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Blue-Ten — Tutorial - Unflatten Line Art
Published: 2010-09-17 07:09:30 +0000 UTC; Views: 14590; Favourites: 290; Downloads: 195
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Description
I've seen people try to "unflatten" line art by meticulously erasing the white pixels, trying the Magic Wand, or by simply coloring on top of it. The last resort is usually the Multiply trick, which is a little limited in the long run.After discovering this technique a couple years ago, I wanted to do a little tutorial/tip thing on it. It's not as well known as it could be considering how easy it is to execute :]
I use this method so often that I made a Photoshop Action out of it so it's always just one click away. Sometimes I find that I've accidentally drawn on my line art with white and this is a great way to quickly fix mistakes like that.
This trick should work for most versions of Photoshop -- except Elements, which doesn't have the Channels palette. It can also be done in GIMP, if you're an open source fan
.If people like this one, I've got ideas for a bunch more obscure tips I haven't seen tutorialized often. I'm also using these to practice tutorial layouts for an upcoming coloring tutorial
Edit: Added more explanation to the Channels section.
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Comments: 76
Yep, that's one of the things GIMP actually does better than Photoshop XD.
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You seriously just saved my ass! Thank you thank you thank you! I'm so glad you made this tutorial! You're the best! <3
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Hmm, another way: Keep it like that, set it on multiply... And just colour! 
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I've gotten pretty paranoid about saving my work as often as possible after having Photoshop crash on me so many times, but I'm saving this just in case it ever happens again. 
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I think the simpsons reference makes this an amazing tutorial.
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When I saw this, I was like, "WHOOP WHOOP! Finally a solutions to the universe's problems!" And then I saw the "except Elements" part. Hopes and dreams were shattered. Just like that. *le sigh*
Fortunately, I have Gimp.
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Ah- Thank you so much for posting this. I'm sure you've gotten many comments already that just repeat what I've said, but I must add to it, this is a complete life saver, and a tutorial that is extremely easy to understand as well. So here's a big ol' hug from yours truly
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wooo--I totally got to make use of this just now 
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hmm... is this better than just using the background eraser? That's what I usually do.
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This technique will ensure that you get a full transparency in a single pass. In my experience, you can achieve the same result with the background eraser, but it requires more effort and it's easier to miss white pixels with it. It can also become impractical on very large images where the tool might get kind of slow depending on your computer.
One other advantage this technique has over the background eraser is that you can save it as a Photoshop Action and use it again with just a couple clicks :]
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Heh,that is a GREAT way to intro-fy this tutorial.Pffh,Nelson and his darn trademark
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Oh my god I love you. I had a half-finished art that I lost the PSD of in a hard drive crash, and all I had left was a full resolution flattened lineart with flat colors and shades already in it, and I gave up on it because I couldn't separate the lineart. YOU ARE MY HERO.
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Haha, I'm so happy it worked for you :]. Getting a comment like this makes me really glad I decided to post the tutorial
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Well, really! This was a true lifesaver, now I can try to color is soft shade like I originally wanted to--the cel shading was done in a hurry for a deadline.
Thanks again!
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Oh my god I love you. I had a half-finished art that I lost the PSD of in a hard drive crash, and all I had left was a full resolution flattened lineart with flat colors and shades already in it, and I gave up on it because I couldn't separate the lineart. YOU ARE MY HERO.
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Ohh I learned that awhile ago too. :3 For bold, cartoony lineart, I usually just blow it up 300DPI, Threshold, and use magic wand to cut out the white.
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I have never done that. Luckily I already use that method on scanned line art. So I'm good to go!
In case it does happen to me someday......
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thank you for this. Ive always selected all white and cleared but it always leaves some white. this is super helpful.
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what about when you don't save the new applied changes (like finished lineart) and exit? haha
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Just one. Slowly step away from the computer, take a break and try not to go crazy 
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ahahah I went crazy!! It was done, the whole lineart!!!! I was so mad.. :/
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it will be useful when the I flatten the layers by mistake, thanks! ^_^
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No problem. I'm glad it was useful for you
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HEAVENS this is helpful! I've always searched for a method to easily separate some of my older, scanned line art from the white bg...
Looking forward to some more tutorials!
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Thanks so much! I'm glad it was helpful!
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I learned this awhile ago and it's awesome. So nice of you to share with the masses
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Hehe, this is one of those tricks that everyone can find a use for, so I really want to help get it out there more
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I have done this before. Unfortunately, I don't have photoshop.
How did you get your taskbar on the side of the screen like that?
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The program GIMP is almost exactly like Photoshop (except free) and you can do this same trick with it :].
I'm using Windows 7 and I haven't tried it in Vista or XP, but if you right-click on the taskbar and choose Properties, in the Taskbar tab there should be a section called "Taskbar location on screen" where you can choose top, left, bottom, or right from a dropdown menu.
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Heh, thanks. I've used GIMP before but I find its interface completely counter-intuitive. I mostly use Jasc Paintshop Pro 7.
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Wow, thank you so much!! I needed that. I've always wanted to know if there was a better way than setting the lineart layer to mutiply.
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No problem!
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Oh man, I've had this happen a few times. And it is a PAIN. Thanks for this!
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saved.
That is in all honesty one of the most useful tutorials I've seen for lineart... I mean, you can use that to separate lineart from background after scanning, right?
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Thanks
Yus
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Ah yes, that's right.
Also, I made my friend check out Everblue and he read the first chapter so far and he liked it
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Ohmygosh, thanks so much
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no problem, the story + art are just too good ^_^
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I had to make a new a new favorites group just for this!
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When the image isn't incredibly large, Edit>Define Brush Preset will also work. 
I do this quite often actually, since when I am making the lineart initially, I do it on multiply layers so I can use white as an eraser... but I like coloring my lines afterward, so I have to get rid of the white somehow.
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