Coloring Line Art In Photoshop CS4 - Digital Art and Design

In the last tutorial, we created a line art logo of a candle in LiveBrush and saved it as a png image that could be opened in Photoshop^R. Next, we can add the company name to the logo. But first, we will change the color of the line art so that we can create a two color logo by setting the text to a different color from the line art.

Open your png file into Photoshop CS4. You will notice that the line art is on a transparent layer.

Our first decision is what color we want the line art to be. At this point, it is black but we have an simple, easy way to change that with the Color Overlay Layer Style. When deciding on the two colors, you might want to consider using complimentary colors on the color wheel. For the example, I have decided to use orange and blue.

Let's change the color of the line art to orange.
Select the layer containing the line art. Double-click on the layer to open the Layer Style dialog box. Click on the Color Overlay style and the line art will turn to the default red color and the Color Overlay control will display. Leave the Blend Mode and Opacity set to the defaults and click on the Color Box to open the Color Picker dialog box.
There are several ways to change the color setting in this dialog box. If you are working with a preexisting color scheme, you have half your work done already. If you know the HTML color code, you can simply type it in the box next to the # sign. Also, if you know the HSB or RGB numbers, you can type them into the respective boxes.
In the example project, I do not have a preset color scheme so I can choose my orange color "on the fly". In these cases, I like to use the Color Slider in the center of the dialog box. It shows a color range from red at the very top, violet, blue, green, yellow, orange and finally back to red. The Color Slider is pointing to the red at the bottom. Slowly move the slider control up to the orange range. As you do so, you will see the line art change in color from red, red/orange, orange and finally to orange/yellow. I stopped the slider at the orange spot.
Click OK to close the Color Picker and OK again to close the Layer Style dialog box.

Now that we have our line art set to the correct color, we can add the company name.

Join us in the Digital Art and Design forum.

Livebrush product screen shot(s) reprinted with permission from David Fasullo.