working with layers and lines...

[Lakini]

hey all,
i'm kinda new to photoshop 7. here's my problem, i have scanned black and white line drawings into photoshop, and i want to color/paint the image without affecting the lines at all. so, basically... i want one layer with everything transparent except for the lines, and the other layer that i could color on underneath the lines. now, i have used the magic wand and masked the white areas of the drawing and deleted them, just leaving the line, but with a detailed drawing that could take hours to achieve, and i guess what im trying to get to is, is there an easier way using some sort of layers property or something to accomplish this effect? is it something to do with the vector mask?
thanks

 

[jimoblak]

You can apply the technique used by animation cell painters. They drew outlines on the top of the acetate sheet and painted the color on the bottom.

To create the front of the acetate sheet:
View the Layers palette. If the layer is called 'Background' in italics, double-click the 'layer' to make it a normal layer. Remove the white area of the black and white drawing using Select>Color Range and then deleting the selection.

To create the back of the acetate sheet:
Layer>New Layer
Drag the newest layer to the bottom of the stack in the Layers palette. Paint on this. You can also use the magic wand to select paintable regions within your drawing layer.