Flash Tutorial II: How to color a vector image with Flash

• 02/09/2008 - 00:00
• Author: Ryuichi
• Tutorial
• 4 Comments
• Read in IT

Welcome back! In this part of the tutorial I'll show you how to color a vectorized image using Flash. Coloring is a very simple process, and likewise, so are the shadow and light effects. I use a very easy method to color with Flash that I want to share with you.

    

Coloring with Flash: this is the second part of the tutorial on how to a character using vectorial images in Flash. The first part of the tutorial is about how to draw a jpg image and convert it in a vectorial flash.

Estimated time: around 40 minutes
Difficulty: medium-easy

1. Open your vectoral image line-art.

2. Click on the "Paint Bucket tool" on the left.

3. Take a look below, there's another "Paint Bucket" with a small colored square (see A on image below). Click on this square and choose the color you wish to use for the area (eg. choose red for hair). I suggest you to click on the color wheel (B) to choose more colors.

4. The Color wheel is easy to use. You just need to click on the desired color. On the right there is a bar that you can use to brighten or darken your choosen color. This will help you a lot in shadows and lights.

5. Let's color all the areas by  clicking inside it. Warning! If an area is not filled after you click on it, that means the area is not completely closed. Flash is very squeamish about lines. Just zoom in a lot and try to find where the line is not closed. If you find this step difficult, take a look the previous tutorial again, where we talk about lines and zoom.

6. Good. Now let's choose a showy color for the line, a color that is not present on your drawing. Draw the shadows on your image, using the line-and-arrow method already explained in my previous tutorial. You have to draw the edges of your shadows as shown below:

7. Color the shadow areas, choosing a fill color that is slightly darker the the original fill color.  (see step 4).

8. Go on the same way for other shadows and lights. If you are not familiar with the methods used to draw shadows and lights, take a look to Elena's tutorial on shadows and lights. 

9. Now is time to remove those green lines used as edges for the shadows. DOUBLE click on the green line. This line and all adjacent ones of the same color will be selected. Just click DEL (or Backspace) on your keyboard and all these lines will disappear.

10. Repeat step 9 until all the shadow edges are gone.

11. Done! Now you have your vector art, colored and shadowed. You can also export it using File -> Export. You can choose any resolution, it will be never be grainy or lose detail!
Keep this colored character on your hard disk, you will use it next when we'll talk about animating your character in flash.

Thanks for listening, see ya next time!

Credits: Akio character is © by nanoda.com - original Akio model by Ryuichi and Yuki_Sakuma - Chibi Akio Model by ShikakuSuika - Adobe Flash is © by Adobe Corporation.