JRMapes wrote:something like that works. however you cant get away with just using the paintbucket feature or a color swap. he background grey is also in some of the people in the drawing, you black out those parts in the people in the "mass" change.
THe only way to do it is by hand so you dont contaminate the individuals and objects.
Using Photoshop, this is how I did it... create a new layer above the original one (lets call it layer 2). Paint all of layer 2 black. Turn off the visibility for layer 2 and go back to the original image (layer 1).
On layer 1, select the areas that you wish to darken. I used the Magic Wand Tool with a low Tolerance of around 20. Use the 'add to selection' option to add more areas or the 'subtract from selection' option to subtract from the selections as you see fit. The same can be done with any of the Selection tools like the Polygonal Lasso Tool (which I find extremely useful). As for the people, I would leave the black on them alone for the most part (unless it melds with the background).
Once you have selected the area that you wish to darken, then inverse the selection (this means the areas not selected have become selected instead). Click back on layer 2 (which will make it visibile again). Hit delete and the inverted selection will disappear leaving the black on the spots that you originally selected. By doing this on a new layer, the original image is unchanged (in case you wish to do some tweaking). You can also adjust the Blending Option on Layer 2 to make it a bit transparent to get a better blend.
How much time you want to spend tweaking the image to get the blacks right is up to you. I spent maybe 10 minutes doing the image that I posted earlier (that you quoted) but I was doing it quick & fast.
'Save for web' to get a nice web-friendly jpg/gif/png (this compresses the image & all layers). I recommend saving the file as a psd file as well since it will keep the layers for you (should you wish to make changes at a later date). Actually I know the current image is a gif file but jpg are much better for colours. IMNSHO, gifs are only good if you want to do transparent backgrounds (and even then png files are better unless you're using IE).
Photoshop is a wonderful tool.
Quick Edit: When I say 'you' in this post, I mean it in the general sense and not JRMapes specifically.
Cheers,
Tim
