[Abbadon74]

Hello. I've been working on my digital comic coloring technique and have recently wanted to add a little something extra to my work. I was hoping you who are Photoshop Gurus/Digital Colorists in general could offer me a behind-the-scenes look in to how I would go about creating similar effects to the six images I've posted below.

Basically, are the effects in the images I've posted below accomplished through the use of TEXTURES or a specific Photoshop BRUSH? If it is a brush, how is a brush made and is there a specific version of PS that would be better (I currently use PS6)? If it is a texture, anyone have decent links to sites with downloadable textures like these, and some suggestions on manipulating the textures in a similar way to what is shown below?

Any input would be great, as I have been to reach an answer to this on my own for over a year to no avail. Thanks in advance.


B-


Image A:


Image B:


Image C:


Image D:


Image E:


Image F:

[Harmony Steel]

Hi Abbadon74 :). To me all of these textures look like they were created from scratch using brushes. Multiple layers and opacity levels help to add texture to things so you may want to play around with that. Also, if you can afford it you may want to move to PS7 as it has much better brush tools than PS6 and you'll find painting stuff like this should be very easy in PS7 but difficult in PS6.

To find textures just do a google search for what you're after, and if you use the advanced search options you can limit the results to larger sized images only since that's probably what you'll need. From memory there are also some free textures over at www.3dcafe.com which may be worth checking out.

The best way to create textures like these would really be to learn to paint them yourself because by doing that you'll free yourself up to create any textures you like, rather than being limited to the ones you have pre-made texture bases for. Remember too to play around with some of the PS filters, you may find 'cutout' and 'sponge' helpful on lower opacities with these types of textures. I don't endorse filters normally but for some textures they can be useful if used in moderation.

Hope that helps :)
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www.harmonysteel.com
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[krichmond]

these things will be your friends,
1. A large collection of textures
2. PS 7, 6 is fine but there is more freedom in the brush use in 7
3. Blend modes, including the full layer blend mode(bottom of layers pallette) which is great for grading.
You can layer up textures and use the blend modes to achieve the desired effedts, then cut into the layers with the eraser and you can tweak the perspective by eye to fit the picture.
have fun