Step 1
Extraction was done with the Pen tool in Photoshop. The thing about The 120 War is that we accept any and all random crap people can come up with in 120 minutes, but of course an attempt at originality is nice ¦3.The Pen tool was used to create lineart for a simple BG. The rest of the coloring was done in Painter.
Step 2
Sorry, lack of screenshots :/ 120 is a really bad time to start taking screenshots, everyone is racing to finish. But in this step, I laid down the base colors then blended them using a custom Blender brush, and cleaned out the scan outlines in Photoshop by a Ctrl+click on the scan layer thumbnail, then using Select > Modify > Contract (2px), pressing Ctrl +I to invert the selection, then Backspace to delete it. The no-outlines look works for simple scans, to help unify the colors.
Step 3
After the blending, I check the overall colors, use a custom Oil Pastel brush to paint over some areas then move to Photoshop for lighting adjustment.
Step 4
Flatten; Press Ctrl+J to duplicate the layer, then set it to Multiply. Create a layer mask bottom of the layers palette then draw a Black?white gradient on the mask, creating shadows on the left side of the image. Experiment with other layer modes, such as Color Dodge to make highlights. Adjust each layer’s opacity till you think it looks good.
Step 5
Flatten again; press Ctrl+U to bring up the Hue/Saturation palette for Photoshop CS3 users. If you’re on an older version, go to Image>Adjustments>Color Balance. Move the sliders around until the colors are more or less unified. Add text, and you’re done.
