First Attempt at Colourizing

[Keith Bateman]

Hi All,

On Paul's recommendation I had bought for my birthday a Graphics Pad - so I thought I had better test it out - and learn how to colorize.
Pad was easy to use with the pen.

I picked a sailor as I presumed that his uniform would be Blue!!

Enjoyed my first attempt - even if his lips are a bit girlish! 

Constructive comments awaited! 

Cheers

Keith

[deadants]

Hi Keith,
   You have just about got colorizing nailed. If you zoom in on the embroidered badges and give them some white or gold or whatever colour they might be, I bet that will lift that photo to new heights. Yes the lips could do with some work.
    Did you convert the photo to cmyk mode first? Also did you use adjustment layers/curves?

deadants

[Keith Bateman]

Hi deadants,

Almost afraid to ask - what is cmyk mode?!!

Used 3 layers  -  then coloured them red, blue and yellow - only thing was I was reading instructions all the time - used masks to block out colours - wasn't sure why I got the white - on the braid - but I did!!
Never been in the forces - wasn't sure about the badges - perhaps should have looked at a coloured photo and copied from that.

Cheers

Keith

[deadants]

Hi keith,
   cmyk is the industry standard for printing, used by glossy mags etc. If you are using photoshop Check this tutorial out. http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161018&page=3 Your colorizing efforts will take off once you start using this method.

deadants

[Keith Bateman]

Hi deadants,

Thanks for that link - had a quick look - seems as tho even I might be able to understand it - although I have Paint Shop Pro - both 7 & 9 - as the my old scanner only works with 7!

But mask and levels etc are there - have looked at some of PSP tutorials before - but seemed a bit complicated to me - but things are beginning to make some sense now - so will have another read of all of them.

Thanks again - for comments on both mine and other peoples attempts - I read them all even when I don't reply!!


Cheers
Keith

[deadants]

Hi Keith,
  I thought you were using photoshop. I'm not sure that PSP 9 has cmyk mode. Anyhow, your underway and thats the main thing. You should be able to find colorizing tutorials on PSP all over the net. In the mean time you may want to check this forum out http://www.retouchpro.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3 it is a graphic users treasure trove. I will have a go at your sailor tommorow in cmyk mode so you can see what I'm talking about.

deadants

[deadants]

Hi Keith,
     This wasdone with cmyk Layers. The buety of doing it this way, is that you can go to the layers time and time again and change the layers properties.

deadants

[Keith Bateman]

Hi Deadants,

That's brilliant  !!!
I have read a bit about CMYK - trouble is it seems they expect you to know lots before reading the tutorials!!

Anyway - off to have another read - a little bit sinks in each time - think my "little grey cells" need another layer applied!!

Cheers

Keith

[roadrunner465]

Keith
I am a new beginner to Colourizing and I found your work very useful as a tutorial.
I now know about layers and how many I might have to use for each picture. I am not use how to use the CMYK mode. Do you know how.
I have much to learn but thanks for your effort.
What do you think of the graphics pad?