How to use Gimp to colour hand Made cartoon(With Pics)

Hello friends . 

 I have been working with gimp these days and from little online research i came to know that we can easily create the cartoons with photoshop and softwares similar to it just like gimp.

You can colour your hand made cartoon in just few minutes.
If you are new to this you may take a little time for first few time and then later on as you will get familier with the tools it will take the less time for you .

So, here goes the step by step guide with images.


Step 1 : Draw your diagram on a white sheet . 
Use pencil , erasor scale etc etc to draw it neat .
Draw the shadows and all possible things on paper.
haha....I had drawn this from a pen as I was not able to find the pencil in my home and also I didnt rubbed the mistaken shaped. But you should.

Step 2 : Now scan the picture, you can use your phone to take the pic as everyone dont have the scanner but everyone have the phone.
and lazy people like me would surely go for the camera.
Dont worry if the things kept on the side of paper appears .
Crop it later.

So the below given pic is what I drawn and got after taking the picture.

Step 3 :  Now open Gimp or photoshop , I uses GIMP as it is available for free on internet and it is very user friendly.

So , open the pic in gimp and click on 

colour --> Levels .

As shown in Figure below .

Now you will see the window like shown below.

You have to move the triangles to make your lines gets dark and the background gets completely while.

Here is the tip to do that.

You have to move the white triangle (which is at right ) towards the left and this will create the backgroud white , But use it properly as it can whiten your lines too.

Now move the black triangle (which is at left ) toward the right this will darken the lines, but again use it carefully as it can blacken the background too.

Now when the somewhat perfect black and white is attained , move the central triangle towards the left , it will make your image more perfect .

Step 4: Now you click on Colors --> Threshold .

as shown in figure below .

Now move only the level which is on left , it will turn the lines more blackish .

Use till you get the perfect image .

Step 5 : Now your image with shading and lines are available for you .

Now you have to close the open lines and delete the extra line and also modify anything that you want to change .

Use the zoom , brush or rubber to complete the deleted portion of line.use the small size so that they dont look different from the original lines.

If any curves are deleted, use the pen to draw the curves.

Note : Dont use pencil as it may give some unwanted results ,use brush instead.

Also close all the holes and breaks as while filling the colors they may leak .so cover the leakage with light brush .

Use zoom as much as possible as small breaks may not be seen without using the zoom.

also , draw anything extra you needed now or modify .

Step 6 : Now its the time to color using the magic wand or fill tool.

You can use any of them ,but i prefer the magic wand as it can let us know if there is any leakage anywhere.

Select the portion where you want to fill the color , you will see the dotted line in there. If the area is more than what you wanted that means any line is broken in there.Use the brush to draw the broken line or small hole.

USE ZOOM AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE AS THESE BREAKS MAY NOT BE VISIBLE WITHOUT ZOOMING IN .

Now if the area is perfect ,sellect the colour in the second downward box as shown in pic and press delete button , This will colour the area.

Or if you wants to use the fill tool, select the color in the first box which is above.

So select all the area and start coloring them .

REMEMBER TO UNSELECT THE AREA WHILE USING THE MAGIC WAND, IF YOU WISHED TO COLOUR OR CREATE LINE ANYWHERE ELSE THAN THAT AREA.

Step 7 : Once all the area is coloured , you can add shadows , shades using the brush and blurring it using the white or any light colour.

use the spray tool and also filter.

i will be adding more about shading in another post .

This is the output that I got .

You can see the difference , I changed the bed, chair , fan in the room , enlarged the wall a little , mouse looks more clearer and extra lines from the face is removed.

So this is how you can easily color your hand made drawings and make them digital.
Hope you will create some and inform me :)
You can place comment regarding your doubts , querries and suggestions : ) : ) : )

 
Your feedbacks are most welcomed : )