Need to color b&w cartoon images 1

[spock300]

I am a graphic artist working on illustrating my own
written childrens books. I am hoping to send off a dummy with several color samples i hope to do using PSP9.

I have self fumbled my way to a certain point on my Paint Shop Pro 9 version and am seeking help here.

I scanned a few black & white images into the scanner and greyscaled the image and tried to drop color into portions of the artwork but would like to know the proper procedure on how to do this. I beleive its called a tutorial.

I sinply would like to drop color into my B&W images, very much like placing color into a coloring book type line drawing.

anyone care to assist?

 

[kaidomac]

Before you begin, you should know that coloring lineart with computer graphics isn't exactly a piece of cake. It can be, but like anything else, it takes a lot of time and practice to get good at it. It's definately not magic - the computer won't do the work for you. Before you send off any proofs, make sure you are very comfortable with the software (actually using it and creating images) and understand resolution, dpi, rgb/cmyk, and all that.

Now that that's out of the way, google is a great resource for finding tutorials. There are TONS of websites that cover scanning lineart, coloring lineart, creating effects, etc. You should also know about the two hottest programs for working with color, which are Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. Check out Adobe's website for more information on those programs:

http://www.adobe.com/

I say that because most of the lineart tutorials that you'll find will be in Photoshop, because it's probably the most popular graphics program available. However, I personally prefer to use Paint Shop Pro, and once you get a handle on the program you'll be able to use Photoshop tutorials to do your work in Paint Shop Pro.

With that said, here are some links to tutorials:

PolyKarbon:

http://www.polykarbon.com/

They have many great tutorials on cleaning up and coloring lineart, with a focus on comic book-style artwork. Here's a link to their tutorial index:

http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/index.htm

Here's a PolyKarbon tutorial on how to clean up scanned lineart so that it looks more professional:

http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/scanning/scan.htm

Here's a brief tutorial on how to color lineart in Photoshop using channels/layers:

http://www.polykarbon.com/tutorials/html/channels2.html

There are several hardware tools available as well. I find a trackball to be very useful when selecting areas of a lineart picture to color. A company called Logitech makes good trackballs. Here's a link to one of their models:

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/products/details/US/EN,CRID=6,CONTENTID=5002

As you increase you skill, you may also want to get a tablet. A tablet is like a hard mousepad with a wireless pen instead of a mouse. You use the pen like a mouse to move the cursor on the screen. It's a lot easier to use when doing painting effects on a computer. In addition, it's pressure sensitive, so the harder you push, you the more "ink" comes out on the screen. Wacom makes excellent tablets. Here's a link to one of their models:

http://www.wacom.com/graphire/4x5.cfm

Another software package to look at in the future is Corel Painter. Painter is a package that simulates natural media such as airbrush, oils, watercolor, and so on. Here's the link:

http://www.corel.com/painterix/home/index.html

Personally, I use Paint Shop Pro about 90% of the time. I grew up using Paint Shop Pro and I'm very familiar with it. It's a wonderful program. Here's another site with some fun tutorials for Paint Shop Pro:

http://www.pinoy7.com/

HTH!