice and simple. Take a color, go over the piece of clothing, and smudge in where you went "outside the lines." You usually want to lower the opacity some, and clothing can look fine on overlay or hard light as well.
I didn't want to make a big fuss over this background.
Make this layer go right above the original picture. (You can see all my other layers on top of it.) I decided this looked like an autumn scene, so I made the background be autumn-y like colors, reds and yellows. I just threw the colors on there, then went to
Filters>Blur>Gaussion Blur. I set it pretty high, so that you couldn't see any hard lines between the colors. You could also smudge with a fun grunge brush. Then I set the background on hard light (I believe) and erased the parts where the person is.
Right click>image>flatten image. Duplicate. Set on overlay. That's usually how I end my colors, simply because it helps tie the whole thing together and make it more saturated. And that's it!
