delicia (tetris) wrote in rp_tutorials, @ 2011-02-13 06:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | images: editing, resources: tutorials |
SHOPPED!FUNKY HAIR 101.
Alright. It seems I'm on a tutorial craze at the moment. I don't think of myself as any kind of Photoshop Goddess, but I've picked up a few tricks here and there, and I'm more than willing to share what tips I have with you guys! Now, COLOURING HAIR is a pretty popular topic. In this age of comic book RPGs or just plain wacky PBs, I do see 'shopped hair all over the place. And I commend the people who do it. It always looks so funky and great. However, I know it's not a skill the average user knows, and I'm here to change that.
Alrigh, this is yet another tutorial I'm doing in Photoshop. I do have Paint Shop Pro, and it's actually my software of choice, but for the more technical things I like to use Adobe. That's a bit weird, I know, but I do know this is fairly translateable. If you guys really need it, I can probably give it a go in PSPX as well. But for now, let's just stick to Photoshop. First, you need to decide on what picture you're going to use for your shopping. This will often depend on your PB. For simplicity's sake, I prefer blondes or light brunettes. Black hair is pretty much a no go where changing hair colour is concerned. For this, I'm going to use Scarlett Johansson. Say hello, Scarlett. Now. Introductions are out of the way. Don't worry, I'm not using this picture. I'm using THIS one. Hello Scarlett. Anyway, you want your image to be as high quality as possible, otherwise it won't look as good when it comes to reducing the size or converting the image into banners/icons. Now, get your Photoshop all open and prepared, and plug Scarlett's picture in like so: Now, the first tool you'll need to acquaint yourself with is the zoom in. It's the magnifying glass, I'm sure you know what it looks like? If you don't know, here it is: Now, click it. Make sure it's on the + symbol in the middle. Hover it over your subject's face and zoom in as close as you can while keeping all of their hair in view. See? You can see a lot of her here. The nitpicky part starts here now. Honestly, I'm not sure if this is how everyone else does it, but this is how I do it and have for a while now. So, go figure, right? I know some people do it with paint brushes and things. But there you have it. If anyone else can make a simpler, faster way, you should make a tutorial for it and I can scrap this one! This is the lasso tool. You're going to need that pretty much need that from here on out. Alright, what you need to do is draw a huge circle around your PB's head, including all of their hair. Yes. I know that sounds weird. But trust me. A huge circle. Like the one below: There is a reason for this. This pretty much forms the foundation for your whacky hair shenanigans. Now, you need to pay attention to that lasso again. But not only that, but its other options. Go to the top of the program. See those boxes inside the orange? They're important. They all do different things with the lasso tool. The first is a generic lasso. It'll just make the same sort of outlay as you made around your person's head. If you try to use it on the same photo, it'll negate the previous selection and you'll make a new box. Not too complicated, right? The second button is different. It will increase the space of your previously selected shape. Like so: See the second button selected in the top orange rectangle? And how it's affected the shape of Scarlett's dotted bubble around her head? Well, the next bubble does the complete opposite. It will cut away the excess around her head. That makes sense, right? Well, they're both incredibly important for this method. If you make mistakes, the second and third will balance each other out, so you're able to repair your mistakes. Now, for the sake of reducing the bubble, select the THIRD button at the top. Selected? Good. Now, you're going to want to start with cutting away at the dotted bubble surrounding Scarlett's hair. The orange arrows show the process of cutting. Basically, you'll want to try and do this until all that's selected is her hair. Like I said, it's a bit painstaking, but you get used to it before long. There are probably easier ways to do it. This is my way. Look! All cut out. Be careful to avoid the sections between the hair. Often, it's skin or their clothing, and you don't want that to be bright purple like their hair. It can be cut out with the lasso tools as well. Make sure it's the third button, of course. As stated, if you go too far in and cut the hair out, you can go back to the second button and re-thicken the bubble. That's what's pretty fool-proof about my method, even if it's time consuming. But the worst is over! Now, the colouring. The next step is to make a layer comprising of just the hair. To do this, you need to press CTRL + C, followed by CTRL + V. DO NOT PANIC if your lasso bubble disappears from the picture. This is normal. On the side, you should see: This is good. You have another layer with your person's hair on it. Now, press CTRL + ALT + U. This will bring up the following box: Success! You've made it to the actual hair colouring part. Now, you can pretty much fiddle with what you want here, but the goal is to have funky colours that look natural. Don't overdo the saturation. See? Pink hair. Saturation isn't crazy. You can pretty much leave the lightness/darkness be. Hue is what's most important as that controls colour. A darkish purple. Still doesn't look over the top!toony. Now, it's important to go to CTRL+E to merge everything down, otherwise when you try to do anything with it you're just editing the hair. But then... you're done! Pretty hair, in whatever colour you want! And an icon for fun: |