Recoloring Simple and Layered Elements

This is a tutorial on recoloring elements. There are many ways to recolor, or to colorize. This is what I do for most of them but it requires some playing. Not all hues (colors) work the same with each element. Highlights and shadows play a big part in how the final product will look.


I start with choosing an element I want to recolor and open it up. If it's already colored, you can either desaturate (layer>color>desaturate) or leave it as is for a different effect. The above is the image I chose for this tutorial. I added the black background for both this tutorial and also for quality control. I delete this layer before saving as a png.


Create a new layer and bucket fill with the color you want to use. If you are not working with a specific palette, you might want to try a shade or two darker since the results are better. The image above points to the two items that make this work, layer mode (normal) and opacity (100%). Before you change these your image will be just the solid color you bucket filled. Once you change the layer mode to overlay or burn you'll see your element pop back up.

This was done with 1 bucket filled layer set at 100% opacity in overlay mode.


This one is 2 layers, both 100% in overlay mode.


This has 3 layers, 100% overlay mode.


I used one bucket fill layer, set at 100% opacity and layer mode burn.


Final example, 2 fill layers, one set at burn and 70% with the other as overlay and 100% opacity.

When you are satisfied with your coloring, test your background layer with different shades to see if it's what you need for your project and to look for brightness issues, stray pixels, etc. Delete your test background and

! IMPORTANT !
merge visible layers*. Do NOT merge down if you have more than one fill layer. It will change your results. You can merge down one at a time if you select the fill layer directly above the element. Merging down one fill layer onto another will create a solid filled image at normal layer mode again. NOTE: Use caution with merging visible layers if you are using this technique while creating a finished layout instead of a simple element. You can hide the layers you are not using by clicking on the eye in the layers dialog box. This is what I do when I am recoloring my photo book frames with the ribbon. My ribbon, rivet and paper take different amounts of shading so I assemble and recolor this in layers. My template has been saved as an xcf file so I can use it and alter it for other kits. You can see an example of it's layers in the image below:


(Click image for larger view)

The layers marked tint I will alter the color of to reflect the palette I am using, or I will replace with background papers or patterns. I keep my shadows so I don't have to create them again as well. Above the page frame layer is where I would place any texture overlays if using a bucket fill in order to add a pattern or texture. This example only shows 3 tint layers and all in a different color. I did this to get a more natural look. What it doesn't show is that I may or may not use more than one ribbon, rivet or page tint for each detail. This is where I play the most.

When I am doing the ribbon tint, the whole image will show the effects. I will merge down the ribbon tint to the pinch ribbon layer or I will hide all layers I am not actively using and use the merge visible method. Then I'll hide the finished section and unhide the next part of the layered element, in this case the rivet. Once I think I am happy, I'll unhide the ribbon to check for harmony, hide it again and merge my rivet parts. I'll finish off by repeating these steps with the page section. I'll unhide all, recheck and if happy, merge all, save as png and make sure to save as a different name as your template! Nothing more irritating than to overwrite your template, which is why I copy and paste the templates being used into a folder for the kit I am creating. This keeps from losing my template. When I create a new element, I save it as a template in case I need to tweek it or want to use it in another kit in a different color or style.

*Merge Visible Layers and Merge Down are two different operations and are listed as such on both Gimp and PSE. If you pick the wrong one, you can undo it. Once you see what each does to different layers, it's easy to understand which one to pick.

Recoloring

[LONG Imageless Tut]

I'm going to make an effort to talk about the basic tools.
I'm going to start with colors.

Have you fell in love with a kit but the colors just don't work for you? Don't skip over a download or a purchase simply because the colors won't fit your needs.

There are several ways to recolor something and depending on what needs to be recolored, there are ways that are better than others so knowing what the tools do will allow you to choose correctly.

HUE TOOL:

I use this often. If I'm just wanting to offer a bunch of elements and am not working with a specific palette, this is the best choice. It's also what you want to use if there are many colors in the item to be changed.

Hue - changes the actual color (red to orange to yellow)
Lightness - makes it lighter or darker but doesn't change the color (dark red to pink)
Saturation - adds color or removes color from the image (takes the red and makes it fire engine red or a grayish red, even gray and no red at all)

Used with the magic wand or selection tools, you can isolate parts of your image to recolor.

Saturation can make a bright color more earthy and an earthy color brighter. You can manually change the saturation of an image to give it that watercolor effect you see in many professional photos. You will use selection tools, don't forget about Select>Invert too. Let's say you want a black and white photo but leave some items in color. You can select the area that is to stay in color, and then invert, then use saturation tool, or you can choose what changes to black and white and desaturate. It all depends and what's easiest for you to select.

Get confused about saturate and desaturate? De is a negative prefix and if you can remember saturate in relation to water means get wetter, think of the water as paint and paint as color. To saturate is to get wetter, more paint, more water. To desaturate is to take away the water, the paint, the color.

COLOR BALANCE:

You have to be careful with color balance. This tool comes with sliders where you can change the amount of each color that is within the image or selection. An area of color can contain shadows, midtones and highlights. If you have a circle of color, changing the color is simple, but if that circle is actually an orb, things get a little complicated. You'll notice that the color balance tool might change those shadows, midtones and highlights to an undesired effect. This tool needs a lot of experimentation and you have to eyeball your image in different zoom levels. It might look fine at 25% but at 100% you might notice the edges between a midtone and highlight has morphed into something more sci-fi than you intended.

Color balance is a great tool for playing with those images from the 70's that have aged. I will save several versions. After a few days, I'll go back and look at the results. Sometimes staring at the image for so long, they all look good or awful. Later you'll find the one that looks right.

I will repair blemishes on the photo after fixing the color balance. Sometimes CB will actually make those repairs pop. You don't want that.

Dirt spots? Color balance can help here. Use your selection tools to pick the dirt spot and play with the blemish. You might need to use the smudge or clone tools to deal with the edges. I'll talk more about those later.

COLORIZE:

This is a quick recoloring tool and comes with a hue-sat slider. It's a fun tool. I use it if I am not using a dedicated palette.

COLORIFY:

This is under filters. It's just like the colorize tool, however this one you can add a color code to use a specific color. If you don't know the color code, you can get it from your foreground color picker. Double click on the foreground, pick your color and grab the code from the HTML notation box. You can copy and paste this.

COLOR TO ALPHA:

Use this if you have a color you want to remove and you can use the copy and paste method from above. You have to remember that this color you are removing might be hidden throughout your image and will create vellum qualities in areas. Lets say you want to remove a blue color but have reds and purples. You know that it'll take the blue hue from the purple, but did you know that it might also alter the red? Experimentation and selection tools are recommended. I most commonly use this for black and white images, however turning your image to grayscale will allow the program to remove the white anyway when creating a brush.

SELECT BY COLOR:

Under the selection tools menu, this will allow you to select all parts of the image that are of that color, thus being able to use the hue-sat or color bal tools. This is a really fickle tool like color balance. You have to pay a lot of attention to detail to get the correct results you desire. Make sure you Select>None to check boundaries. The marching ants will hide those borders.

DECOMPOSE:

This is found under Image>Mode and it'll pull apart an image into layers and results are grayscale. I haven't needed this so I can't comment on it.

BRIGHTNESS-CONTRAST:

This can do a lot for an image for color correction. Those faded photographs sometimes have the correct color and color balance isn't fixing the problem. Also, it's neat to use this to make some things just pop. The photo might be fine, you just want to emphasize or 'trick-out' your image. This can be a very powerful tool in layout creation. It gets neglected, as do many tools, thinking they are just for repairs. B/C is similar to saturation, but remember this deals with the whole image, background, flaws and all. Use with the selection tool to isolate areas.

THRESHOLD:

This can recolor a pic from normal to a photocopy like image. I don't know what it's intended for but I like playing with the pics, using this and layers. I leave one layer in color and then use this layer on top or bottom. I play with the opacity and layer modes for each of the layers. Threshold can be a whole lot of fun.

LEVELS:

Take Threshold, Saturation and Color Balance and put them in an all-in-one tool. I've used this a few times to fix photos. It's one best left to playing instead of explaining. I still don't know enough about this tool to be even an 'almost' expert.

CURVES:

Another tool I don't know too much about but have used before. Some tutorials use curves and will walk you thru it. It also alters color, brightness and blackness. I used this once to create a metal frame (remember my square buttons with the semi-opaque glass?).

LAYER MODES:

Changing your layer mode can change the color of that layer or the one beneath it. I use bucket fill and layer modes to color items like ribbons. I have the ribbon as the bottom layer and the color layer is above it. I usually use overlay mode. I might use a combination of overlay and burn using multiple copies of the color layer. Sometimes one layer of color isn't enough, but two is too much. That's when I change the opacity of one of the layers. Keep in mind that your color layer doesn't have to be color. It can be an overlay of texture or a pattern. If the color layer has many colors, this will affect the layer below and the final color. If your bottom layer has blue and the upper layer has red, you will end up with purples.

If you are designing, this can be a way to find new kits. If you don't have a color palette, start by playing with grunge layers of different colors and experiment with tucking in some of your old papers and see what happens. Add some brush work on one of the layers or it's own layer.

THAT'S IT.

If I missed something, please share it in the comments for all to see. Have a favorite method? Share that too.

Gimp -vs- PSE and other programs

A QUICK NOTE: When reading this and other tutorial sites, READ THE COMMENTS to the posts. Chances are you'll find other steps, corrections, links to similar tuts and other important info. I don't always have the time to reflect these into my post, as I'm sure is the same for others. It only takes a minute to scan them.

...........................

Many of my regular readers over at the Freebie Vault know that I use various programs while designing. I started using Adobe Photoshop Deluxe but I couldn't do png files or drop shadows, a must in the business. So I surfed for some free trial when I found both Jasc Animation Shop (the bestest blinkie maker ever) and Gimp.

I've been using Gimp since July 2006. I bought a small (too small) wacom tablet November 2007 and it came with Photoshop Elements 5. I eventually bought PSE 6 for $100 in March 2008. In May, I was given (sweet) a copy of Adobe CS3 Extended.

Wacom Tablet: for those that don't know, it's a pen mouse and a special tablet. I have the one called Bamboo Fun and it was around $100. Good price but I really should have held out for the larger tablet. I plan on getting one of those during tax return season. If you are on a budget, it's nice to have. It has software but I found that it's plug and play compatible. It comes with a USB plug, extra 'normal' cordless mouse and extra tips for the pen. Once you get really good with this tablet you can handwrite on your layouts (no more fonts for journaling) and you can create custom doodles.

Did you know that most Windows based computers now have a built in program that you can teach it to type as you speak? It's called Windows Speech Recongnition and its under Start>Programs>Accessories>Ease Of Access Tools. There's also a narrator which will read things for you - great for reading blogs while you dust! Yeah, I use it. And it's great for the little ones learning to read. You can download pdf children's books from the internet and have the computer read it. It's not the same as Mom, but if you simply don't have the time, its a fun alternative. I love it when the computer occasionally says something wrong (its rare on my version) and they correct it! I give them treats for finding those errors. Makes them pay attention.

Believe it or not, I'm having fits learning the CS3 program, which is something I absolutely want to learn because that's the program running the actions. I find myself running the actions, saving and opening the results up in Gimp or PSE for finishing touches. I use Gimp 90% of the time, PSE6 the bulk of the balance, with some of that being the occasional CS3, Ultimate Paint or another program.

For those that know Adobe products and are new to Gimp, Script Fu is just Gimp's version of actions. Actions are scripts that tell the program a series of steps to do to create something that has several steps. Many S'Fus have settings you can alter before it begins and most leave the project in layers so you can alter further. Even the drop shadows you can tweek in the end by using the move tool to move the layer or opacity to reset the darkness. Have you thought of using a different color for your shadow instead of black? Sometimes I use a really deep brown, it creates a warmer shadow.

Here's my preferences:

Grow Tool - Gimp (has a menu to change settings)
Cropping Tool - Gimp (Guillotine)
Drop Shadows - Gimp
Bevel - PSE
Styles - PSE (none in Gimp yet)
Creating Brushes - Gimp (I have brush batch script fu)
Text Tool - Gimp (regular)
Text on Path - PSE
Filter Work - PSE (because of Filter Gallery)

Saving - Gimp (because you can type in your extension, no PSD defaults and renaming to .png or copy.png in the title, I wish PSE had a way to check your file extension default in a check box during the save process so the next image will automatically choose that same type unless you use the menu to reselect a different one)

Open In Layers - Gimp (I still haven't found an easy way to open in layers in PSE, any tips for me?)
Extraction - PSE (magic eraser)
Scaling Brushes - PSE
Patterns - Gimp (love the dialog boxes)
Bump Map - Gimp (haven't found one in PSE, though I installed an 8bf file for it)
Start Up - PSE about 1 min 30 seconds (Gimp about 3-4 minutes)
Overall running - PSE (uses less ram, Gimp takes a lot of ram)
PSD - Gimp and PSE both open these files, no preference

Misc. PSE issues: I had to put styles in 2 locations to get styles to work and I can't delete one set. The problem is that I have several megs of styles that are taking up space not once but twice on my hard drive. Then most of these are loaded twice. If I delete a set, they all disappear. Anyone that has a solution, I'd love to know.

Misc. Gimp issues: The main reason why Gimp crashes on someone's computer is because of the ram it takes. It really taxes a machine. I combat that by not multitasking while I have Gimp going. I shut off unused programs that are running, like the Vista Sidebar (widgets). I dedicate the resources to just Gimp and ACDSee. Sometimes I can have PSE running at the same time without failure. I also work with an 'insurance plan', meaning saving often. I used the word Edit in the name of all my files that are not finished so I know simply by looking at the filename that it's not a finished product. And I save it in layers as an xcf file, Gimp's layered format. My version of Gimp (2.2) and higher you can save as psd and open in another program.

As a designer, I find myself favoring Gimp.
As a scrapper, I also favor Gimp.

I'll toss an image or layer back and forth between the programs to handle the tasks that are easily done on that program, but they all end up back at Gimp in the end. I can't see not having either one since each has it's role in everything I do digi.

If you have any questions, tips for me, comments to add, tuts to request - post a comment and I'll take care of it.

Script-Fu Tips

While running script-fus to create something, such as word art (alpha to logo), you are left with an image made up of layers. You don't have to stop there. Play with your layers. Change the opacity, the hue, the order of the layers, layer mode, delete layers, add more of them, add some filter work to the layers... Just remember to save occasionally. If I'm playing and doing things that are extreme, I keep a notepad handy and write down my settings. If I ever want to repeat something, I'll know what I did. I also save my projects as "ProjectName-EDIT-01" and as an xcf file. If I'm going to import to PSE, I'll save as a psd file. Using the term edit tells me it is not a finished product and numbering sets it aside from the later steps I take. Gimp is a resource hog at times. I find it helpful to go back occasionally, providing my saves have been done, and clear out the undo history (look at the size at the bottom of the image window before and after you clear the history).

New Bookmark

Added a new site to my bookmarks in the sidebar. It's for Gimpdome, a forum/website that you can join. They have tuts and help available.

Applying Papers To Alphas

[UPDATE: In the comments section there's an alternative by using Alpha-To-Selection, which is fantastic, but I'm leaving the tut as-is since not all other image manipulation softwares have this function but have those similar items to follow along with the tut below. I use Alpha-To-Selection 99% of the time now.]

If you don't have a pattern sample to use, you can always use a paper for a fill for an alpha or other shape. For this tutorial I'm using my Tabloid Alpha template and a paper from my upcoming kit Backpacks Forbidden. If you have the tabloid font you can copy, but any font will do.

You can always take your paper and turn it into a bucket fill, but the pattern file will be large and large file size tools tend to crash Gimp on even the best systems.

Open a file that's 3600 x 3600 pixels and transparent background at 300 dpi.


Have your text large enough to arrange nine at a time on a sheet like I did above. This allows you to embellish and be able to cut them apart using the guillotine tool without cutting into another alpha. Also, you want the alpha large enough to be high in quality (I have since increased the size of my alphas I create).


You can do one of two things to insert your paper. You can File>Open As Layer or you can open it as a separate image. To import it, in the paper's image menu select Edit>Copy. Then select your alpha image and Edit>Paste. Your layers dialog box will look like the image above. Click on the sheet icon marked with arrow #2. Your pasted layer was just added to a new layer.


Now click on the eye to hide the paper layer and select the alpha layer. Using the magic wand, click in the transparent areas on the image. Select the paper layer (still hidden) and Edit>Cut. You can check your work by clicking the eye to unhide the papers.

[Gimp Alternative: Click on the alpha layer, go to Layer>Alpha To Selection, then click on paper layer Select>Invert, Edit>Cut. Your done and can skip the steps below. Embellish your alphas with any shadows or bevels and save.]


If you were successful, you'll have an image similar to the one above. You may notice, as shown by the arrow, that the centers of some characters have not been cut. Not a problem. Keep repeating the steps above that you used to remove the centers.


On the alpha layer, click your wand in the center of your character, like above in the center of the number six. Then select your paper layer, Edit>Cut. Again, if you wish to check your work, unhide the paper layer.

Once you have deleted all of the unnecessary areas, you can embellish this further by adding a bevel, drop shadow, brush work, adding elements. In my case I chose to save as is and open it up in PSE6 and add a layer style. Since I don't like how PSE cuts apart alphas I'll open it back up in Gimp and use the guillotine tool to separate my alphas, create a preview, file in a folder, zip it up and upload it to 4shared to share with all of you.


The black alpha layer can be deleted or used. You can create a different looking drop shadow by using the blur tools, move tool and changing the opacity of the black layer.

I find the method I have used above, though a bit time consuming, gives a nicer edge on the alphas than had I chose to bucket fill. For some reason I find Gimp alters the edges a bit during a bucket fill. You can experiment with this and see for yourself. Vector shapes seem to avoid this problem. When I want to bucket fill a pattern, I'll just create a paper and use this method or I'll use the Script-Fu called Alpha to Logo>Glossy. Settings are to taste. For a flat effect (not layered alpha) I will uncheck the shadow and set all numbers to 0 or 1. Be sure the check the boxes for using a pattern instead of gradient.

Using Templates In Gimp

NOTE: I'm using 2.2, some functions were relocated in 2.4 but you should be able to follow along easily. To see more details from the image, click on it for a larger pic.

For this tutorial I used Template 101 from my Totally Templates blog.


In this image you'll see the layers dialog box. Notice the eyes. I always deselect layers I am not going to be working with that way they are out of the way. To deselect click on the eye. To unhide click again.


To get started I have chosen to leave the block frame overlay and the bonus paper visible. Select the overlay layer.


Now take the magic wand and select the white portion of the overlay layer. You'll see the marching ants.


Now go back to your layers dialog box and select your paper layer.


This step is important. You want to delete the cut-outs and have a frame with the paper pattern. In order to do this you must invert your selection, in other words, you want the opposite removed from what you selected. To do this go to Select>Invert in the image menu.


Now you need to Edit>Cut. I added a white background for this tutorial so you could see that the frame was left. You should have the transparency background on yours.


I want to add a drop shadow to my frame. Since my frame is the same size as the entire layout, I don't want the drop shadow to alter my canvas size. To prevent this, uncheck the box marked allow resizing. This is good to have checked if your image is tightly cropped and there's no room on the canvas to add a shadow. Merge your layers so your shadows are hooked to the layers they belong to (in the layers dialog box right click and merge down).


Here's my results of my shadow.


I'm going to go back and deselect the layers I just worked with since I am finished. I usually will delete the white overlay frame too. I unhide the next item I want to use. In this case it's one of the photo boxes to the left. You don't have to use a photo to fill in these boxes. You can use papers instead. The above image shows my color block and an added photo. I selected the block layer then I went to my image menu and File>Open As Layer and chose my photo.


I need to use two things from this menu option shown above. It's very important that when you want to alter the layer that you choose layer instead of image. So first I'm going to Layer>Transform>Rotate Right then I'm going to Layer>Scale Layer because I want more in the photo than there's space for on the block.


Once it's scaled to size, as shown above, I will select the box layer, then using magic wand select the box (image), then I'll use the move tool (the thing that looks like a compass with arrows) and move my photo to the box, selecting the photo layer before moving. You can still resize your layer if you need to. If for some reason you lose your marching ants, repeat the steps selecting your box. Once it's centered, select invert, make sure your photo is selected in the layers box and Edit>Cut.


Here's my results so far. Keep repeating until you filled in all of the parts from the template with your papers and photos. You can embellish it more by using the File>Open As Layer option to add elements and don't forget text, alphas, any filter effects, drop shadows, brush work. It's only limited by your imagination.

Keep in mind when scaling something, you can scale down but if you scale down too far you can't scale up, use the undo tool to get your larger size back or re-open the item you're scaling. Scaling up will distort your image.

Save your work often. Stuff happens. In Gimp you can save as an xcf or a psd file to retain your layers. Xcf files seem to save smaller megabyte wise than psd for some reason although there's no loss of quality. You might want to save your item in layers when you are finished too, just in case down the road you notice an error or you changed your mind about something. I keep these working files around for a month or so, but that's just my preference.

Check your spelling. If you're not sure, use Dictionary.com since Gimp doesn't have spell check. Flatten your image and save as a jpg file. Change the default 85 to a 100 for a higher quality image. I put it at 90 and 600 pixels to display in forums to keep the file size per the rules (usually under 100kb). Some coloring in your photo may effect the file size.