Digital Coloring Book.

Here at USA On Canvas we see a lot of beautiful photographs, both professional and amateur, but we also see some really inspiring and innovative digital art. Program like PhotoShop allow artist to create on screen, and this has many advantages. You can test ideas and concepts without wasting resources, and you can make several versions easily. Unlike physical media, you never have to experience that stomach-dropping sensation you get when hours of work is ruined by a single brush stroke. As a painter friend of mine lamented, water color does not have an undo button.

PhotoShop can be a daunting program to learn, but it is very rewarding. Recently, with the help of the amazing catalog of public domain black and white images available here and a few simple PhotoShop tools, I created a little project that is pretty much as fun as coloring books used to be when you where 5. As a bonus, it can help you get familiar with the PhotoShop toolbox.

Step 1) download a file.

I picked this one: the files with file names ending in .svg.hi.png‎ because they are transparent, which will make things easier later.

Step 2) Open the file in PhotoShop.

If PhotoShop shows the drawing on a blue and white checkered background, this is good! If not. It will be a bit harder to work with.

2a) If the image has a white background, get the magic wand tool, set the tolerance to 1, click on the white area and when the selection is made, press delete. You may have to unlock the layer first. There there might be several white areas separated by black outline. Select each one and delete the white

Step 3) Make the image the size you want (ctrl+alt I)

Step 4) Use the “paint bucket” tool to start colouring! Pick the colour you want using the colour picker, and fill in areas with colour.

Step 5) If the color leaks into an area you don't want it to, don't panic! Press “undo” (ctrl-Z) and then use the magnifying glass to find the hole in the outline. Once you find it, use the paint brush tool to complete the outline.

Step 6) Keep colouring!

Step 7) You will notice that there are some white areas that are too small to paint with the paint bucket tool. Once you have filled in all you have the patience for, you can use this (slightly complicated) trick to colour all of the remaining white areas in one go.

First, pick a colour. You only get one, so choose well.

Next, make a square using the rectangle tool that covers

the whole image. The shape will automatically be placed on it's own layer. Drag this layer under the layer with the picture.

Select the layer with the picture. Us the magic wand tool to select the area around the outside of the picture.

Select the layer with the

solid color. Use the eraser tool to erase all the color in the selection. While a selection is active on a layer, the eraser will only erase within that selection.

Step 8) for a final touch, use the paint bucket and the gradient tool to ad some color to the background.

Don't forget, you can make your digital art into a beautiful wall piece by printing it using the Giclee canvas printing process!