Digital editing is a wonderful thing, whether it be as a guide for a kitbash/repaint or just for a "hmmm... I wonder how it would look if...", however it can be quite difficult to get the hang of. This quick-start guide should give you the pointers you need to get started, then the more you practice and the more familiar you get with the controls, the better the end results will get.




Preparation:

Firstly you'll need image editing software slightly more advanced than Microsoft Paint. The most famous of these is Adobe Photoshop, however I personally use Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 by Corel.



There are others out there, just look around for the one that suits you. This Guide focuses on the Paint Shop Pro commands, so if you're using different software, explore the menus to find similar tools and practice with them.

Secondly you'll need a good quality image to work from, nice and bright and showing off the detailing nicely, preferably with a fairly high resolution. The best ones I have found are Seibertron's Toy Galleries (once you've found the picture you want in the list of thumbnails, click the thumbnail then click the link for 'Large Images')

OK, now you have your image and your software.
Either save the file to your computer or copy/paste straight into the program. If you save it to the computer, once you start working on it, save it as 'in progress' or something similar rather than saving over the original image (just in case you need a piece to copy/paste off the original or you want to start again but the undo history doesn't go back far enough). Similarly, if you just copy the image straight off the net into the program, do it twice so you have an extra one right there and don't have to hunt down the image again.

Notes:

• It helps to have on hand an image of the character you are trying to create (if available) so you have a point of reference as to what parts should be what colours.

Now we get to the fun part: the editing!

Before we start, so we're on the same page, make sure you have the following Palettes and Toolbars open (selectable from the 'View' menu):




Selection tool:

Point-to-point selection is the best selection tool I have found. It's more accurate than box-selection, easier to use than full free-form or free-hand, and is more reliable than the 'magic wand' (unless you tweak the tolerance, but even then it's not 100%).

To get this selection tool, click on the arrow next to the third button down on the toolbar on the left, then click 'Freehand Selection'.



A new toolbar should appear at the top of the screen. In this new toolbar there is a 'Selection type:' drop-down menu, from which you want to select 'Point to point'.



Using this tool, outline the area you want you want to edit by clicking around the area in small intervals (as close to the edge as possible) then right-clicking to complete the selection.
Remember: Practice makes perfect!

Notes:

• If you click in the wrong place, pressing delete will remove the most recent point.
• Do small sections at a time, then if you make a mistake in one area when you undo you don't lose large sections of your work, you only lose the smaller section you were working on and the other sections remain unharmed.
• In the selection toolbar, tick the box next to 'Anti-alias' (as seen in the image above). This will make it blend/fade out at the edges making the selected area look smoother so that there aren't sharp edges.
• When you are done with the selection, unselect the area so you don't accidentally do something to screw it up. Do this through the menu 'Selections\Select None' or keyboard shortcut 'Ctrl+D'.

Changing the colour:

Contrary to what you may think, you don't want to use the fill or paintbrush tools to change the colour. Select the area you want changing and then you want to adjust the Hue and Saturation (the colour and how much of it).

There are a number of ways to do this, the simplest of which is the 'Colorize...' menu, accessible through the menu tree 'Adjust\Hue and Saturation\Colorize...' or by using the keyboard shortcut 'Shift+L'.

Slide the 'Hue' slider to roughly the colour you want, all the way left (0) being red and all the way right (255) being red also. After that, slide the 'saturation' bar to the colour depth you want, all the way left (0) being greyscale (colourless) and all the way right (255) being fairly bright/fluorescent.

Changing the color this way, as opposed to painting or filling, keeps all the lighting, shadows, textures and detailing the way it is and just changes the colour.

Notes:

• Other methods of colour adjustment options include 'Hue/Saturation/Lightness' or 'Hue Map...', or alternatively 'Adjust Red/Green/Blue' can achieve a similar result. These options, however, can be much more fiddly.

Changing the brightness/contrast:

If you didn't quite get the colour you wanted or you just want to lighten or darken a section, adjusting the brightness/contrast can achieve this. Select the area you want, then go to 'Adjust\Brightness and Contrast\Brightness/Contrast' (or press 'Shift+B').

This brings up a box similar to the colorize one, but instead of 'Hue' it has 'Brightness' and instead of 'Saturation' has 'Contrast'. Also, the slider scale for contrast is -100 to 100 instead of 0 to 255.

Notes:

• Generally you will only need to use the brightness unless you're moving the brightness a significant amount, in which case you will want to adjust the contrast slightly to help highlight the detail.

Cutting and Pasting:

When getting sections from another image or somewhere else in the same image, select it in the method mentioned earlier so you have as little excess as possible. Cut or copy ('Ctrl+X' or 'Ctrl+C', respectively) the section, depending on what suits, and then you have an option of how you want to paste.

If you want to keep things organised, paste by pressing 'Ctrl+E' (paste as new selection). Once you have placed it and unselected it using this method, that is where it will stay.

If you want the option of moving it around after placing it and selecting something else, paste using 'Ctrl+L' (paste as new layer). If using this method, you need to keep track of what layer you are currently on, and what order these layers are in (which is on top, below, etc.).

Notes:

• When you are sure all layers you are currently working on are in the right place, you can fuse all the layers together to make it one flat layer again. This will allow you to keep things organised if you want to continue using layers but already have bucket loads of them. To do this, click 'Layers\Merge\Merge All (Flatten)'.

Further Tips:

• If you are inserting text or an object in the background of the image, that particular area of the image is likely to be fuzzy and out of focus. Make sure you have the layer/selection you want inserted active and click 'Adjust/Blur/Blur'. This will make it fuzzy and out of focus too so that it looks like it belongs.
• When getting a piece from another image, try and make sure the image you're taking it from is the same size/resolution/perspective to make it fit better.
• If you have a piece that you want to place behind part of the character you are working on, paste this piece as a new layer and set it aside somewhere. Next, make a layer out of the section you want the piece to go behind. Do this by selecting the section you want it behind, cutting or copying it and pasting it as a new layer. Move it back to the original position so you can't tell anything has been done, then click 'Layers/Arrange/Bring to Top'. Change back to the layer of the original piece, the one you want behind, then move it to where you want it. While this may sound complex, it is easier than trying to cut/trim the piece to look like it's behind.

4th Official post and its a blinder of a good one! Thankyou for the little Tutorial I have been after a "real English" type without the terms for pro users!

Thank you, and you're welcome! I actually had you in mind when I started typing it. I saw that you asked how to do it in another thread (it was a fairly old one, mid 2007 maybe?) and no one responded, so I thought 'well I'll give it a shot, somebody's bound to appreciate it'. It took a while to do, but I think it turned out alright.

Only downside I can see is that it isn't general enough, it focuses mainly on a program that no one but me probably uses. I hope it still helps anyway.

Should have titled it as "Illegal Porn" that would have got my attention!
From what I can see to convert Photoshop speak to GIMP speak is perty easy so when my new PC arrives I will be experimenting, I shall notify you of any err results.. Here is a previous example of my lack of skill in the feild of GIMP shopping.. They are just pics I found on line to practice with..

ORIGINAL IMAGE

My colours

O I

MC

OI

MC


The first one I was trying to give her a MicroLady type look, I am proud of the Heel Crystal thingie and the reflections..
Number 2 I was aiming for a cross between G1 Galvatron and BW Megs...
Number 3 I was aiming for a cartoony look but the leaves at the time looked like they were spiraling upward, now I cant help but see them as flying out of her ribs...

Updated today.
Since the format of this place has changed over time, it's now in the wrong spot (I think...)
If someone feels like moving it across to the workbench, feel free

Your guide ends up being very close to how I do mine. The only difference being I use freehand selection with anti-aliasing, zoom in to small parts, and then trace them with my mouse. After that, I move onto the next small part and hold shift to "add" the next area as I trace it. I keep doing this until I have an entire element traced out. From there I go back and correct any sloppy traces by holding down ctrl while I "subtract" areas that are out of bounds. Then I copy and paste the element as a new image so I can use it for later repaints. The ones I've been doing for Animated Starscream have a total of 20 elements.