Masha du Toit

I’ve been regressing to my childhood, colouring in my “Butterfly Rider” drawing.  You can see the line version of it here. Here is a version with colour added in Photoshop:

Here is a close-up:

And just for fun, here is what it looks like without the line 🙂

It’s been a long time since I’ve worked digitally, so I’ve been feeling my way slowly with this.  This is the technique I’ve been using:

• Scan in the line work
• Use levels to heighten the contrast, not too much.
• Create a new layer under it.
• Set the linework layer to “multiply” so that the white areas become invisible.
• Lock the linework layer, and work only on the layers beneath.

Other things which worked for me –

• Use a very soft, transparent brush.
• Start with big washes of colour and carve the details back into the washes with a smaller brush.
• Use the keyboard shortcuts “[” and ” ]” to alter brush size as I work.

And the most important one: Do less than I think I should.