how to change color on line art using png-files
This tutorial is for traditional colorists who want to adjust the line art color on digital coloring pages before printing them.
PNG-files with transparent background are the easiest to work with when changing line art color.
(Yes – you can also edit JPG-files, but that's for another tutorial.)
I wrote about the most common image file formats for coloring pages in this tutorial if you you want some more background info.
Affinity software
For this tutorial I’ll be using Affinity. It’s free, and the creators promise to keep it that way forever (time will tell).
If you’re unfamiliar with this type of software, it might feel overwhelming at first. But with this step-by-step guidance you’ll quickly get the hang of it. Below is a quick overview of the Affinity work area and the most important tools for this tutorial.
NB! I’m making this tutorial on a Macbook Pro. Some things might be a little bit different on a PC, like how you open/save files.
DOWNLOAD AND INSTALL AFFINITY
1. Go to https://www.affinity.studio/. You need to sign up to download. (Affinity is part of Canva, so you’ll be signing up to a Canva account).
2. Download the install option that corresponds to your operating system and follow the installation instructions.
3. After installation is complete, open Affinity and choose Pixel.
4. Go to File - Open… and find the PNG-file you want to edit and click Open again. You now a Canvas with an image. In the Layers panel you’ll see a new layer called Background. This is where the image has been placed.
5. You don’t have to rename layers, but it’s helpful for better overview. To rename, double-click on the layer to start typing; Line art. Then click the checkered square, and a new layer will pop up above the Line art layer. Rename this to Color.
6. Above the Layers panel is the Color panel. The little arrow on the top right is a drop-down menu where you can choose the look of the Color panel. For this tutorial I’m using the Wheel combined with the Triangle. The Wheel decides the overall color (hue), and the Triangle decides the saturation of the color.
7. On the opposite side is the Tools panel where some tools are hidden by default. If you first click on the Fill Tool, a pop-up menu appears, where you can choose Flood Fill Tool. Make sure the Color layer is active (marked in blue), and then click inside the Canvas.
8. Now drag the Color layer below the Line art layer.
9. Then right-click on the Line art layer and click Create Clipping Mask from the drop-down menu. It now looks like the two layers are merged, but the small arrow on the left reveals the Line art layer.
10. This step is optional, but I like to do it anyway because it’s more comfortable to look at a white background than a transparent one.
Go to the Layers panel and click the checkered square to create a new layer.
Drag it to the bottom of the Layers panel.
Double-click to rename it Background.
In the Color panel, click on the white square.
With the Flood Fill Tool selected, click inside the Canvas.
10. Save the work file. Even if you think you’ll never need it again, it’s good practice to save your work file. Affinity has it’s own file type that lets you preserve all layers and edits you’ve made. Go to File - Save As, and come up with a fitting name, then Save.
NB! Affinity work files can’t be printed.
11. Export JPEG-file for print.
Go to the Export JPEG button in the upper right corner. For maximum control of the export, click the little arrow on the side rather than the button, and then choose Advanced...
Some of the settings don’t matter that much to the end result. But if you follow the settings from my screenshot you should get a print-ready image of high quality. From the Resample drop-down menu I chose Lanczos 3 (non-separable).
Click Export.
That’s it! The exported file is ready for print.
Happy coloring!
