How to Paint Anime in Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is a graphic design program that makes creating anime characters a much easier task for many artists. You can automate actions and paint color in Photoshop much faster than by hand, which comes in handy for creating brightly colored anime characters of all kinds.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• 3 GB of free space
• Photoshop

Paint Anime Characters in Photoshop

1. Open your Photoshop application. In Windows, you will find Photoshop most likely in the "Start" Menu > "Programs" > "Photoshop." On a Mac, you can either click on the "Photoshop" in your dock or find it directly in "Macintosh HD" > "Applications" > "Photoshop."
2. Click "Control-O" (Windows) or "Command-O" (Mac) to open the file on which you wish to work.
3. Browse through your computer files until you find the one for which you are looking. Select it and click "Open."
4. Choose the layer you would like to paint from the layers palette. If you want to paint more than one layer at a time, link all desired layers in the layer palette or merge down your layers into one comprehensive layer.
5. Select the layer (or compressed layers) using the "Magic Wand" tool. If you still have more than one layer, you can hold down the "Shift" key and click once on each desired layer until all are highlighted.
6. Decrease this area by choosing "Select" > "Modify" > "Contract" and then reducing the size by 3 pixels. This will keep your margins even and prevent color bleeding.
7. Select the "Paint Bucket" tool and color this area in your chosen paint tone. You can use RGB or CMYK color to do this, but keep it consistent throughout.

Tips & Warnings

• If you've never used Adobe Photoshop before, you should probably take an introductory class before attempting this task. The program can be very confusing to newcomers or those unfamiliar with graphics programs.
• When in doubt, check your layers palette. Ninety percent of Photoshop problems occur because you are on the wrong layer.
• Use the "ALT" key and a mouse click on a color you would like to "steal" while the "Eyedropper" tool is enabled. You can then use this color to fill in your next selection with paint.
• If your color is too rich, change the opacity of it to tone down the look. In the top menu bar, use the drop down menu to alter the opacity between 0 and 100 percent. The basic idea is that the remainder will be the visibility of the background, so 50 percent opacity allows 50 percent of the background to be seen.
• Be sure you have at least 3 GB of free hard drive space, as low availability can slow down Photoshop processes.