Making icons from manga scans
Sometimes, you'll see an image in a manga series that you want to make into icon. And not always will you want it to be black and white. So, in this tutorial I will teach you my simple method of coloring manga scans to make icons out of them. This tutorial can be done in any program that allows for layers and blend modes.
Preparing the image
First off, grab your manga scan. Here's the one I'll be using, courtesey of the 2M manga project and downloaded via Free_manga@LJ.
Crop, resize and switch the image color mode to RGB color (Image > Mode > RGB Color) if you need to. Then, make a new layer and get ready to begin coloring.
Coloring the image
It's up to you which area you start coloring. I started with the hair and used the color #B26029. The color you use depends on the color that suits the character. I'm not sure what color Maron's hair actually is, but I chose a light brown color since I seem to remember her hair being that color in the anime. Here's a screenshot of the coloring process:
Use a combination of the polygonal lasso/pen tool (whichever you're more comfortable with using) and the brush tool to color in the area. You may need to alternate between different brush sizes for different area sizes. The lasso tool is good for really small areas since it allows for precision.Once you've colored (and you may need a lot of time and patience to do it), you can switch the blend mode of the layer to multiply. And you'll see the wonderful colored area =D I advise you lower the opacity of the layer slightly. I lowered it to about 63%.
You don't have to use multiply. I find that linear burn can also look good. It's ever so slightly more vibrant though, so bear that in mind. Just mess about until you get something you like. Carry on and color any other areas you want, making sure to make a new layer everytime you color a new area. I just did the skin and the eyes. The skin I used the color #EECCBb5 and for the eyes I used #93A5F1. You might want to use a different color for the skin; I never have any idea what color to choose.
After you've colored each area, it is always a good idea to lower the opacity, particularly for the skin. You might find that otherwise the skin is too dark and doesn't look natural enough. The same goes for the eyes; lower the opacity so that the eyes aren't too bright looking and scary.
Result
Unfortunately, I forgot to save my colored scan (doh!) but you'll have to take my word for it that it turned out looking great XD In any case, once you've colored it completely, you can begin making it into an icon. Here's my finished icon using the newly-colored scan:
I hope you found this tutorial helpful in some way. My method of doing things is just one out of many. I encourage you all to develope your own techniques and find out new and better ways of coloring manga scans. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and have fun coloring =D
Disclaimer
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