Coloring Tutorial
Dec. 30th, 2025 06:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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stillpermanenttThe lovely magicrubbish asked how I did skin tone and specifically this icon I made for an icon challenge. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask here!
Sometimes, in the words of on my most adored actors, “you have to walk a mile to go a block” and that’s kinda what this tutorial is. What I aim to do, and this may be the gif maker in me is to keep the skin tone natural but add some vibrancy and even tone. Part of what I do is to maintain/create contrast, even if I change it a bit. Sometimes that means upping the contrast/brightness, or adding a new layer and brushing on some black and setting it to soft light.
Cap:
Prep - Copy auto contrast, duplicate auto color, duplicate auto tone. Play with it until you get something you like, ideally bringing in more colors to image. Merge & duplicate. Separate subject from the background (keep the one with the background below in case you change your mind). Sharpen to your liking.
Curves layer, RGB auto. I think it washes him out too much so I play with it so that there’s still some contrast but lighter (for me opacity 50%, fill 60%)
I wanted more contrast between his right side & left side. I added another Curves layer, lowered the opacity to 30% and lightly brushed over the darker side of his face to mask it out.
I added a new layer, took a smaller soft brush and went over his eyes, I wanted to attempt to get that blue. Set it to Soft Light. This time it was set to 100% but that’s not always the case, gotta play around with it.
At this point I started playing with textures until I was satisfied (I try not to go in with anything in mind, cause whenever I do, I’m never happy). At this point, we need more contrast. There’s a few ways to do it but I played with Levels. It gets his features more in focus. Upped into the 50s.
I want more color! One of the things I loved about the new F4 movie was the use of color, so I added a bright yellow/orange texture. After going through all the options I like what Saturation does, but it's a bit too much. So I lowered the opacity into the 20%s. After playing with the settings and opacity, I settled on Saturation, it helped give the entire image a boost. His skin looked a little pinker, the background was a bit more yellow. Kept the opacity low, but brushed over the space suit since I wanted that to stay pristine.
100% Sat 20% Sat
>> 
Next I want to kick up the blues, so add a Color Balance layer. I go extreme, because most of it will be masked out. Taking a smaller soft brush, I paint out the areas I want to keep visible, then invert the masked layer (command & I). This is a close up of the last few masks used in this and the next steps.
Color Balance (no mask) Color Balance Mask 20%
>>>> 
Could have stopped here but, honestly, idk why I didn’t. Sometimes I’ll pull out a bunch of textures when I choose a cap. A lot of times I don’t use them all if any but sometimes it sets a vibe? So I added one I had opened, by latexandleather (lj), I think it was oriented a different way but that’s how it ended up. Set it to Screen and I liked how it light up the side of Johnny’s face, the side that was darker. Masked out a good deal of it, keeping mostly top and bottom.
Started feeling those hard lines we got when we added a Levels layer were being lost. So adding a Curves layer (set to Multiply) I upped the contrast curve but also bolstered the reds and the blues. Lowered opacity down into the 20s. I brushed out the center of his face and I felt like his face finally matched the background/detail contrast.
100% Normal Multiply 100% Multiply 20%
>> 
>> 
Nearly finished! I took a black & white texture, no idea what it looked like originally or who made it, but set it to Soft Light and brushed over the area around his right eye with a round soft brush and just opposite it.
The yellow just wasn’t doing it for me at this point, so I found another bright yellow texture in my folder, brushing most of it out of his face. Kept it set to Normal but in the low 20s% for opacity.
At this point, I’m loving the yellows. However, I want a bit more warmth to his face. So I add one last Color Balance and up the blues & purples in just the Midtones. I brushed out the area over his face and then inverted the layer. It was a bit too much, so I lowered the opacity to the 50s. Done!
100% Opacity 53% Opacity
>>>
Done!
I don’t know if that helped, but I try to approach each icon not too far from a painting, some areas get more attention sometimes than others. I really hope it helps. I will say, I spend a lot of time with most icons, playing with things until I’m pleased.
magicrubbish asked how I did skin tone and specifically this icon I made for an icon challenge. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask here!Sometimes, in the words of on my most adored actors, “you have to walk a mile to go a block” and that’s kinda what this tutorial is. What I aim to do, and this may be the gif maker in me is to keep the skin tone natural but add some vibrancy and even tone. Part of what I do is to maintain/create contrast, even if I change it a bit. Sometimes that means upping the contrast/brightness, or adding a new layer and brushing on some black and setting it to soft light.
Cap:
Prep - Copy auto contrast, duplicate auto color, duplicate auto tone. Play with it until you get something you like, ideally bringing in more colors to image. Merge & duplicate. Separate subject from the background (keep the one with the background below in case you change your mind). Sharpen to your liking.
Curves layer, RGB auto. I think it washes him out too much so I play with it so that there’s still some contrast but lighter (for me opacity 50%, fill 60%)
I wanted more contrast between his right side & left side. I added another Curves layer, lowered the opacity to 30% and lightly brushed over the darker side of his face to mask it out.
I added a new layer, took a smaller soft brush and went over his eyes, I wanted to attempt to get that blue. Set it to Soft Light. This time it was set to 100% but that’s not always the case, gotta play around with it.
At this point I started playing with textures until I was satisfied (I try not to go in with anything in mind, cause whenever I do, I’m never happy). At this point, we need more contrast. There’s a few ways to do it but I played with Levels. It gets his features more in focus. Upped into the 50s.
I want more color! One of the things I loved about the new F4 movie was the use of color, so I added a bright yellow/orange texture. After going through all the options I like what Saturation does, but it's a bit too much. So I lowered the opacity into the 20%s. After playing with the settings and opacity, I settled on Saturation, it helped give the entire image a boost. His skin looked a little pinker, the background was a bit more yellow. Kept the opacity low, but brushed over the space suit since I wanted that to stay pristine.
100% Sat 20% Sat
>> Next I want to kick up the blues, so add a Color Balance layer. I go extreme, because most of it will be masked out. Taking a smaller soft brush, I paint out the areas I want to keep visible, then invert the masked layer (command & I). This is a close up of the last few masks used in this and the next steps.
Color Balance (no mask) Color Balance Mask 20%
>>>> Could have stopped here but, honestly, idk why I didn’t. Sometimes I’ll pull out a bunch of textures when I choose a cap. A lot of times I don’t use them all if any but sometimes it sets a vibe? So I added one I had opened, by latexandleather (lj), I think it was oriented a different way but that’s how it ended up. Set it to Screen and I liked how it light up the side of Johnny’s face, the side that was darker. Masked out a good deal of it, keeping mostly top and bottom.
Started feeling those hard lines we got when we added a Levels layer were being lost. So adding a Curves layer (set to Multiply) I upped the contrast curve but also bolstered the reds and the blues. Lowered opacity down into the 20s. I brushed out the center of his face and I felt like his face finally matched the background/detail contrast.
100% Normal Multiply 100% Multiply 20%
>> >> Nearly finished! I took a black & white texture, no idea what it looked like originally or who made it, but set it to Soft Light and brushed over the area around his right eye with a round soft brush and just opposite it.
The yellow just wasn’t doing it for me at this point, so I found another bright yellow texture in my folder, brushing most of it out of his face. Kept it set to Normal but in the low 20s% for opacity.
At this point, I’m loving the yellows. However, I want a bit more warmth to his face. So I add one last Color Balance and up the blues & purples in just the Midtones. I brushed out the area over his face and then inverted the layer. It was a bit too much, so I lowered the opacity to the 50s. Done!
100% Opacity 53% Opacity
>>>Done!
I don’t know if that helped, but I try to approach each icon not too far from a painting, some areas get more attention sometimes than others. I really hope it helps. I will say, I spend a lot of time with most icons, playing with things until I’m pleased.
