How to Paint in Photoshop
Painting in Adobe Photoshop is a matter of knowing the different tools and what you can do with them. After you have a sketch or line art, four basic phases of digital painting are at your mouse tip: color, shadow, highlight and blend. Using Photoshop to color and paint creates an image that is ready to be used on the Internet or in printed formats.
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Instructions
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Preparing Your Sketch
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Scan your sketch or prepare your line art using Photoshop and then open either your sketch or line art in the program.
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2
Left-click the name of your sketch in the Layers Palette and rename it "Sketch."
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3
Create a new layer by pressing "Ctrl+Shift+N." (Instructions in this tutorial are for users of Microsoft Windows.)
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4
Left-click the new layer in the Layers Palette and rename it "Color."
Digital Painting
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5
Left-click the colored square in the Tools palette to choose your background colors.
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Left-click the brush tool in the Tools palette and choose the diameter you want from the Options toolbar.
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7
Left-click and drag the brush tool over the large areas of your image to fill in the basic background colors. Change the color in the Tools palette when needed.
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8
Choose the direction of the light source in the image. For this tutorial, use the top left.
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Choose darker hues of your original colors by left-clicking the colored square in the Tools palette.
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10
Add shadows to your image on the bottom left of contours and objects.
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Choose lighter hues of your original colors by left-clicking the colored square in the Tools palette.
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12
Add highlights to your image on the top left of contours and objects.
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13
Left-click the Smudge tool in the Tools palette to select it.
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Use the Smudge tool to smoothly blend the color with your shadows and highlights.
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15
Add any fine details to your painting such as leaves, hair or fine lines using the brush tool set to a small diameter.
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Save the file in the appropriate format for either print or web by left-clicking "File" and selecting "Save As" from the drop-down menu.
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Tips & Warnings
When shading and highlighting, use an opacity and flow of about 20.
The keyboard shortcut to undo an action is "Ctrl+Z."
