Color manga images for Photoshop CS2; (original) (raw)

Hello! I've had quite a few inquiries regarding my style on how to color black and white manga images, so this will be a tutorial to merely guide you through the process! I hope this helps :D LET'S START.

Please remember that while this is done in Photoshop CS2, there are most certainly ways to achieve the same effect in older versions of Photoshop, or even Paint Shop Pro! ♥

  1. First! We'll be starting with this image of Maron from the manga Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne by amazing mangaka Arina Tanemura! Cute, isn't she :3

  2. Next, we'll use this skin tone gradient by ningengirai:

  3. Copy and past it to your base image. Apply the "multiply" effect to the layer, and change the Opacity to 83%, and the Fill to 53%. Erase away at her left hand and anything else that shouldn't be skin toned, and you're left with this:

  1. Take the same skin tone gradient you had, and flip it horizontally! Copy and paste, and move the most dramatically changing part of the gradient over the uncolored hand, like so!

  1. Erase whatever you don't need (basically everything else other than the hand), and then set the layer with the opacity of 79%, and fill to 75%. You get this!

  1. Now it's time for hair color!
    Let's use this skin tone gradient from the same set, and apply "multiply" to the layer once you've pasted it on top of your image & layers! Erase whatever you don't need.

  1. Set Opacity to 72% and Fill to 78%, then go to Hue/Saturation, and set Hue to -15, Saturation to +9, and Lightness to -18. Click OK, and you're now left with this! ♥

  1. Next is the eyes! Let's use the same gradient we used for the hair :D Copy and paste again, and this time, set it to "Screen". Go back to Hue/Saturation again (make sure your layer is still highlighted!), and make Hue -9, Saturation +8, and Lightness -15. Click Okay!
    You're now left with this:

  1. Now, that looks kinda funny, so let's do some artistic shading and take out your eraser, choosing the fuzzy 10 pixel brush, and setting the opacity to 50%, and flow to 50% (more or less, it doesn't matter too much, cause this is just to gauge exactly how much you're erasing away).
    Knock out those irises so it reveals the darker and original base underneath, and now we're left with this:

Better, huh :D

  1. Her grey clothes are kinda buggin' me, so let's change that, shall we?
    Let's use this gradient from colortone from her Bleach gradient set:

  1. Flip vertically, copy and paste over all the layers of your image! Erase what you don't need. Set the layer's opacity to 78% :3 You're now left with this:

  1. Now that black outline from the original image seems pretty harsh, doesn't it? Let's lighten it up a bit with the gradient we used before on the hair - copy and paste it right above your b&w base layer, and set it to 80% Opacity, and 70% fill.

  2. Her eyes seem a little funny again, so let's go back to that layer and click to highlight it. Go to Hue/Saturation once more, and set Saturation to +46 and Lightness to -46.

  3. To me, it feels like Maron-chan needs a little more color, so I'm gonna create a new layer and go back in with my fuzzy pixel brush with the color of a light rose, opacity and flow set to half, and go at her cheeks, fingertips and bottom lip. I'm moving the "blush" layer below the skin tones, just so it looks a little more natural.

Cuute~

  1. From here, you can pretty much do whatever you want with textures and more gradients, so it's your call! I personally think leaving it simpler is best, but it just depends on the image!

This is my finished product:

I hope this has been helpful for some of you! Leave any comments, praises, suggestions, or flames (hopefully there won't be any of those :3;) here in this entry. And remember to friend invisible_plan if you like what you see here! Thanks guys! ♥