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secret-pony — Tutorial: Coloring inside lines (layer clipping)
Published: 2013-08-20 17:03:33 +0000 UTC; Views: 79369; Favourites: 920; Downloads: 448
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Description
This is probably the question I receive most: "How come you never color outside your lines?"Well... here's my secret...
There are other (simpler) ways, e.g. using 'preserve opacity', but this is just the method I use and prefer. Why? Because this way, if you spot you made a mistake somewhere when you're done with your drawing, you can easily navigate to the layer where you made your mistake and fix it without any risk of accidentally messing up other parts of your drawing.
Don't ask me how it's done in Photoshop, Ilustrator, GIMP... Because I don't know. I have never used any other program but SAI.
If you're looking for more resources for drawing (ponies), check out my other tutorials .
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Comments: 214
i've been laughing at this for 20 years
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I...need to now draw ponies more...*sniff* now im getting emotional...
omg that timing is perfect...
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can you do these steps in Photoshop? that is what I use and would really like some help.
Thanks!!
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"Don't ask me how it's done in Photoshop, Ilustrator, GIMP... Because I don't know. I have never used any other program but SAI."
Sorry pal
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Just thought I would chime in since I don't use that program. I use photoshop and it works the same way. Without clipping... I would be lost when shading/highlighting lol
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Leliana86... Thanks for the info.
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That is awesome! Thank you so much! This is super helpful
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I'm glad you found it helpful ^^
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Coloring inside lines?
DOES NOT COMPUTE. JON.EXE HAS ENCOUNTERED AN ERROR AND HAS STOPPED WORKING.
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I did not know about it... thanks!
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Hmm. I may need this for reference later.
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I have a question: I am new to coloring with SAI (which this will help greatly). How did you do the color-gradient in her hair and tail? I thought SAI didn't support gradients. (At least, I couldn't find a gradient tool...)
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Airbush tool, big size, lower density, only stroke over 1 side of the area you want to gradient.
Or smash on the colors you want on both sides and smooth out the middle with water- or blur tool.
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hey i do have one question. how did you learn to use this software? did you take a class, or was it just trial and error?
i ask bc i am a traditional artist with paper, pencil, pen, and color pencils. however i would like to start trying my hand at computer art for various reasons but mostly for speed. so instead of drawing a picture then inking it then copying it (for color testing purposes) and then scanning it on to the computer and uploading it, i could draw, color and upload much faster.
so i guess my real question is do you have any advice?
BC
The Black Cat ~ Shadow
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99% trial and error, 1% looking up tutorials, no artistic education whatsoever.
I'm just an amateur hobbyist, I don't really have any "professional" advice to give.
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This is my favourite way to colour in any program
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I always wondered what those options were for. Thanks for this!
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this is very helpful thank you for making and sharing it.
BC
The Black Cat ~ Shadow
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I'm glad you find it helpful!
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This is great
Does anyone know if it'll be similar to this in photoshop?
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Yep! Just hit ctrl+g on the layer you want to be the clipping layer and it'll do it
if that doesn't work, ctrl+alt+g
And if you use a mac, IDEFK.
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WOO thanks so much ^_^
(I don't get macs either 
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yeah it's pretty much the same thing as I remember
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to think, I've been colouring the wrong way XD
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*yoga stance, pan flute playing in the background*
There is no right or wrong way in drawing.
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I know you can do something similar with shape operations in Inkscape, but I don't do coloring in Inkscape, so the details would take me a while to work out.
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Thanks a lot for making this! I've had some problems with coloring.
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clipping is great : D
but depending on the lineart the quality may vary (by a lot) in this case you are using a hard brush for the lines
if using a softer brush the colors may "leak" out of the lineart
i personaly would/do use handmade masks
anyway still a nice und usefull tutorial : D
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Thanks.
That's what I consider a hole in the lineart.
Still, with the tolerance set to 0, it picks up even (almost) the thinnest of lines (granted that there aren't holes)
... and you'll have more work manually cleaning up afterwards too.
But the main point was really the layer clipping. Anyone can think of a way to fill in the lines first... (I hope xD)
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This is very helpful! I'll have to try it
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I'm glad you think so. Good luck!
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I've wanted to learn this trick for so long, thank you so much!
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You're welcome. Good luck!
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So... what wrong with just selecting everything outside of lineart, inverting the selection and filling it with color (on a separate layer)?
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Where did you read that was wrong or that my method is the only way?
What you're saying creates the exact same result.
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Nope, I didn't imply anything by that. Just asking why use a method, that has more steps than necessary. Is the quality of color-filling better?
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Both methods have the same number of steps.
Fill + select + cut = 3
Select + invert + fill = 3
I prefer mine because I can do it completely by hotkeys.
I don't know if 'invert selection' has a hotkey, you could ofcourse assign one yourself if it doesn't.
But I'm already so used to my method by now, it would only cause me confusion to change at this point.
And the end result is exactly the same anyway.
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Then I have absolutely no issue with the tutorial. I'll try this method the next time I draw something. Thanks.
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Find whatever feels most natural to you and stick with it ^u^
(Unless ofcourse someone shows up with a way better method xD)
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Thank you! I will try this next time I colour something ^^
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Thank you for this!! I've know how to do this with Inkscape to vector but could never figure it out in SAI
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