#vierawoods tutorials

I like to sharpen my gifs before coloring them. There are many different sharpening techniques, but I prefer to use actions. I made an action that will sharpen up to 145 frames that you can download here, if you would like to use it! Just keep in mind it only works if you haven't deleted any layers or frames (it works through layers 1-145), so be sure to use it before removing any unwanted frames or layers. If you have under 145 frames a little window may pop up:

In which case you can click 'Stop'. Here's the gif after sharpening:

Now time for coloring! 

I know I've said this a million times, but for those just getting into editing who would like to make their own colorings/psds from scratch, I have a list of tips here. Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance. Alternatively you can click the button below to access vibrance settings as well.

Here are my settings:

And here's the gif after playing with the vibrance settings:

The coloring looks kind of off, doesn't it? We'll fix it soon! Now go to Layer > New Fill Layer > Gradient (or just click the little button on the bottom and select 'Gradient'). Here are my settings:

I used the 'Copper' gradient, it should be under your default gradient group. Set this layer to Soft Light, at 100% opacity. My result was this:

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Curves (or click the button again to access it). Here are my settings:

And the result:

We're getting somewhere, sort of. Now go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. Here are my settings:

Midtones:

Shadows:

The Highlights settings remain at default. The result:

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. I only adjusted the red settings:

Finally, go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation. Here are my settings:

And the result:

Wow. That looks kind of scary. We're not done yet! Make sure your Hue/Saturation layer is still selected, and the layer mask (white rectangle) is selected as well. It should look something like this:

Use the brush tool (my brush is a 160px soft-rounded brush, with 0% hardness, 100% opacity in black. Make sure to use black.). Brush over Yuna and parts of the background, while making sure to leave the left and right edges intact. Mine came out looking like this:

And the gif now looks like this:

The GIF is now complete! Here's the settings I used for saving:

First, sharpen the image. I usually sharpen my images before applying colorings, text, etc. I don't know if there's a difference between sharpening it first or last, it's just what I prefer doing.

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast. Alternatively, you can click this button here to access adjustment layer settings.

Here are my brightness and contrast settings (I get a little too "contrast happy" sometimes, haha). 

The resulting image:

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Vibrance. Here are my vibrance settings:

And the resulting image... everythings more saturated!

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance. Here are my settings:

Go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Selective Color. Click the box at the top to choose which color to adjust. I started with cyan.

At this point I was satisfied with the coloring.

 The next step is entirely optional. Make a new layer and fill it with #000000. Then use the eraser tool (soft-rounded brush) and erase the center of the layer, making sure to leave the edges dark.

Then set the layer to soft light and 40% opacity...

...And the coloring is finished! Here's a before and after: