this tutorial also assumes you already have access to something to gif and photoshop. luckily supernatural has a huge fandom which means it's a bit easier to find full episodes and scenepacks just by searching the web or youtube. I personally use photoshop with video timeline on a macbook to gif. there are other ways to make gifs, but I'm not going to get in to them today, there are plenty of resources on tumblr for photoshop alternatives if you're interested.

I also am going to use a clip from season 2 as an example, so a lot of the coloring is based around that kind of lighting and saturation early supernatural had. I might do a second part with a later seasons clip, they're somehow both easier to color because the lighting is brighter and harder because they're often oversaturated and have orange filters.

general resources

this is my main sharpening action I use (specifically the second option, that is what I am using in this tutorial). it's a great general sharpening that works well on basically all footage. I also have been using this sharpening set (specifically the depth or texture option) more often on some spn scenes that are already brighter/less grainy.

inactive blog, but they have a whole tag of PSD colorings specifically for supernatural, along with a ton of other resources and tutorials for photoshop.

great guide to subtitles and how to add subtitles to gifs. I was going to add my own tutorial on adding subtitles but this was getting long and these are two very comprehensive guides. personally, I use the font arial rounded MT, bold, italic, size 16 (or size 12 if I'm doing a 268p gif not a 540p gif) with a drop shadow (distance: 2 spread: 34 size: 10, normal blend mode, 100% opacity) and stroke (size: 1, position outside) both in black. example here.

usergif is a great blog for both inspiration and tutorials if you already know the basics of gif making, but want to learn more advanced stuff.

post I made with some more general resources, including some info about photoshop alternatives.

supernatural episode transcripts - a life saver when you're making gifs with subtitles and can just copy and paste text rather than typing it all by hand.

making the gif

(lot of this is copied from my old gif tutorial I made on my main blog because this part hasn't really changed lol. click on photos for better quality!)

step 1: uploading frames to layers

once you have your video ready, you’re going to import it on photoshop through the file > import > video frames to layers. 

after you select which video you want to use, this screen will pop up.

you want to make sure "selected range only" and "make frame animation" are clicked on. don't use the "limit to every [x] frames" because it will make the animation look really clunky and don't use "from beginning to end" because it will make your file so huge photoshop probably won't be able to open it since there's a 500 (?) frame limit.

use the little tick marks to shorten the video to the frames you want. to make sure you have the right part selected, click on the play button/sideways triangle. it's okay if you have some extra frames before or after the part you want, they're really easy to delete later.

the shorter the video, the easier it is to find the frames you want, so if the video I’m using is longer than about 5 minutes, I shorten it. my laptop allows me to cut videos using quicktime player, but there are programs like bandicam you can use if you have a different kind of computer.

now click "OK" and photoshop will open your video as layers and frames.

Step 2: Cropping, sizing, sharpening, and making the gif 

first thing I do is crop my gif. click on the overlapping square icon on the panel on the left side of your screen (highlighted below). you can either enter the dimensions you want the gif to be, or click on a premade option. i'm just going to use the "square" option for this one.

move the cropping square to wherever on the video you want to crop the video.

next, I go to image > image size and this box will pop up. make sure the width is always 540p because that’s the dimensions for tumblr. the height will automatically adjust. the other options are the settings I personally use but you can play around with them.

next, you want to select all your frames. do this by clicking on the first one, then clicking on the last one while holding the “shift” button.

click on the little part at the bottom of any of the frames that says the time in between frames (in this case, 0.04 is the default) and select the "other" option. a box will pop up. I usually go for 0.06, but if it's a shorter gif, like 22 frames or less, I'll go up to 0.07 or 0.08.

next, you want to go to the right side of your screen and select the layers. do the same thing you did with the frames; click the first layer, then click the last layer while holding “shift.”

after all your frames and layers are selected, click on the little button that has four lines, on the top right of your frames section. click on “convert to video timeline.” this will change your individual frames into an animation.

next, go to filter > convert for smart filters. this will convert all your layers into one layer that is easier to edit.

your screen show now look like this-

now it is time to sharpen your gif! I use sharpening actions (like the ones listed above) because it’s quicker, but this tutorial will show you how to do it manually.

here is the gif so far (cropped, resized, and sharpened).

coloring the gif

this is where it gets a bit more specific to my process for supernatural, but I still use most of these tools (especially the first curves layers) for all my gifs in general. all of the tools you need for coloring are in the “adjustments” tab, next to the layers. 

step 1: curves

this tool is my fave because it does so much of the work for you. I start by using the white eye drop tool (selected in the photo below) and clicking on the whitest part of the gif. in this case, I used sam's shirt.

next, I use the black eye drop tool to select the darkest part of the image. I used the doorway behind sam.

step 2: photo filter

next adjustment I use is usually "photo filter." this one does a lot of work quickly and is great for scenes that are either too blue/cold (in which case I use a warm filter) or too orange/warm (in which case I use a cold filter). for this gif, I selected the third cooling filter option and set it to a density of 12.

step 3: vibrance

vibrance/saturation is a tricky tool, I go back and forth on using it. for a lot of earlier spn I increase the vibrance and for a lot of later spn I decrease the saturation. for this scene, I increased the vibrance to +54.

step 4: selective color

selective color is another one I go back and forth on and when I do use it, I try to do it sparingly because it can make your gif look grainy fast. going to red and decreasing cyan (here by -34) makes the gif a bit more vibrant. then I go to black and increase it by +6 to add some depth to the background and make sam stand out more.

step 5: brightness/contrast

I find curves takes care of most of the brighting I need but I will occasionally also add a brightness/contrast layer as well. here, I increased brightness by +10 and left contrast alone.

step 6: exposure

finally, I add an exposure layer. this tool is great for lower quality footage because increasing the shadows makes it look less grainy. it also adds some more depth. here I decreased exposure by -0.36 and put gamma correction at 0.92.

bonus: I didn't use it for this gif, but color balance is my other frequently used layer. I will add it when the photo filter doesn't do enough and there's a more dominant color (like the dreaded season 8 orange) that I'm trying to tone down.

saving the gif

final step yayyy. go to file > export > save for web (legacy). 

these are my save settings. then you just click “save” and you’re done! you can also play back your gif here to see how it looks.

make sure your gif is under 10mb (you can see how big it is in the bottom left hand corner under your gif) otherwise tumblr won't let you upload it. if your gif is too big, either go back and delete some frames to shorten it, remove some coloring layers, or increase the lossy setting. I never go over 20 with that because your gif will get grainy, but if you're only like a couple mb over, increase it a bit and that should take care of it with minimal quality difference.

and here is the final gif!