No offense to anyone, but I'm so tired of looking at tutorials dealing with colourizing a picture only one colour, instead of from grayscale to several different colours. So, I've decided to do a step by step tutorial on colourizing a grayscale image. Keep in mind that I won a Diamond award for this colourization (which is higher than Gold and Platinum at the blend site I entered) so everything's going to be watermarked. This tutorial's fairly long, but is very detailed too.

I'll be using this grayscale picture of Lin Zhi Ling, who looks absolutely delicious.

1. I like to start off with the skin. My way, I pick a soft brush with a peachy colour and brush it over the skin. It's okay if you overlap a little bit, but in general try not to overlap too much. If you notice, I've removed the peach colour from the whites of the eyes. Because you know what? Whites are white.

2. Set that layer mode to Color. Make a new layer.

3. Now I'm going to start on the eyes. I've picked a small hard brush this time, with a dark turquoise colour for some creativity.

4. Set that layer mode to Color. Make a new layer.

5. I'm going to start on the lips now. I've used the pen tool to be more precise about the lips, and used a hard brush for some parts. I've picked a bright reddish-orange for her lips.

6. Set that layer mode to Soft Light. Make a new layer.

7. I started on the gums, with a light grayish red-orange, and set the layer mode to Color. Make a new layer.

8. Using a similar (but more reddish) colour I used for the lips, I filled in the tongue parts with a small soft brush and set the mode to Soft Light. Make a new layer.

9. Then, I picked a rather large soft brush and using a brown colour, brushed over her hair, using a smaller brush for smaller bits.

10. Set the layer mode to Color. In case you were doing a blonde or something, it's better to set the mode to Soft Light (but play around with the colours to make it look realistic). Make a new layer.

11. Time to start on the eyeshadow! Using a soft brush, I brushed a bright turquoise over her eyes and set the layer mode to Soft Light. Overlay works as well. Make a new layer.

12. Next, I used a bright, semi-dark green as well as a pink-ish red colour for the strawberries. For precision, I selected the stems and the strawberries with the pen tool. I set both of these layer modes to Color. Make a new layer.

13. I outlined her clothes with the pen tool, and filled them in with a bright magenta. I also selected her nails (on a new layer) and filled them in with pink. Then, I set both layer modes to Soft Light.

14. Because I want to cover up some of the hair parts that are impossible to colourize, I used a large soft brush and brushed over those parts, leaving the layer mode at Normal.

15. Add some decoration and you're done!

Try not to copy my tutorial exactly as it is. You have to experiment between the blending modes of Color and Soft Light, deciding which looks best on the colourization and which doesn't. For precision, select areas with the pen tool. Hope you enjoyed that tutorial!

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