I’m going to have to split this into 2 parts. Not because it’s complicated, it can just be a little time consuming, and I have a fruit fly problem that I really need to deal with today.
So part 1 begins. I use Photoshop CS3, so if my screen shots look a little different to yours don’t worry, and yes I think this will work with almost any Photoshop program, except maybe elements? (I’m really not familiar with that one)
Alright, start by picking your picture. This is my straight out of the camera shot of Ava.
Next you want to change your picture to black and white. Now there are a couple ways to do this, but this is the easiest way with simple, quick results.
Go to Image> Adjustments> Desaturate
And that will change it to black and white and grey tones.
But it’s kind of boring and doesn’t really have a lot of depth to it. So to change this to be a bit more eye pleasing.
Go to Image> Adjustments> Selective Color
From there you will get a little box that pops up. Click on the drop down box where it lists the colors and select Blacks.
Using the black slider bar at the bottom (circled in purple) slide it up and down to adjust to your liking.
I also like to play a bit with the neutral and white colors when I desaturate. Just like before, select them from the drop down color box. (circled in purple)
And because you’ll notice there isn’t a neutral or white slider bar, you will use the black one again.
See how much more depth and color variation that added to the picture.
There are lots of other ways to change your picture to black and white. Using Photoshop actions is simple and easy, but usually the best ones cost money. There are also more complicated tutorials out there that will walk you through changing your pictures to black and white. Google is a great resource for this.
Okay, so onto the next step. Coloring the eyes.
Now that your picture is black and white, the next step is to add some color back into it. This can get tricky, but follow along closely and we’ll get through it.
The first thing you need to make sure is that your picture is in RGB Color.
Go to Image> Mode> RGB Color
If you used desaturate process, it will already be on RGB Mode, but this next step won’t work if it isn’t, so we double check just to be certain.
Okay, next we want to work on our picture in Quick Mask mode. You can either click the Quick Mask button, or just push (Q) on your keyboard.
Now you’re in quick mask mode, you’ll want to zoom in close to the eyes in your picture and select the brush tool.
Once you select the brush tool, at the top of the screen you’ll want to click the drop down arrow so you can change the master diameter of your brush.
You can see the circle on Ava’s forehead is the size of my brush. It’s not bigger than the eye ball, but small enough so that I can get some detail when I’m coloring her eyes. You’ll see what I mean in a second.
Start coloring their eyes using your brush tool. It will start coloring your eye red wherever you click.
Go until the whole eye is colored red. This doesn’t have to be super precise.
Do the same to the other eye.
Now that both the eyes are colored red, the next step is to get out of quick mask mode. Again, you can click the button or just press Q on your keyboard.
Once you do that, you’ll notice that the red coloring is gone and it’s now replaced by the marching ants. (little lines circling your eyes, we call them marching ants)
Next we need to invert the selected eyes. The quick way is to press
shift + control + I
or you can find it in your menu bar by going to Select> Inverse
Now you’re going to copy your selection (in this case we’re coping the eyes) by pushing Control + C
And paste it into a new layer by pushing Control + V
Your Layers box should have a new layer called Layer 1. (that’s the eyes)
Now for the fun stuff. (you get to see all this button clicking start coming to life!!)
Make sure the Layer 1 box is clicked on and highlighted in blue.
Next Click Layer> New Adjustment Layer> Color Balance
A little box will pop up. Click the “Use previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask” box.
Click OK. And this is where we create!!
Use the slider bars to change the color of your eyes to whatever you want. Pink, purple, blue, brown, yellow, green… the sky’s the limit.
Did you know I had purple eyes when I was younger? (thanks to colored contact lenses)
Or how about pea green eyes?
Orange is always a good choice.
Feel free to play with the shadows, highlights and midtones, until you are happy with the color.
And that’s it. See, lots of steps, but super simple once you get the hang of it.
So that’s where I will leave it today. Tomorrow I will show you how to do the veining under the eyes and how to make the fangs.
Happy Photoshoping!
