Photoshop Fun

John has been busy lately doing lots and lots of creepy art work. Every once in awhile he is asked to do a piece in color and I get to do the coloring.  Where I would never, ever draw a worm crawling out of some dude's hand, I really, really do enjoy doing the color work.  I thought it would be fun to share a little about the process of taking John's black and white art and adding color!  This particular piece is the back cover work on the Advanced Adventures #22:Stonepick Crossing, hot off the press from Expeditious Retreat Press.

This is where John's work ends and mine begins, he has a whole process before this point, but that is for him to tell.....

Using Photoshop I begin by taking out the white from the original and making a black only version that will sit on top of all the other layers.  It is as simple as using the magic wand tool and clicking on a light area, then hitting the select inverse, making a new layer and filling in the selected area with black.  Then I choose a color palette, that I keep visible throughout the coloring process.  Next I begin a series of layering color, upon color, upon color!   I use either the magic wand again to select areas and then add color with the paint bucket tool or I use the paintbrush and eraser tool. Changing the Opacity of the layers helps add depth and visual interest.  Using various "blur" tools gives each layer varying degrees of gradation. The following slideshow shows each layer of color added and then the opacity and gradation changed.

And the end result...

Back cover of Advanced Adventures #22:Stonepick Crossing