sigelphoenix

I just scanned in a bunch of my recent drawings and would like to try coloring them digitally, so I'm begging for help from the people out there who have (any) experience with digital coloring. What advice would you give to someone who has decent knowledge of pen-and-paper techniques, but is a total newbie when it comes to digital media?

I'm hoping, primarily, to find out what (Photoshop or equivalent) tools you use. I'm talking super basic - like, say, "Using Paint Bucket will not give you realistic shading" or something. :P

Anything else you can think of that I should keep in mind? "You'll tend to do ______ a lot so try _____ instead"? "Punching through your monitor out of frustration will hamper progress"? etc. Thanks!

So now that I have some starting tips on digital coloring (thank you guys a ton!) I decided to give it a shot.

Now, since this is my first try at this, EVERYTHING is a source of joy and awe for me. Down to the basic act of erasing the white background of my original scanned lineart - maho_kiwi showed me the secret by introducing me to the wonder of the Multiply function.

Me: Fine. We'll see if maho_kiwi's magical trick will work. Frankly I'm skeptical and can't believe it would be that easy. *clicks*
Computer: *works*
Me: NO. WAY. XO

Me: *fills in color* Now let's try shading ... *uses lasso tool*
Computer *works AGAIN*
Me: I AM DIVINELY TOUCHED.

And so on.