Hello everyone, in this part I will show you how to use selections, gradients, blending modes and mask when adding color to your halftone comic-style artwork. We are going to use the Color Set we created in the first part and the images from the second part of this tutorial series.

 

Let's add some color!

 

Layer Folder

The first thing that we want to do is to create a Layer Folder to group all the layers we are going to use. Select the “Line”, “Tone” and “Outline” layers holding SHIFT or CTRL while selecting or with the check mark next to the “eye icon”.

 

Now Go to [ Layer > Create folder and insert layer ] or from the Top Left Menu. You can also Right click over the layers and choose the same option. Just like so we have all our layers in the same folder. Double click on the name and change it to “headphone”. Also let's create another one to backup the Original photo and hide it for now. ▼

 

Auto select & Selection from layer

 

The next thing we need to do is to make a selection of the area we want to fill with color. Select the “Outline” layer and click over the “eye” icon while holding the ALT key. This will allow you to see only the “Outline” layer. ▼

 

 

Now with the [Auto select] tool selected (shortcut W) click one time inside the transparent shape of the “headphone”. ▼

 

Create a Raster Layer from [ Layer > New Raster Layer ] and name it “Fill”.

 

 

Then use the [Gradient] tool (shortcut G) to add color to the selection. Make sure you have selected the colors you want before using the gradient tool. You can press “X” to switch the foreground and background colors. Click over the selection a drag and release to make a gradient. ▼

 

 

Deselect from [ Select > Deselect ]. Then place the “Fill” layer below the “Line” layer. ▼

 

Make the layers from the “headphone” folder visible again. Click over the “eye” icon in the layer panel. ▼

 

 

Now we want to try different gradients and colors. The fast an easy way to select the colors from the layer is to click over the thumbnail image in the layer while holding the CTRL key. This will select all the pixels from the layer. ▼

 

 

You can choose any color that you like. Feel free to make new gradients in the same layer or create new raster layers to compare them or combine later.

 

Masks

 

If you have used masks in other apps or software like Photoshop, Affinity Photo or similar, you probably know or have an idea of how a mask works.

 

Now I am going to combine gradient colors in different layer using masks.▼

 

 

Now select the “Fill” layer that is above the others gradient but below of the “Line” layer a make a selection by holding CTRL and clicking over the image thumbnail. Then create a mask from [ Layer > Layer Mask > Mask Selection ] or from the Top Left Menu. You can also click over the “Mask” icon while holding ALT. ▼

 

 

As you can see a Black and White thumbnail mask has appear next to the image in the selected layer. Black indicates what is hidden and white what it is visible. ▼

 

 

Use the [Airbrush] tool (shortcut B) to paint over the black areas. You can use any color to make those area visible. Make sure that you are painting on the mask and not on the layer. ▼

 

 

You can also hide areas painting with transparent (shortcut C) or with the eraser tool. Just make sure you are on the mask and not on the layer. ▼

 

 

So, feel free to create more masks and paint over to reveal and hide the colors you want to show in your gradient.

 

Blending Modes & Tones

 

Let's add some color to the tones “dots” using [Blending Mode] in the Layer panel. In summary Blending Modes combine layers in different ways with the layers below them. For this tutorial we are going to use [Multiply] to make the colors darker, [Screen] to make colors brighter, and [Overlay] and [Soft light] that makes bright areas brighter and dark areas darker in different grades.

 

 

Select the “Tone” layer a choose [Overlay] or [Soft light]. Just like so the circles over the brighter areas are combine now with the color from the layers below. You can also bring down the opacity of the “Line” layer to 56% and reveal “dots” in the darker areas. Moreover you can create a mask on the “Line” layer and erase or paint with transparent to smoothly hide the darker areas and reveal some color from below. ▼

 

 

IMPORTANT: If you want to reduce the opacity of the “Tone” layer and keep the “dots” looking the same you need to turn off the [Reflect layer opacity] box. If you leave this box checked and then you bring the opacity down all the “dots” are going to look smaller. As we review in Part 2 · Intro to Tones (halftones), when “dots” are small and separate from each other the human eye perceived light tones. And when we reduce the opacity from the layer the tones becomes lighter.

 

 

You can select the [Pen] tool and with a white or bright color selected draw some lines in a “Screen” layer to add some highlights. You can adjust the opacity to give it the intensity you like. ▼

 

 

Now let's create a new raster layer below the “headphone” layer folder and with the [Fill] toll (short "G" 2 times) add a solid color. You can name it “Color Fill” and this will be our background. ▼

 

 

You can also create another layer above the “Color Fill” layer and put in practice all what we have review in this tutorial so far. Go ahead and create a new gradient. Use a light and a dark color for the background and foreground. Use the tone effect and set the [Blending Mode] to [Overlay] and bring the opacity down making sure that the [Reflect layer opacity] is off. ▼

 

 

And that is basically how you use the blending modes and tones to add color to your image. You can also repeat the same techniques with the 3D object Motorcycle we saw in the previous tutorial.

 

Varying Hues

 

Finally, we are going to see the fastest and easy way to change the colors of the image in just one step (OK, maybe two but still).

 

First select the “headphone” layer folder and create a correction layer from [ Layer > New Correction Layer > Hue/Saturation/Luminosity ] or from the Top Left Menu. ▼

 

Now just move the Hue value and see how the colors change. ▼

 

And there you go, you have successfully added color to your image using gradients, opacity, blending modes and tones. Feel free to join me in the next tutorial.